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Beowulf

2023-03-22T18:22:45Z

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{{Short description|Old English epic poem}}
{{About|the epic poem|the character|Beowulf (hero)|other uses}}

{{Italic title}}
{{Good article}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2014}}
{{Infobox Medieval text
| name = ''Beowulf''
| alternative title(s) = {{lang|ang|Bēowulf}}
| image = File:Beowulf Cotton MS Vitellius A XV f. 132r.jpg
| caption = First page of ''Beowulf'' in Cotton Vitellius A. xv. Beginning: {{lang|ang|HWÆT. WE GARDE / na in geardagum, þeodcyninga / þrym gefrunon...}} (Translation: ''What! [=Listen!] We of Spear-Da/nes, in days gone by, of kings / the glory have heard...'')
| author(s) = Unknown
| language = [[West Saxon dialect]] of [[Old English]]
| date = disputed ({{c.|700–1000 AD}})
| state of existence = Manuscript suffered damage from fire in 1731
| manuscript(s) = [[Nowell Codex|Cotton Vitellius A. xv]] ({{c.| 975–1010 AD}})
| first printed edition = [[Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin|Thorkelin]] (1815)
| verse form = [[Alliterative verse]]
| length = {{c.| 3182 lines}}
| genre = Epic heroic writing
| subject = The battles of Beowulf, the Geatish hero, in youth and old age
| personages = [[Beowulf (hero)|Beowulf]], [[Hygelac]], [[Hrothgar]], [[Wealhtheow]], [[Hrólfr Kraki|Hrothulf]], [[Æschere]], [[Unferð|Unferth]], [[Grendel]], [[Grendel's mother]], [[Wiglaf]], [[Hildeburh]].
| wikisource = Beowulf
}}

'''''Beowulf''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|eɪ|ə|w|ʊ|l|f|}};<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/beowulf |title=Beowulf |work=[[Collins English Dictionary]] |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |access-date=15 December 2020}}</ref> {{lang-ang|Bēowulf}} {{IPA-ang|ˈbeːowuɫf|}}) is an Old English [[Epic poetry|epic poem]] in the tradition of [[Germanic heroic legend]] consisting of 3,182 [[Alliterative verse|alliterative lines]]. It is one of the most important and [[List of translations of Beowulf|most often translated]] works of [[Old English literature]]. The date of composition is a matter of contention among scholars; the only certain dating is for the manuscript, which was produced between 975 and 1025.{{sfn|Stanley|1981|pp=9–22}} Scholars call the anonymous author the "''Beowulf'' poet".{{sfn|Robinson|2002|p=143}}
The story is set in pagan [[Scandinavia]] in the 6th century. [[Beowulf (hero)|Beowulf]], a hero of the [[Geats]], comes to the aid of [[Hrothgar]], the king of the [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danes]], whose [[mead hall]] in [[Heorot]] has been under attack by the monster [[Grendel]]. After Beowulf slays him, [[Grendel's mother]] attacks the hall and is then defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland and becomes king of the Geats. Fifty years later, Beowulf defeats a [[The Dragon (Beowulf)|dragon]], but is mortally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants cremate his body and erect a tower on a headland in his memory.

Scholars have debated whether ''Beowulf'' was [[Oral-formulaic composition|transmitted orally]], affecting its interpretation: if it was composed early, in pagan times, then the paganism is central and the Christian elements were added later, whereas if it was composed later, in writing, by a Christian, then the pagan elements could be decorative archaising; some scholars also hold an intermediate position.
''Beowulf'' is written mostly in the Late [[West Saxon dialect]] of Old English, but many other dialectal forms are present, suggesting that the poem may have had a long and complex transmission throughout the dialect areas of England.

There has long been research into similarities with other traditions and accounts, including the Icelandic ''[[Grettis saga]]'', the Norse story of [[Hrolf Kraki]] and his bear-[[shapeshifting]] servant [[Bodvar Bjarki]], the international folktale the [[Bear's Son Tale]], and the Irish folktale of the Hand and the Child. Persistent attempts have been made to link ''Beowulf'' to tales from [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'' or [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]''. More definite are Biblical parallels, with clear allusions to the books of [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]], [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]], and [[Book of Daniel|Daniel]].

The poem survives in a single copy in the manuscript known as the [[Nowell Codex]]. It has no title in the original manuscript, but has become known by the name of the story's protagonist.{{sfn|Robinson|2002|p=143}} In 1731, the manuscript was damaged by a fire that swept through [[Ashburnham House]] in London, which was housing [[Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington|Sir Robert Cotton]]'s collection of medieval manuscripts. It survived, but the margins were charred, and some readings were lost.{{sfn|Mitchell|Robinson|1998|p=[https://books.google.com/?id=uujn741w2Y4C&pg=PA6 6]}} The Nowell Codex is housed in the [[British Library]].
The poem was first transcribed in 1786; some verses were first translated into modern English in 1805, and nine complete translations were made in the 19th century, including those by [[John Mitchell Kemble]] and [[William Morris]].
After 1900, [[List of translations of Beowulf|hundreds of translations]], whether into prose, rhyming verse, or alliterative verse were made, some relatively faithful, some archaising, some attempting to domesticate the work. Among the best-known modern translations are those of [[Edwin Morgan (poet)|Edwin Morgan]], [[Burton Raffel]], [[Michael J. Alexander]], [[Roy Liuzza]], and [[Seamus Heaney]]. The difficulty of [[Translating Beowulf|translating ''Beowulf'']] has been explored by scholars including [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] (in his essay "[[On Translating Beowulf|On Translating ''Beowulf'']]"), who worked on a verse and [[Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary|a prose translation]] of his own.

== Historical background ==
[[File:Beowulf Tribes.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|Tribes mentioned in ''Beowulf'', showing Beowulf's voyage to [[Heorot]] and a possible site of the poem's composition in [[Rendlesham]], [[Suffolk]], settled by [[Angles]].<ref name="newton"/> See [[Scandza]] for details of Scandinavia's political fragmentation in the 6th century.]]

The events in the poem take place over most of the sixth century, and feature no English characters. Some suggest that ''Beowulf'' was first composed in the 7th century at [[Rendlesham]] in [[East Anglia]], as the [[Sutton Hoo]] [[ship burial|ship-burial]] shows close connections with Scandinavia, and the East Anglian royal dynasty, the [[Wuffingas]], may have been descendants of the Geatish [[Wulfing]]s.<ref name="chickering">{{cite book |last=Chickering |first=Howell D. |title=Beowulf |edition=dual-language |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |year=1977}}</ref><ref name="newton">{{cite book |last=Newton |first=Sam |title=The Origins of Beowulf and the Pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia |location=Woodbridge, Suffolk, [[England]] |publisher=[[Boydell & Brewer]] |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-85991-361-4}}</ref> Others have associated this poem with the court of King [[Alfred the Great]] or with the court of King [[Cnut the Great]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Waugh|first=Robin |title=Literacy, Royal Power, and King-Poet Relations in Old English and Old Norse Compositions |journal=Comparative Literature |date=1997 |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=289–315 |doi=10.2307/1771534 |jstor=1771534}}</ref>

The poem blends fictional, legendary, mythic and historic elements. Although Beowulf himself is not mentioned in any other Anglo-Saxon manuscript,<ref name="Grigsby 2005">{{cite book |last=Grigsby |first=John |title=Beowulf & Grendel : the truth behind England's oldest myth |publisher=Watkins |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-84293-153-0 |oclc=61177107 |page=12}}</ref> many of the other figures named in ''Beowulf'' appear in [[#Sources and analogues|Scandinavian sources]].<ref name="shippey">{{cite journal |last=Shippey |first=Tom A. |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=Wicked Queens and Cousin Strategies in Beowulf and Elsewhere, Notes and Bibliography |url=http://www.heroicage.org/issues/5/Shippey1.html |journal=The Heroic Age |issue=5 |date=Summer 2001}}</ref> This concerns not only individuals (e.g., [[Halfdan|Healfdene]], [[Hrothgar|Hroðgar]], [[Halga]], [[Hrólfr Kraki|Hroðulf]], [[Eadgils]] and [[Ohthere]]), but also [[Norse clans|clans]] (e.g., [[Scylding]]s, [[Yngling|Scylfings]] and Wulfings) and certain events (e.g., the [[Battle on the Ice of Lake Vänern|battle between Eadgils and Onela]]). The raid by King [[Hygelac]] into [[Frisia]] is mentioned by [[Gregory of Tours]] in his ''History of the [[Franks]]'' and can be dated to around 521.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nFYeAQAAIAAJ |title=Beowulf |last=Carruthers |first=Leo M. |date=1998 |publisher=Didier Erudition |page=37 |isbn=978-2864603474}}</ref>

