Anonymous: Excerpts from Beowulf
Vocabulary:
alliteration, alliterative verse, Anglo-Saxon (or Old English),
beot, comitatus, cyning, shame/fame
culture, thegn, Wyrd, mead-hall, wergild,
flyting
Lecture or Handouts:
What does the name "Beowulf" mean in Anglo-Saxon
when we look at the roots Beo and Wulf?
How is the Anglo-Saxon idea of Wyrd different
from or similar to the Greek idea of fate or moira?
What do we know about the probable religious background
of
the
individual
who
copied
down Beowulf,
given the literacy-levels of England after the the fall
of Rome? What does the word Heorot mean in Anglo-Saxon?
Which character in Beowulf is based on a real figure from
medieval history? Why does Grendel's mother only kill one
individual in retaliation for her son's death? How is
the
mere or lake an inversion of the mead-hall?
Identify the Following Primary
Characters and Places from Beowulf
Beowulf, Hrothgar, Heorot, Hygelac, Breca, Unferth,
Wealhtheow, Wiglaf, Ashhere, Grendel's Mother, Grendel,
the Dragon, the Mere or Lake, the Dragon's Lair
Explain the Significance of
the Following Cultural Terms and How They Relate
to the Beowulf Narrative
or Poem
Wergild, Flyting, shame/fame
culture
Reading Questions:
- What project does Hrothgar order undertaken to ensure
his fame? What is the name of that constuction project?
- What typical activities do the people engage in at this
place Hrothgar makes?
- What does the bard sing about inside the hall early
in the narrative? Why does this anger Grendel?
- According to the story, from what famous person does
Grendel trace his monstrous lineage?
- How many warriors does Grendel eat on the first night
he attacks Heorot?
- How long does Grendel haunt Heorot until Beowulf comes
to help the Danes?
- What is the one thing in the mead-hall Grendel is unable
to touch or ruin (see lines 165-70)?
- What king does Beowulf serve? Why does Beowulf leave
this king to help out Hrothgar? What qualification or
achievements does Beowulf have that make him suitable
for fighting Grendel?
- When Beowulf fights Grendel, what special weapon does
he use to dispatch the monster? (trick question!)
- Give one example of a beot that Beowulf makes
during the course of the story.
- What is Unferth's reaction to Beowulf showing up to
save the day? How does he challenge Beowulf?
- How is Beowulf's story about the swimming match with
Breca different than Unferth's version of the tale?
- What does Beowulf do to Grendel that mortally wounds
the monster?
- What decoration or trophy does Beowulf stick on a spike
over the entry-way to Heorot?
- Who comes to avenge Grendel's death?
- Grendel's mother kills whom in retaliation for her
son's death?
- Where does Grendel's mother live?
- What unusual supernatural features does the lake have?
How do deer react when they are chased by hunters to the
edge of the lake? How is that symbolic, given the name
of King Hrothgar's hall?
- Who loans Beowulf a sword initially to go fight Grendel's
mother?
- How long does the text say it took Beowulf to reach
the bottom of the lake? (See line 1505.)
- What happens when Beowulf uses the first borrowed sword
to strike the Troll-Wife (Grendel's Mother)? Where does
he find a second weapon? According to the text, who made
this weapon? When Beowulf retells his battle to Hrothgar,
he lets us know what happened to the sword after it penetrated
the female monster's skin. Although the hilt and handle
and crossguard survive, what happens to the blade itself
after fatally stabbing the monster?
- When Hrothgar examines the damaged blade, what decorations
does he find on the sword? (i.e., what Biblical event
is carved on it from the Old Testament?)
- According to the summary of excerpted material, how
long does Beowulf rule as king over the Geats?
- According to the summary of excerpted material, what
arouses the dragon's wrath and lures it from its lair
to attack men?
- Where does the dragon make its lair?
- Give a brief blow-by-blow of Beowulf's fight with the
dragon.
- Who is the one warrior that remains loyal to Beowulf
when the other thegns run away?
- After Beowulf appoints Wiglaf king, what is Beowulf's
last dying request? (i.e., what does he want to look at
before he dies?) What does he ask be done with his body
when it comes to burial?
- What punishment does Wiglaf order for those men who
fled from the scene of battle?
Quotations for Identification (Be able
to identify what work these quotations come from, what
the
author is (if known), what character (if any) is speaking,
and briefly comment upon the quotations significance or
importance
in
the work:
A: It was with pain that the powerful spirit / dwelling
in darkness endured that time, / hearing daily the hall
filled / with loud amusement.
B: Mysterious is the region / they live
in--of wolf-fells, wind-picked moors / and treacherous
fen-paths: a torrent
of water / pours down dark cliffs and plunges into the
earth, / an underground flood. It is not far from here,
in terms
of miles, that the Mere lies, overcast with dark, crag-rooted
trees / that hang in groves hoary with frost. / An uncanny
sight be seen at night there--the fire in the water!
C: "Wyrd saves oft / the man undoomed if he undaunted
be!"
D: The spring was cut on it / of the primal strife, with
the destruction at last / of the race of Giants by the rushing
Flood, / a terrible end. Estranged was that race / from
the Lord of Eternity: the tide of water / was the final
reward that the Ruler sent them.
E: Passion filled the prince of the Geats:
he allowed a cry to utter from his breast,
roared from his stout heart: as the horn clear in battle
his voice re-echoed through the vault of grey stone.
The hoard-guard recognized a human voice,
and there was no more time to talk of friendship:
hatred stirred. Straightaway
The breath of the dragon billowed from the rock
in a hissing gust; the ground boomed.
F: "I remember the time, as we were
taking mead / in the banqueting hall, when we bound ourselves
to the gracious
lord who granted us arms, / that we would make return for
these trappings of war / these helms and hard swords,
if
such as this / should ever chance for him. . . / That day
has now come / when he stands in need of the strength
of
good fighters, our lord and liege. Let us go to him / help
our leader for as long as it requires . . ."
G: "Quickly go now,
beloved Wiglaf, and look upon the hoard
under the grey stone, now the serpent lies dead,
sleeps rawly wounded, bereft of his treasure.
Make haste, that I may gaze upon that golden inheritance,
that ancient wealth, that my eyes may behold
the clear skillful jewels: more calmly then may I
on the treasure's account take my departure
of life and of the lordship I have long held."
H: "Your kinsmen every one,
Shall become wanderers without land-rights
as soon as aethelings over the world
Shall hear the report of how you fled,
a deed of ill fame. Death is better
for any earl than an existence of disgrace!