The majority view appears to be that figures such as King Hroðgar and the Scyldings in ''Beowulf'' are based on historical people from [[6th century|6th-century]] Scandinavia. Like the ''[[Finnesburg Fragment]]'' and several shorter surviving poems, ''Beowulf'' has consequently been used as a source of information about Scandinavian figures such as Eadgils and Hygelac, and about continental Germanic figures such as [[Offa of Angel|Offa]], king of the continental [[Angles]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.carlaz.com/phd/cea_phd_chap4.pdf |last=Anderson |first=Carl Edlund |year=1999 |title=Formation and Resolution of Ideological Contrast in the Early History of Scandinavia |type=PhD thesis |publisher=University of Cambridge, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic (Faculty of English) |page=115 |access-date=1 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170123194132/https://www.carlaz.com/phd/cea_phd_chap4.pdf |archive-date=23 January 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref> However, the scholar [[Roy Liuzza]] argues that the poem is "frustratingly ambivalent", neither myth nor folktale, but is set "against a complex background of legendary history ... on a roughly recognizable map of Scandinavia", and comments that the Geats of the poem may correspond with the [[Gautar]] (of modern [[Götaland]]); or perhaps the legendary Getae.{{sfn|Liuzza|2013|pp=14–15}}

[[File:Eadgil's barrow.PNG|thumb|upright=1.4|Finds from [[Gamla Uppsala]]'s western mound, left, excavated in 1874, support ''Beowulf'' and the sagas.<ref name="Nerman"/>]]

19th-century archaeological evidence may confirm elements of the ''Beowulf'' story. Eadgils was buried at Uppsala ([[Gamla Uppsala]], Sweden) according to [[Snorri Sturluson]]. When the western mound (to the left in the photo) was excavated in 1874, the finds showed that a powerful man was buried in a large barrow, {{circa|575}}, on a bear skin with two dogs and rich grave offerings. The eastern mound was excavated in 1854, and contained the remains of a woman, or a woman and a young man. The middle barrow has not been excavated.<ref name="klingmark">{{cite book |last=Klingmark |first=Elisabeth |title=Gamla Uppsala, Svenska kulturminnen 59 |language=sv |publisher=Riksantikvarieämbetet}}</ref><ref name="Nerman">{{cite book |last=Nerman |first=Birger |title=Det svenska rikets uppkomst |trans-title=The Rise of the Swedish Realm |location=Stockholm |year=1925}}</ref>

In Denmark, recent (1986-88, 2004-05)<ref name="Niles">Niles, John D., [http://www.britannica.com/magazine/article?query=great+hall&id=1 "Beowulf's Great Hall"], ''[[History Today]]'', October 2006, '''56''' (10), pp. 40–44</ref> archaeological excavations at [[Lejre]], where Scandinavian tradition located the seat of the Scyldings, [[Heorot]], have revealed that a hall was built in the mid-6th century, matching the period described in ''Beowulf'', some centuries before the poem was composed.<ref name="Niles HT">{{cite journal |last=Niles |first=John D. |author-link=John Niles (scholar) |title=Beowulf's Great Hall |journal=History Today |volume=56 |issue=10 |date=October 2006 |url=http://www.historytoday.com/john-d-niles/beowulf%E2%80%99s-great-hall |pages=40–44}}</ref> Three halls, each about {{convert|50|m}} long, were found during the excavation.<ref name="Niles HT"/>

== Summary ==
[[File:Carrigan's model of Beowulf's Design.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Carrigan's model of ''Beowulf''{{'s}} design<ref name="Carrigan 1967"/> Key: (a) sections 1–2 (b) 3–7 (c) 8–12 (d) 13–18 (e) 19–23 (f) 24–26 (g) 27–31 (h) 32–33 (i) 34–38 (j) 39–43]]

The protagonist [[Beowulf (hero)|Beowulf]], a hero of the [[Geats]], comes to the aid of Hrothgar, king of the [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danes]], whose great hall, [[Heorot]], is plagued by the monster [[Grendel]]. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands, then kills Grendel's mother with a giant's sword that he found in her lair.

Later in his life, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats, and finds his realm terrorized by a [[The Dragon (Beowulf)|dragon]], some of whose treasure had been stolen from his hoard in a burial mound. He attacks the dragon with the help of his ''[[thegn]]s'' or servants, but they do not succeed. Beowulf decides to follow the dragon to its lair at [[Earnaness|Earnanæs]], but only his young Swedish relative [[Wiglaf]], whose name means "remnant of valour",{{refn|group="lower-alpha"|"wíg" means "fight, battle, war, conflict"<ref>{{cite web |title=Wíg |url=http://bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/035625 |website=Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary |access-date=23 October 2014}}</ref> and "láf" means "remnant, left-over"<ref>{{cite web |title=Láf |url=http://bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/021034 |website=Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary |access-date=23 October 2014}}</ref>}} dares to join him. Beowulf finally slays the dragon, but is mortally wounded in the struggle. He is cremated and a burial mound by the sea is erected in his honour.

''Beowulf'' is considered an epic poem in that the main character is a hero who travels great distances to prove his strength at impossible odds against supernatural demons and beasts. The poem begins ''[[in medias res]]'' or simply, "in the middle of things", a characteristic of the epics of antiquity. Although the poem begins with Beowulf's arrival, Grendel's attacks have been ongoing. An elaborate history of characters and their lineages is spoken of, as well as their interactions with each other, debts owed and repaid, and deeds of valour. The warriors form a brotherhood linked by loyalty to their lord. The poem begins and ends with funerals: at the beginning of the poem for [[Scyld Scefing]]<ref>''Beowulf'', 26–45</ref> and at the end for Beowulf.<ref>''Beowulf'', 3140–3170</ref>

The poem is tightly structured. E. Carrigan shows the symmetry of its design in a model of its major components, with for instance the account of the killing of Grendel matching that of the killing of the dragon, the glory of the Danes matching the accounts of the Danish and Geatish courts.<ref name="Carrigan 1967">{{cite journal |last=Carrigan |first=E. |title=Structure and Thematic Development in "Beowulf" |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature |date=1967 |volume=66 |pages=1–51 |jstor=25505137}}</ref>

=== First battle: Grendel ===
{{further|Grendel}}

''Beowulf'' begins with the story of [[Hrothgar]], who constructed the great hall, Heorot, for himself and his warriors. In it, he, his wife [[Wealhtheow]], and his warriors spend their time singing and celebrating. Grendel, a [[troll]]-like monster said to be descended from the biblical [[Cain]], is pained by the sounds of joy.<ref>''Beowulf'', 87–98</ref> Grendel attacks the hall and kills and devours many of Hrothgar's warriors while they sleep. Hrothgar and his people, helpless against Grendel, abandon Heorot.

Beowulf, a young warrior from Geatland, hears of Hrothgar's troubles and with his king's permission leaves his homeland to assist Hrothgar.<ref>''Beowulf'', 199–203</ref>

Beowulf and his men spend the night in Heorot. Beowulf refuses to use any weapon because he holds himself to be Grendel's equal.<ref>''Beowulf'', 675–687</ref> When Grendel enters the hall, Beowulf, who has been feigning sleep, leaps up to clench Grendel's hand.<ref>''Beowulf'', 757–765</ref> Grendel and Beowulf battle each other violently.<ref>''Beowulf'', 766–789</ref> Beowulf's retainers draw their swords and rush to his aid, but their blades cannot pierce Grendel's skin.<ref>''Beowulf'', 793–804</ref> Finally, Beowulf tears Grendel's arm from his body at the shoulder and Grendel runs to his home in the marshes where he dies.<ref>''Beowulf'', 808–823</ref> Beowulf displays "the whole of Grendel's shoulder and arm, his awesome grasp" for all to see at Heorot. This display would fuel Grendel's mother's anger in revenge.<ref>{{cite book |last=Simpson |first=James |title=The Norton Anthology of English Literature vol. A |date=2012 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=New York |page=58}}</ref>

=== Second battle: Grendel's mother ===
{{further|Grendel's mother}}

The next night, after celebrating Grendel's defeat, Hrothgar and his men sleep in Heorot. Grendel's mother, angry that her son has been killed, sets out to get revenge. "Beowulf was elsewhere. Earlier, after the award of treasure, The Geat had been given another lodging"; his assistance would be absent in this battle.<ref>{{cite book |last=Simpson |first=James |title=The Norton Anthology of English Literature vol. A |date=2012 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=New York |page=70}}</ref> Grendel's mother violently kills [[Æschere]], who is Hrothgar's most loyal fighter, and escapes.

Hrothgar, Beowulf, and their men track Grendel's mother to her lair under a lake. [[Unferð]], a warrior who had earlier challenged him, presents Beowulf with his sword [[Hrunting]]. After stipulating a number of conditions to Hrothgar in case of his death (including the taking in of his kinsmen and the inheritance by Unferth of Beowulf's estate), Beowulf jumps into the lake, and while harassed by water monsters gets to the bottom, where he finds a cavern. Grendel's mother pulls him in, and she and Beowulf engage in fierce combat.

At first, Grendel's mother prevails, and Hrunting proves incapable of hurting her; she throws Beowulf to the ground and, sitting astride him, tries to kill him with a short sword, but Beowulf is saved by his armour. Beowulf spots another sword, hanging on the wall and apparently made for giants, and cuts her head off with it. Travelling further into Grendel's mother's lair, Beowulf discovers Grendel's corpse and severs his head with the sword. Its blade melts because of the monster's "hot blood", leaving only the hilt. Beowulf swims back up to the edge of the lake where his men wait. Carrying the hilt of the sword and Grendel's head, he presents them to Hrothgar upon his return to Heorot. Hrothgar gives Beowulf many gifts, including the sword [[Nægling]], his family's heirloom. The events prompt a long reflection by the king, sometimes referred to as "Hrothgar's sermon", in which he urges Beowulf to be wary of pride and to reward his thegns.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hansen |first=E. T. |title=Hrothgar's 'sermon' in Beowulf as parental wisdom |doi=10.1017/S0263675100003203 |journal=Anglo-Saxon England |volume=10 |pages=53–67 |year=2008}}</ref>

=== Final battle: The dragon ===
{{Main|The dragon (Beowulf)}}

[[File:Beowulf death.png|thumb|upright|[[Wiglaf]] is the single warrior to return and witness Beowulf's death. Illustration by [[J. R. Skelton]], 1908]]

Beowulf returns home and eventually becomes king of his own people. One day, fifty years after Beowulf's battle with Grendel's mother, a [[slave]] steals a golden cup from the lair of a dragon at Earnanæs. When the dragon sees that the cup has been stolen, it leaves its cave in a rage, burning everything in sight. Beowulf and his warriors come to fight the dragon, but Beowulf tells his men that he will fight the dragon alone and that they should wait on the barrow. Beowulf descends to do battle with the dragon, but finds himself outmatched. His men, upon seeing this and fearing for their lives, retreat into the woods. One of his men, Wiglaf, however, in great distress at Beowulf's plight, comes to his aid. The two slay the dragon, but Beowulf is mortally wounded. After Beowulf dies, Wiglaf remains by his side, grief-stricken. When the rest of the men finally return, Wiglaf bitterly admonishes them, blaming their cowardice for Beowulf's death. Beowulf is ritually burned on a great pyre in Geatland while his people wail and mourn him, fearing that without him, the Geats are defenceless against attacks from surrounding tribes. Afterwards, a barrow, visible from the sea, is built in his memory.<ref>''Beowulf'' lines 2712–3182</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Beowulf |publisher=MU |location=South Africa |url=https://faculty.mu.edu.sa/public/uploads/1348946962.7014beowulf.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324051854/https://faculty.mu.edu.sa/public/uploads/1348946962.7014beowulf.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 March 2014}}</ref>

=== Digressions ===

The poem contains many apparent digressions from the main story. These were found troublesome by early ''Beowulf'' scholars such as [[Frederick Klaeber]], who wrote that they "interrupt the story",<ref name="Brady 1955"/> [[W. W. Lawrence]], who stated that they "clog the action and distract attention from it",<ref name="Brady 1955"/> and [[W. P. Ker]] who found some "irrelevant ... possibly ... interpolations".<ref name="Brady 1955">{{cite journal |last=Brady |first=Caroline |author-link=Caroline Brady (philologist) |title=Adrien Bonjour, ''The Digressions in Beowulf'' |journal=Modern Language Notes |date=November 1955 |volume=70 |issue=7 |pages=521–524 |doi=10.2307/3039650 |jstor=3039650}}</ref> More recent scholars from Adrien Bonjour onwards note that the digressions can all be explained as introductions or comparisons with elements of the main story;<ref name="Bonjour 1950">{{cite book |last=Bonjour |first=Adrien |title=The Digressions in ''Beowulf'' |date=1950 |publisher=Basil Blackwell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sfhDAAAAYAAJ |pages=xv and whole book}}</ref><ref name="Urbanowicz 2013"/> for instance, Beowulf's swimming home across the sea from Frisia carrying thirty sets of armour<ref>''Beowulf'', 2354–2396</ref> emphasises his heroic strength.<ref name="Urbanowicz 2013"/> The digressions can be divided into four groups, namely the Scyld narrative at the start;<ref>''Beowulf'', 4–52</ref> many descriptions of the Geats, including the [[Swedish–Geatish wars]],<ref>''Beowulf'', 2428–2508</ref> the "Lay of the Last Survivor"<ref>''Beowulf'', 2247–2266</ref> in the style of another Old English poem, "[[The Wanderer (Old English poem)|The Wanderer]]", and Beowulf's dealings with the Geats such as his verbal contest with Unferth and his swimming duel with Breca,<ref>''Beowulf'', 499–606</ref> and the tale of [[Sigmund|Sigemund]] and the dragon;<ref>''Beowulf'', 874–896</ref> history and legend, including [[the fight at Finnsburg]]<ref>''Beowulf'', 1069–1159</ref> and the tale of Freawaru and Ingeld;<ref>''Beowulf'', 2032–2066</ref> and biblical tales such as the [[creation myth]] and [[Cain]] as ancestor of all monsters.<ref>''Beowulf'', 90–114</ref><ref name="Urbanowicz 2013">{{cite journal |last=Urbanowicz |first=Michal |title=The Functions of Digressions in Beowulf |journal=Acta Neophilologica |date=2013 |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=213–223 |url=http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-a14c96fe-49ff-4c91-ba2d-a60f6bb58427/c/213-223_Urbanowicz.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-a14c96fe-49ff-4c91-ba2d-a60f6bb58427/c/213-223_Urbanowicz.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |issn=1509-1619}}</ref> The digressions provide a powerful [[Impression of depth in The Lord of the Rings|impression of historical depth, imitated by Tolkien]] in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', a work that [[Beowulf in Middle-earth|embodies many other elements]] from the poem.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=[[The Road to Middle-Earth]] |date=2005 |edition=Third |orig-year=1982 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |isbn=978-0261102750 |page=259}}</ref>

== Authorship and date ==

The dating of ''Beowulf'' has attracted considerable scholarly attention; opinion differs as to whether it was first written in the 8th century, whether it was nearly contemporary with its 11th century manuscript, and whether a proto-version (possibly a version of the [[Bear's Son Tale]]) was orally transmitted before being transcribed in its present form.<ref name="Frank 2007">{{cite journal |last=Frank |first=Roberta |title=A Scandal in Toronto: "The Dating of "Beowulf" " a Quarter Century On |journal=Speculum |date=October 2007 |volume=82 |issue=4 |pages=843–864 |doi=10.1017/S0038713400011313 |jstor=20466079|s2cid=162726731 }}</ref> [[Albert Lord]] felt strongly that the manuscript represents the transcription of a performance, though likely taken at more than one sitting.<ref name=Lord|1960>{{cite book |last=Lord |first=Albert |title=The Singer of Tales, Volume 1 |date=2000 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |page=200 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JrvQdPMXGmAC|isbn=9780674002838}}</ref> [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] believed that the poem retains too genuine a memory of [[Anglo-Saxon paganism]] to have been composed more than a few generations after the completion of the [[History of the Church of England|Christianisation of England]] around AD 700,{{sfn|Tolkien|1997}} and Tolkien's conviction that the poem dates to the 8th century has been defended by scholars including [[Tom Shippey]], [[Leonard Neidorf]], Rafael J. Pascual, and [[Robert D. Fulk]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Tom |last=Shippey |author-link=Tom Shippey |contribution=Tolkien and the Beowulf-poet |title=Roots and Branches |year=2007 |publisher=Walking Tree Publishers |isbn=978-3-905703-05-4}}</ref><ref name="link.springer.com">{{cite journal |last1=Neidorf |first1=Leonard |last2=Pascual|first2=Rafael |title=The Language of Beowulf and the Conditioning of Kaluza's Law |year=2014 |journal=Neophilologus |volume=98 |issue=4 |pages=657–673 |doi=10.1007/s11061-014-9400-x|s2cid=159814058 }}</ref><ref name="Fulk 2007 304–324">{{cite news |last=Fulk |first=R. D. |title=Old English Meter and Oral Tradition: Three Issues Bearing on Poetic Chronology |jstor=27712658 |year=2007 |journal=Journal of English and Germanic Philology |volume=106 |pages=304–24}}</ref> An analysis of several Old English poems by a team including Neidorf suggests that ''Beowulf'' is the work of a single author, though other scholars disagree.<ref name="Guardian 2019">{{cite news |last=Davis |first=Nicola |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/08/beowulf-old-english-poem-work-one-author-research-suggests |title=Beowulf the work of single author, research suggests |date=8 April 2019 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=20 May 2019}}</ref>

The claim to an early 11th-century date depends in part on scholars who argue that, rather than the transcription of a tale from the oral tradition by an earlier literate monk, ''Beowulf'' reflects an original interpretation of an earlier version of the story by the manuscript's two scribes. On the other hand, some scholars argue that linguistic, [[palaeography|palaeographical]] (handwriting), [[Metre (poetry)|metrical]] (poetic structure), and [[Onomastics|onomastic]] (naming) considerations align to support a date of composition in the first half of the 8th century;{{sfn|Neidorf|2014}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lapidge |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Lapidge |title=The Archetype of Beowulf |journal=Anglo-Saxon England |volume=29 |pages=5–41 |year=2000 |doi=10.1017/s0263675100002398|s2cid=163053320 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Cronan |first=D. |year=2004 |title=Poetic Words, Conservatism, and the Dating of Old English Poetry |journal=Anglo-Saxon England |volume=33 |pages=23–50}}</ref> in particular, the poem's apparent observation of etymological vowel-length distinctions in unstressed syllables (described by [[Kaluza's law]]) has been thought to demonstrate a date of composition prior to the earlier ninth century.<ref name="link.springer.com"/><ref name="Fulk 2007 304–324"/> However, scholars disagree about whether the metrical phenomena described by Kaluza's law prove an early date of composition or are evidence of a longer prehistory of the ''Beowulf'' metre;<ref>{{cite journal |last=Weiskott |first=Eric |title=Phantom Syllables in the English Alliterative Tradition |year=2013 |journal=Modern Philology |volume=110 |issue=4 |pages=441–58 |doi=10.1086/669478|s2cid=161824823 }}</ref> B.R. Hutcheson, for instance, does not believe Kaluza's law can be used to date the poem, while claiming that "the weight of all the evidence Fulk presents in his book{{refn|group="lower-alpha"|That is, R.D. Fulk's 1992 ''A History of Old English Meter''.}} tells strongly in favour of an eighth-century date."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hutcheson |first=B. R. |title=Kaluza's Law, The Dating of "Beowulf," and the Old English Poetic Tradition |journal=The Journal of English and Germanic Philology |year=2004 |volume=103 |issue=3 |pages=297–322 |jstor=27712433}}</ref>

From an analysis of creative genealogy and ethnicity, Craig R. Davis suggests a composition date in the AD 890s, when King Alfred of England had secured the submission of [[Guthrum]], leader of a division of the [[Great Summer Army|Great Heathen Army]] of the Danes, and of [[Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians|Aethelred]], ealdorman of Mercia. In this thesis, the trend of appropriating Gothic royal ancestry, established in [[Francia]] during [[Charlemagne]]'s reign, influenced the Anglian kingdoms of Britain to attribute to themselves a [[Geats|Geatish]] descent. The composition of ''Beowulf'' was the fruit of the later adaptation of this trend in Alfred's policy of asserting authority over the ''[[Angelcynn]]'', in which Scyldic descent was attributed to the West-Saxon royal pedigree. This date of composition largely agrees with Lapidge's positing of a West-Saxon exemplar c.900.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Davis |first=Craig R. |date=2006 |title=An ethnic dating of "Beowulf" |journal=Anglo-Saxon England |volume=35 |pages=111–129 |doi=10.1017/S0263675106000068 |jstor=44510948 |s2cid=162474995 |issn=0263-6751}}</ref>

The location of the poem's composition is intensely disputed. In 1914, [[F.W. Moorman]], the first professor of English Language at [[University of Leeds]], claimed that ''Beowulf'' was composed in Yorkshire,<ref>{{cite book |last=Moorman |first=F. W. |chapter=English Place Names and the Teutonic Sagas |editor=Oliver Elton |title=English Association Essays and Studies |volume=5 |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1914 |pages=75ff}}</ref> but E. Talbot Donaldson claims that it was probably composed during the first half of the eighth century, and that the writer was a native of what was then called West Mercia, located in the Western Midlands of England. However, the late tenth-century manuscript "which alone preserves the poem" originated in the kingdom of the [[Wessex|West Saxons]] – as it is more commonly known.<ref name="Tuso 1975">{{cite book |last=Tuso |first=F. Joseph |title=Beowulf: The Donaldson Translation Backgrounds and Sources Criticism |publisher=Norton & Co |place=New York |year=1975 |pages=97–98}}</ref>

== Manuscript ==
{{Main|Nowell Codex}}

[[File:BLBeowulf.jpg|thumb|upright|Remounted page, [[British Library]] Cotton Vitellius A.XV]]

''Beowulf'' survived to modern times in a single manuscript, written in ink on [[parchment]], later damaged by fire. The manuscript measures 245 × 185 mm.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cotton MS Vitellius A XV |url=http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=cotton_ms_vitellius_a_xv |publisher=[[British Library]] |access-date=30 May 2014}}</ref>

=== Provenance ===

The poem is known only from a single manuscript, estimated to date from around 975–1025, in which it appears with other works.{{sfn|Stanley|1981|pp=9–22}} The manuscript therefore dates either to the reign of [[Æthelred the Unready]], characterised by strife with the Danish king [[Sweyn Forkbeard]], or to the beginning of the reign of Sweyn's son [[Cnut|Cnut the Great]] from 1016. The ''Beowulf'' manuscript is known as the Nowell Codex, gaining its name from 16th-century scholar [[Laurence Nowell]]. The official designation is "[[British Library]], Cotton Vitellius A.XV" because it was one of [[Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington|Sir Robert Bruce Cotton]]'s holdings in the [[Cotton library]] in the middle of the 17th century. Many private antiquarians and book collectors, such as Sir Robert Cotton, used their own [[library classification]] systems. "Cotton Vitellius A.XV" translates as: the 15th book from the left on shelf A (the top shelf) of the bookcase with the bust of Roman Emperor [[Vitellius]] standing on top of it, in Cotton's collection. [[Kevin Kiernan (scholar)|Kevin Kiernan]] argues that Nowell most likely acquired it through [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley]], in 1563, when Nowell entered Cecil's household as a [[tutor]] to his ward, [[Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kiernan |first=Kevin S. |author-link=Kevin Kiernan (scholar) |title=Pride and Prodigies: Studies in the Monsters of the "Beowulf"-Manuscript.Andy Orchard |journal=Speculum |volume=73 |issue=3 |year=1998 |pages=879–881 |jstor=2887546 |doi=10.2307/2887546}}</ref>

The earliest extant reference to the first foliation of the Nowell Codex was made sometime between 1628 and 1650 by [[Franciscus Junius (the younger)]]. The ownership of the codex before Nowell remains a mystery.<ref name="Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript">{{cite book |last=Kiernan |first=Kevin |author-link=Kevin Kiernan (scholar) |title=Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript |date=1981 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=New Brunswick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yv8cnwEACAAJ |isbn=978-0472084128 |pages=20–21, 91, 120}}</ref>

The Reverend [[Thomas Smith (scholar)|Thomas Smith]] (1638–1710) and [[Humfrey Wanley]] (1672–1726) both catalogued the Cotton library (in which the Nowell Codex was held). Smith's catalogue appeared in 1696, and Wanley's in 1705.{{sfn|Joy|2005|p=2}} The ''Beowulf'' manuscript itself is identified by name for the first time in an exchange of letters in 1700 between George Hickes, Wanley's assistant, and Wanley. In the letter to Wanley, Hickes responds to an apparent charge against Smith, made by Wanley, that Smith had failed to mention the ''Beowulf'' script when cataloguing Cotton MS. Vitellius A. XV. Hickes replies to Wanley "I can find nothing yet of Beowulph."{{sfn|Joy|2005|p=24}} Kiernan theorised that Smith failed to mention the ''Beowulf'' manuscript because of his reliance on previous catalogues or because either he had no idea how to describe it or because it was temporarily out of the codex.{{sfn|Kiernan|1996|pp=73–74}}

The manuscript passed to Crown ownership in 1702, on the death of its then owner, Sir John Cotton, who had inherited it from his grandfather, Robert Cotton. It suffered damage in a fire at [[Ashburnham House]] in 1731, in which around a quarter of the manuscripts bequeathed by Cotton were destroyed.<ref name="British Library Cotton MS Vitellius 2021">{{cite web |title=Cotton MS Vitellius A XV |url=https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Cotton_MS_Vitellius_A_XV |publisher=[[British Library]] |access-date=27 January 2021}}</ref> Since then, parts of the manuscript have crumbled along with many of the letters. Rebinding efforts, though saving the manuscript from much degeneration, have nonetheless covered up other letters of the poem, causing further loss. Kiernan, in preparing his electronic edition of the manuscript, used fibre-optic backlighting and ultraviolet lighting to reveal letters in the manuscript lost from binding, erasure, or ink blotting.<ref name="KiernanE">{{cite web |last=Kiernan |first=Kevin |author-link=Kevin Kiernan (scholar) |title=Electronic Beowulf 3.0 |date=16 January 2014 |url=http://ebeowulf.uky.edu/ |publisher=U of Kentucky |access-date=19 November 2014}}</ref>

=== Writing ===

The ''Beowulf'' manuscript was transcribed from an original by two scribes, one of whom wrote the prose at the beginning of the manuscript and the first 1939 lines, before breaking off in mid-sentence. The first scribe made a point of carefully regularizing the spelling of the original document into the common West Saxon, removing any archaic or dialectical features. The second scribe, who wrote the remainder, with a difference in handwriting noticeable after line 1939, seems to have written more vigorously and with less interest. As a result, the second scribe's script retains more archaic dialectic features, which allow modern scholars to ascribe the poem a cultural context.<ref name="Beowulf: Revised Edition">{{cite book |last=Swanton |first=Michael |title=Beowulf: Revised Edition |date=1997 |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester |isbn=978-0719051463 |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Ks8nj3BGEQC}}</ref> While both scribes appear to have proofread their work, there are nevertheless many errors.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Neidorf |first=Leonard |author-link=Leonard Neidorf |year=2013 |journal=Anglo-Saxon England |volume=42 |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9099642&fileId=S0263675113000124 |pages=249–69 |title=Scribal errors of proper names in the ''Beowulf'' manuscript |doi=10.1017/s0263675113000124|s2cid=161079836 }}</ref> The second scribe was ultimately the more conservative copyist as he did not modify the spelling of the text as he wrote, but copied what he saw in front of him. In the way that it is currently bound, the ''Beowulf'' manuscript is followed by the Old English poem ''[[Judith (poem)|Judith]]''. ''Judith'' was written by the same scribe that completed ''Beowulf'', as evidenced by similar writing style. Wormholes found in the last leaves of the ''Beowulf'' manuscript that are absent in the ''Judith'' manuscript suggest that at one point ''Beowulf'' ended the volume. The rubbed appearance of some leaves suggests that the manuscript stood on a shelf unbound, as was the case with other Old English manuscripts.<ref name="Beowulf: Revised Edition"/> Knowledge of books held in the library at [[Malmesbury Abbey]] and available as source works, as well as the identification of certain words particular to the local dialect found in the text, suggest that the transcription may have taken place there.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lapidge |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Lapidge |title=Anglo-Latin literature, 600–899 |url=https://archive.org/details/anglolatinlitera0000lapi_i2t2 |url-access=registration |publisher=Hambledon Press |location=London |year=1996 |page=[https://archive.org/details/anglolatinlitera0000lapi_i2t2/page/299 299] |isbn=978-1-85285-011-1}}</ref>

=== Performance ===
[[File:A minstrel sings of famous deeds by J. R. Skelton c 1910.jpg|thumb|upright|The traditional view is that ''Beowulf'' was composed for performance, chanted by a [[scop]] (left) to string accompaniment,{{sfn|Liuzza|2013|pp=18–20}} but modern scholars have suggested its origin as a piece of written literature borrowed from oral traditions. Illustration by [[Joseph Ratcliffe Skelton|J. R. Skelton]], c. 1910]]

{{further|Oral-formulaic composition}}

The scholar [[Roy Liuzza]] notes that the practice of oral poetry is by its nature invisible to history as evidence is in writing. Comparison with other bodies of verse such as Homer's, coupled with ethnographic observation of early 20th century performers, has provided a vision of how an Anglo-Saxon singer-poet or [[scop]] may have practised. The resulting model is that performance was based on traditional stories and a repertoire of word formulae that fitted the traditional metre. The scop moved through the scenes, such as putting on armour or crossing the sea, each one improvised at each telling with differing combinations of the stock phrases, while the basic story and style remained the same.{{sfn|Liuzza|2013|pp=18–20}} Liuzza notes that ''Beowulf'' itself describes the technique of a court poet in assembling materials, in lines 867–874 in his translation, "full of grand stories, mindful of songs ... found other words truly bound together; ... to recite with skill the adventure of Beowulf, adeptly tell a tall tale, and (''wordum wrixlan'') weave his words."{{sfn|Liuzza|2013|p=36}} The poem further mentions (lines 1065–1068) that "the harp was touched, tales often told, when Hrothgar's scop was set to recite among the mead tables his hall-entertainment".{{sfn|Liuzza|2013|p=119: "gomenwudu grēted, gid oft wrecen, ðonne healgamen Hrōþgāres scop æfter medobence mǣnan scolde,"}}

=== Debate over oral tradition ===

The question of whether ''Beowulf'' was passed down through [[oral tradition]] prior to its present [[manuscript]] form has been the subject of much debate, and involves more than simply the issue of its composition. Rather, given the implications of the theory of [[oral-formulaic composition]] and oral tradition, the question concerns how the poem is to be understood, and what sorts of interpretations are legitimate.<ref name="COLORING210-217">{{cite journal |last=Blackburn |first=F. A. |title=The Christian Coloring of Beowulf |journal=PMLA |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=210–217 |year=1897 |doi=10.2307/456133 |jstor=456133|s2cid=163940392 }}</ref><ref name="BENSON193-213">{{cite book |last=Benson |first=Larry D. |title=The Pagan Coloring of Beowulf |work=Old English Poetry: fifteen essays |pages=193–213 |year=1967 |editor-last=Creed |editor-first=R. P. |place=Providence, [[Rhode Island]] |publisher=Brown University Press}}</ref>{{sfn|Lord|1960|p=198}}<ref name="Crowne 1960"/> In his landmark 1960 work, ''[[The Singer of Tales]]'', Albert Lord, citing the work of [[Francis Peabody Magoun]] and others, considered it proven that ''Beowulf'' was composed orally.{{sfn|Lord|1960|p=198}} Later scholars have not all been convinced; they agree that "themes" like "arming the hero"{{Sfn|Zumthor|1984|pp=67–92}} or the "hero on the beach"<ref name="Crowne 1960">{{cite journal |last=Crowne |first=D. K. |title=The Hero on the Beach: An Example of Composition by Theme in Anglo-Saxon Poetry |journal=Neuphilologische Mitteilungen |volume=61 |year=1960}}</ref> do exist across Germanic works, some scholars conclude that Anglo-Saxon poetry is a mix of oral-formulaic and literate patterns.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Benson |first=Larry D. |title=The Literary Character of Anglo-Saxon Formulaic Poetry |journal=Publications of the Modern Language Association |volume=81 |issue=5 |pages=334–341 |year=1966 |doi=10.2307/460821 |jstor=460821|s2cid=163959399 }}</ref> Larry Benson proposed that Germanic literature contains "kernels of tradition" which ''Beowulf'' expands upon.<ref>{{cite book |last=Benson |first=Larry D. |title=The Interpretation of Narrative |pages=1–44 |year=1970 |contribution=The Originality of ''Beowulf'' |place=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Harvard University Press}}</ref><ref name="Foley">Foley, John M. ''Oral-Formulaic Theory and Research: An Introduction and Annotated Bibliography''. New York: Garland, 1985. p. 126</ref> Ann Watts argued against the imperfect application of one theory to two different traditions: traditional, Homeric, oral-formulaic poetry and Anglo-Saxon poetry.<ref name="Foley" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Watts |first=Ann C. |title=The Lyre and the Harp: A Comparative Reconsideration of Oral Tradition in Homer and Old English Epic Poetry |page=124 |year=1969 |place=New Haven, Connecticut |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-00797-8}}</ref> Thomas Gardner agreed with Watts, arguing that the ''Beowulf'' text is too varied to be completely constructed from set formulae and themes.<ref name="Foley"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Gardner |first=Thomas |title=How Free Was the ''Beowulf'' Poet? |journal=Modern Philology |year=1973 |volume=71 |issue=2 |pages=111–127|doi=10.1086/390461 |s2cid=161829597 }}</ref> [[John Miles Foley]] wrote that comparative work must observe the particularities of a given tradition; in his view, there was a fluid continuum from traditionality to textuality.<ref>{{cite book |last=Foley |first=John Miles |title=The Theory of Oral Composition: History and Methodology |pages=109ff |year=1991 |place=Bloomington |publisher=IUP}}</ref>

== Editions, translations, and adaptations ==

=== Editions ===

Many editions of the Old English text of ''Beowulf'' have been published; this section lists the most influential.

The Icelandic scholar [[Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin]] made the first transcriptions of the ''Beowulf''-manuscript in 1786, working as part of a Danish government historical research commission. He made one himself, and had another done by a professional copyist who knew no Old English (and was therefore in some ways more likely to make transcription errors, but in other ways more likely to copy exactly what he saw). Since that time, the manuscript has crumbled further, making these transcripts prized witnesses to the text. While the recovery of at least 2000 letters can be attributed to them, their accuracy has been called into question,{{refn|group="lower-alpha"|For instance, by Chauncey Brewster Tinker in ''The Translations of Beowulf'',<ref name="chaucey">{{cite book |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25942 |publisher=Gutenberg |first=Chauncey Brewster |last=Tinker |title=The Translations of Beowulf |year=1903}}</ref> a comprehensive survey of 19th-century translations and editions of ''Beowulf''.}} and the extent to which the manuscript was actually more readable in Thorkelin's time is uncertain.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Malone |editor-first=Kemp |title=The Thorkelin Transcripts of Beowulf in Facsimile |series=Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile |volume=1 |publisher=Rosenkilde and Bagger |year=1951}}</ref> Thorkelin used these transcriptions as the basis for the first complete edition of ''Beowulf'', in Latin.<ref name="translationhistory"/>

In 1922, [[Frederick Klaeber]] published his edition ''[[Frederick Klaeber#Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg|Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg]]'';<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Klaeber |editor-first=Frederick |editor-link=Frederick Klaeber |title=Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924059417794/page/n7/mode/2up |publisher=Heath |year=1922}}</ref> it became the "central source used by graduate students for the study of the poem and by scholars and teachers as the basis of their translations."<ref name="Bloomfield 1999"/> The edition included an extensive glossary of Old English terms.<ref name="Bloomfield 1999">{{cite journal |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/modern_language_quarterly/v060/60.2bloomfield.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004105406/http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/modern_language_quarterly/v060/60.2bloomfield.pdf |archive-date=2015-10-04 |url-status=live |last =Bloomfield |first=Josephine |title=Benevolent Authoritarianism in Klaeber's Beowulf: An Editorial Translation of Kingship |journal=Modern Language Quarterly |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=129–159 |date=June 1999 |doi=10.1215/00267929-60-2-129 |s2cid =161287730}}</ref> His third edition was published in 1936, with the last version in his lifetime being a revised reprint in 1950.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Klaeber |editor-first=Frederick |editor-link=Frederick Klaeber |title=Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg |url=https://archive.org/details/beowulffightatfi0003unse_k3g4/page/n7/mode/2up |edition=3rd |publisher=Heath |year=1950|isbn=9780669212129 }}</ref> Klaeber's text was re-presented with new introductory material, notes, and glosses, in a fourth edition in 2008.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Fulk |editor1-first=R. D. |editor2-last=Bjork |editor2-first=Robert E. |editor3-last=Niles |editor3-first=John D. |title=Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg |edition=4th |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2008}}</ref>

Another widely used edition is [[Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie]]'s, published in 1953 in the [[Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records]] series.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dobbie |first=Elliott van Kirk |author-link=Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie |title=Beowulf and Judish |url=http://ota.ox.ac.uk/desc/3009 |series=Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|volume=4 |year=1953}}</ref> The British Library, meanwhile, took a prominent role in supporting [[Kevin Kiernan (scholar)|Kevin Kiernan]]'s ''[[Kevin Kiernan (scholar)#Electronic Beowulf|Electronic Beowulf]]''; the first edition appeared in 1999, and the fourth in 2014.<ref name="KiernanE"/>

=== Translations and adaptations ===
{{Main|Translating Beowulf|List of translations of Beowulf|List of adaptations of Beowulf}}

The tightly interwoven structure of Old English poetry makes [[translating Beowulf|translating ''Beowulf'']] a severe technical challenge.{{sfn|Magennis|2011|pp=1–25}} Despite this, a great number of translations and adaptations are available, in poetry and prose. Andy Orchard, in ''A Critical Companion to Beowulf'', lists 33 "representative" translations in his bibliography,{{sfn|Orchard|2003a|pp=4, 329–30}} while the [[Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies]] published [[Marijane Osborn]]'s annotated list of over 300 translations and adaptations in 2003.<ref name="translationhistory"/> ''Beowulf'' has been translated many times in verse and in prose, and adapted for stage and screen. By 2020, the Beowulf's Afterlives Bibliographic Database listed some 688 translations and other versions of the poem.<ref name="BABD">{{cite web |title=Beowulf's Afterlives Bibliographic Database |url=http://beowulf.dh.tamu.edu/ |website=Beowulf's Afterlives Bibliographic Database |access-date=30 November 2020}}</ref> ''Beowulf'' has been translated into at least 38 other languages.{{sfn|Schulman|Szarmach|2012|p=4}}<ref name="BABD"/>


In 1805, the historian [[Sharon Turner]] translated selected verses into [[modern English]].<ref name="translationhistory">{{cite web |last=Osborn |first=Marijane |author-link=Marijane Osborn |title=Annotated List of Beowulf Translations |url=https://acmrs.org/academic-programs/online-resources/beowulf-list |access-date=21 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141121165748/https://acmrs.org/academic-programs/online-resources/beowulf-list |archive-date=21 November 2014}}</ref> This was followed in 1814 by [[John Josias Conybeare]] who published an edition "in English paraphrase and Latin verse translation."<ref name="translationhistory"/> [[N. F. S. Grundtvig]] reviewed Thorkelin's edition in 1815 and created the first complete verse translation in Danish in 1820.<ref name="translationhistory"/> In 1837, [[John Mitchell Kemble]] created an important literal translation in English.<ref name="translationhistory"/> In 1895, [[William Morris]] and A. J. Wyatt published the ninth English translation.<ref name="translationhistory"/>


In 1909, [[Francis Barton Gummere]]'s full translation in "English imitative metre" was published,<ref name="translationhistory" /> and was used as the text of Gareth Hinds's 2007 graphic novel based on ''Beowulf''. In 1975, John Porter published the first complete verse translation of the poem entirely accompanied by facing-page Old English.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kears |first=Carl |date=10 January 2018 |title=Eric Mottram and Old English: Revival and Re-Use in the 1970s |journal=The Review of English Studies |volume=69 |issue=290 |pages=430–454 |via=Oxford Academic |doi=10.1093/res/hgx129 |url=https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/ws/files/97630647/Eric_Mottram_and_Old_KEARS_Firstonline10January2018_GREEN_AAM.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/ws/files/97630647/Eric_Mottram_and_Old_KEARS_Firstonline10January2018_GREEN_AAM.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Seamus Heaney]]'s 1999 translation of the poem (''[[Beowulf: A New Verse Translation]]'', called "Heaneywulf" by the ''Beowulf'' translator Howell Chickering and many others{{sfn|Chickering|2002}}) was both praised and criticized. The US publication was commissioned by [[W. W. Norton & Company]], and was included in the ''Norton Anthology of English Literature''. Many retellings of ''Beowulf'' for children appeared in the 20th century.<ref name="McGrath NYT 2007">{{cite news |last=McGrath |first=Charles |title=Children's Books {{!}} Young Adults: Reviews |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/books/review/McGrath-t.html |access-date=27 January 2021 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=17 June 2007 |quote=the graphic novelist Gareth Hinds has reimagined ''Beowulf'' as a kind of superhero tale ... A. J. Church's 1904 prose translation ... James Rumford's ''Beowulf: A Hero's Tale Retold'' ... An even better text is Michael Morpurgo's ''Beowulf'' ...}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Jaillant |first=Lise |title=A Fine Old Tale of Adventure: Beowulf Told to the Children of the English Race, 1898–1908 |journal=Children's Literature Association Quarterly |url=https://www.academia.edu/3765663 |year=2013 |volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=399–419 |doi=10.1353/chq.2013.0055 |s2cid=53377090 |access-date=7 December 2020}}</ref>


In 2000 (2nd edition 2013), Liuzza published his own version of ''Beowulf'' in a parallel text with the Old English,{{sfn|Liuzza|2013|pp=51–245}} with his analysis of the poem's historical, oral, religious and linguistic contexts.{{sfn|Liuzza|2013|pp=1–43}} R. D. Fulk, of [[Indiana University]], published a facing-page edition and translation of the entire [[Nowell Codex]] manuscript in 2010.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sims |first=Harley J. |year=2012 |title=Rev. of Fulk, ''Beowulf'' |journal=[[The Heroic Age (journal)|The Heroic Age]] |volume=15 |url=http://www.heroicage.org/issues/15/reviews.php#fulk}}</ref> [[Hugh Magennis (scholar)|Hugh Magennis]]'s 2011 ''Translating Beowulf: Modern Versions in English Verse'' discusses the challenges and history of translating the poem,{{sfn|Magennis|2011|pp=1–25}}{{sfn|Magennis|2011|pp=41ff}} as well as the question of how to approach its poetry,{{sfn|Magennis|2011|pp=27ff}} and discusses several post-1950 verse translations,{{sfn|Magennis|2011|pp=191ff}} paying special attention to those of [[Edwin Morgan (poet)|Edwin Morgan]],{{sfn|Magennis|2011|pp=81ff}} [[Burton Raffel]],{{sfn|Magennis|2011|pp=109ff}} [[Michael J. Alexander]],{{sfn|Magennis|2011|pp=135ff}} and Seamus Heaney.{{sfn|Magennis|2011|pp=161ff}} Translating ''Beowulf'' is one of the subjects of the 2012 publication ''Beowulf at Kalamazoo'', containing a section with 10 essays on translation, and a section with 22 reviews of Heaney's translation, some of which compare Heaney's work with Liuzza's.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Geremia |first=Silvia |date=2007 |title=A Contemporary Voice Revisits the past: Seamus Heaney's Beowulf|journal=Journal of Irish Studies |issue=2 |page=57}}</ref> Tolkien's long-awaited translation (edited by his son [[Christopher Tolkien|Christopher]]) was published in 2014 as ''[[Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary]]''. The book includes Tolkien's own retelling of the story of Beowulf in his tale ''Sellic Spell'', but not his incomplete and unpublished verse translation.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/19/jrr-tolkien-beowulf-translation-published |title=JRR Tolkien translation of Beowulf to be published after 90-year wait |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=17 March 2014 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=21 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Acocella |first=Joan |date=2 June 2014 |title=Slaying Monsters: Tolkien's 'Beowulf' |url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2014/06/02/140602crbo_books_acocella?currentPage=all |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |access-date=2 June 2014}}</ref> ''[[The Mere Wife]]'', by [[Maria Dahvana Headley]], was published in 2018. It relocates the action to a wealthy community in 20th century America and is told primarily from the point of view of Grendel's mother.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/review-the-mere-wife-explores-beowulf-in-the-suburbs/2018/07/16/06d19a96-890b-11e8-9d59-dccc2c0cabcf_story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180717150053/https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/review-the-mere-wife-explores-beowulf-in-the-suburbs/2018/07/16/06d19a96-890b-11e8-9d59-dccc2c0cabcf_story.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 July 2018 |title=Review: 'The Mere Wife' explores 'Beowulf' in the suburbs |last=Kay |first=Jennifer |date=16 July 2018 |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=25 July 2018}}</ref> In 2020, Headley published a translation in which the opening "Hwæt!" is rendered "Bro!";<ref>{{cite web |last=Grady |first=Constance |title=This new translation of Beowulf brings the poem to profane, funny, hot-blooded life |url=https://www.vox.com/culture/21399477/beowulf-maria-dahvana-headley-review |website=Vox |access-date=29 November 2020 |date=27 August 2020}}</ref> this translation subsequently won the [[Hugo Award for Best Related Work]].<ref name="Hugo21">{{cite web |url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2021-hugo-awards/ |title=2021 Hugo Awards |date=January 2021 |publisher=World Science Fiction Society |access-date=2022-08-24}}</ref>

== Sources and analogues ==

Neither identified sources nor [[Analogue (literature)|analogues]] for ''Beowulf'' can be definitively proven, but many conjectures have been made. These are important in helping historians understand the ''Beowulf'' manuscript, as possible source-texts or influences would suggest time-frames of composition, geographic boundaries within which it could be composed, or range (both spatial and temporal) of influence (i.e. when it was "popular" and where its "popularity" took it). The poem has been related to Scandinavian, Celtic, and international folkloric sources.{{efn|Ecclesiastical or biblical influences are only seen as adding "Christian color", in Andersson's survey. Old English sources hinges on the hypothesis that ''[[Genesis A]]'' predates ''Beowulf''.}}{{sfn|Andersson|1998|pp=125, 129}}

===Scandinavian parallels and sources===

19th-century studies proposed that ''Beowulf'' was translated from a lost original Scandinavian work; surviving Scandinavian works have continued to be studied as possible sources.{{sfn|Andersson|1998|pp=130–131}} In 1886 Gregor Sarrazin suggested that an [[Old Norse]] original version of ''Beowulf'' must have existed,{{sfn|Andersson|1998|p=130}} but in 1914 Carl Wilhelm von Sydow pointed out that ''Beowulf'' is fundamentally [[Christianity|Christian]] and was written at a time when any Norse tale would have most likely been [[paganism|pagan]].{{sfn|Andersson|1998|p=135}} Another proposal was a parallel with the ''[[Grettis Saga]]'', but in 1998, Magnús Fjalldal challenged that, stating that tangential similarities were being overemphasized as analogies.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fjalldal |first=Magnús |ref={{SfnRef|Magnús Fjalldal|1998}} |title=The long arm of coincidence: the frustrated connection between Beowulf and Grettis saga |year=1998 |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |url=https://archive.org/details/longarmofcoincid0000fjal |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-8020-4301-6}}</ref> The story of [[Hrólfr Kraki|Hrolf Kraki]] and his servant, the legendary bear-[[shapeshifter]] [[Böðvarr Bjarki|Bodvar Bjarki]], has also been suggested as a possible parallel; he survives in ''[[Hrólfs saga kraka]]'' and [[Saxo Grammaticus|Saxo]]'s ''[[Gesta Danorum]]'', while Hrolf Kraki, one of the [[Scylding]]s, appears as "Hrothulf" in ''Beowulf''.{{sfn|Panzer|1910|pp=364–386}}{{sfn|Chambers|1921|p=55}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=[[The Road to Middle-Earth]] |date=2005 |edition=Third |orig-year=1982 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0261102750 |page=91}}</ref> New Scandinavian analogues to ''Beowulf'' continue to be proposed regularly, with [[Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar]] being the most recently adduced text.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Grant |first=Tom |date=2021 |title=Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar and the Originality of Beowulf|journal=The Review of English Studies |volume=73 |issue=72|pages=1–19 |doi=10.1093/res/hgab051 }}</ref>

=== International folktale sources ===

{{ill|Friedrich Panzer (Germanist)|de|lt=Friedrich Panzer}} (1910) wrote a thesis that the first part of ''Beowulf'' (the Grendel Story) incorporated preexisting folktale material, and that the folktale in question was of the [[Bear's Son Tale]] (''Bärensohnmärchen'') type, which has surviving examples all over the world.{{sfn|Panzer|1910}}{{sfn|Andersson|1998|p=130}} This tale type was later catalogued as international [[folklore|folktale]] type 301, now formally entitled "The Three Stolen Princesses" type in Hans Uther's catalogue, although the "Bear's Son" is still used in Beowulf criticism, if not so much in folkloristic circles.{{sfn|Andersson|1998|p=130}} However, although this [[Folkloristics|folkloristic]] approach was seen as a step in the right direction, "The Bear's Son" tale has later been regarded by many as not a close enough parallel to be a viable choice.{{sfn|Andersson|1998|pp=137, 146}} Later, Peter A. Jorgensen, looking for a more concise frame of reference, coined a "two-troll tradition" that covers both ''Beowulf'' and ''Grettis saga'': "a [[Viking art|Norse]] '[[ecotype]]' in which a hero enters a cave and kills two giants, usually of different sexes";{{sfn|Andersson|1998|p=134}} this has emerged as a more attractive folk tale parallel, according to a 1998 assessment by Andersson.{{sfn|Andersson|1998|p=146}}{{sfn|Vickrey|2009|loc=p. 209: "I shall continue to use the term ''Bear's Son'' for the folktale in question; it is established in Beowulf criticism and certainly Stitt has justified its retention".}}

The epic's similarity to the Irish folktale "The Hand and the Child" was noted in 1899 by [[Albert Stanburrough Cook|Albert S. Cook]], and others even earlier.{{Efn|[[Ludwig Laistner]] (1889), II, p. 25; [[Stopford Brooke (chaplain)|Stopford Brooke]], I, p. 120; [[Albert Stanburrough Cook|Albert S. Cook]] (1899) pp. 154–156.}}{{sfn|Puhvel|1979|p=2–3}}{{sfn|Andersson|1998|p=135}}{{Efn|In the interim, {{illm|Max Deutschbein|de}} (1909) is credited by Andersson as the first person to present the Irish argument in academic form. He suggested the Irish ''[[Bricriu|Feast of Bricriu]]'' (not a folktale) as a source for ''Beowulf''—a theory soon denied by [[Oscar L. Olson|Oscar Olson]].{{sfn|Andersson|1998|p=135}}}} In 1914, the Swedish folklorist [[Carl Wilhelm von Sydow]] made a strong argument for parallelism with "The Hand and the Child", because the [[folklore|folktale]] type demonstrated a "monstrous arm" [[Motif (narrative)|motif]] that corresponded with Beowulf's wrenching off Grendel's arm. No such correspondence could be perceived in the Bear's Son Tale or in the ''Grettis saga''.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|von Sydow was anticipated by Heinz Dehmer in the 1920s, besides the 19th century authors who pointed out "The Hand and the Child" as a parallel.{{sfn|Andersson|1998|p=136}}}}{{sfn|Andersson|1998|p=136}}{{sfn|Puhvel|1979|p=2–3}}
[[James Carney (scholar)|James Carney]] and [[Martin Puhvel]] agree with this "Hand and the Child" contextualisation.{{Efn|Carney also sees the ''[[Táin Bó]]'' ''[[Fráech]]'' story (where a half-fairy hero fights a dragon in the "Black Pool (Dubh linn)"), but this has received little support.}} Puhvel supported the "Hand and the Child" theory through such motifs as (in Andersson's words) "the more powerful giant mother, the mysterious light in the cave, the melting of the sword in blood, the phenomenon of battle rage, swimming prowess, combat with water monsters, underwater adventures, and the bear-hug style of wrestling."{{sfn|Andersson|1998|p=137}}
In the [[Mabinogion]], [[Teyrnon]] discovers the otherworldly boy child [[Pryderi]], the principal character of the cycle, after cutting off the arm of a monstrous beast which is stealing foals from his stables.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Baudiš |first=Josef |title=Mabinogion |journal=Folklore |date=31 March 1916 |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=31–68 |doi=10.1080/0015587X.1916.9718909 |jstor=1254884|url=https://zenodo.org/record/2430235 }}</ref> The medievalist R. Mark Scowcroft notes that the tearing off of the monster's arm without a weapon is found only in ''Beowulf'' and fifteen of the Irish variants of the tale; he identifies twelve parallels between the tale and ''Beowulf''.<ref name="Scowcroft 1999">{{cite journal |last=Scowcroft |first=R. Mark |title=The Irish Analogues to Beowulf |journal=Speculum |date=January 1999 |volume=74 |issue=1 |pages=22–64 |jstor=2887269 |doi=10.2307/2887269|s2cid=161115254 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Scowcroft's "Hand and Child" parallels in ''Beowulf''<ref name="Scowcroft 1999"/>
|-
! "Hand and Child" Irish tale !! [[Grendel]]   !! [[Grendel's mother|Grendel's Mother]]
|-
| 1 Monster is attacking King each night || 86 ff || —
|-
| 2 Hero brings help from afar || 194 ff || —
|-
| 3 At night, when all but hero are asleep || 701–705 || 1251
|-
| 4 Monster attacks the hall || 702 ff || 1255 ff
|-
| 5 Hero pulls off monster's arm || 748 ff || —
|-
| 6 Monster escapes || 819 ff || 1294 ff
|-
| 7 Hero tracks monster to its lair || 839–849 || 1402 ff
|-
| 8 Monster has female companion || 1345 ff || —
|-
| 9 Hero kills the monster || — || 1492 ff
|-
| 10 Hero returns to King || 853 ff || 1623 ff
|-
| 11 Hero is rewarded with gifts || 1020 ff || 1866 ff
|-
| 12 Hero returns home || — || 1888 ff
|}

===Classical sources===

Attempts to find [[Classics|classical]] or [[Late Latin]] influence or analogue in ''Beowulf'' are almost exclusively linked with [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'' or [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]''. In 1926, [[Albert Stanburrough Cook|Albert S. Cook]] suggested a Homeric connection due to equivalent formulas, [[metonymy|metonymies]], and analogous voyages.{{sfn|Cook|1926}} In 1930, James A. Work supported the Homeric influence, stating that encounter between Beowulf and [[Unferð|Unferth]] was parallel to the encounter between Odysseus and [[Euryalus (Phaeacian)|Euryalus]] in Books 7–8 of the ''Odyssey,'' even to the point of both characters giving the hero the same gift of a sword upon being proven wrong in their initial assessment of the hero's prowess. This theory of Homer's influence on ''Beowulf'' remained very prevalent in the 1920s, but started to die out in the following decade when a handful of critics stated that the two works were merely "comparative literature",{{sfn|Andersson|1998|p=138}} although Greek was known in late 7th century England: [[Bede]] states that [[Theodore of Tarsus]], a Greek, was appointed [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] in 668, and he taught Greek. Several English scholars and churchmen are described by Bede as being fluent in Greek due to being taught by him; Bede claims to be fluent in Greek himself.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bede |author-link=Bede |title=[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People|Ecclesiastical History]] |at=V.24}}</ref>

[[Frederick Klaeber]], among others, argued for a connection between ''Beowulf'' and [[Virgil]] near the start of the 20th century, claiming that the very act of writing a secular epic in a Germanic world represents Virgilian influence. Virgil was seen as the pinnacle of Latin literature, and Latin was the dominant literary language of England at the time, therefore making Virgilian influence highly likely.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book |last=Haber |first=Tom Burns |title=A Comparative Study of the Beowulf and the Aeneid |place=Princeton |year=1931}}</ref> Similarly, in 1971, [[Alistair Campbell (academic)|Alistair Campbell]] stated that the [[apologue]] technique used in ''Beowulf'' is so rare in epic poetry aside from Virgil that the poet who composed ''Beowulf'' could not have written the poem in such a manner without first coming across [[Virgil]]'s writings.{{sfn|Andersson|1998|pp=140–41}}

===Biblical influences===

It cannot be denied that Biblical parallels occur in the text, whether seen as a pagan work with "Christian colouring" added by scribes or as a "Christian historical novel, with selected bits of paganism deliberately laid on as 'local colour'", as Margaret E. Goldsmith did in "The Christian Theme of ''Beowulf''".<ref name="Irving">{{cite book |last=Irving |first=Edward B. Jr. |chapter=Christian and Pagan Elements |title=A Beowulf Handbook |editor1=Robert E. Bjork |editor2=John D. Niles |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=1998 |pages=175–192}}</ref> ''Beowulf'' channels the [[Book of Genesis]], the [[Book of Exodus]], and the [[Book of Daniel]]{{sfn|Andersson|1998|pp=142–43}} in its inclusion of references to the [[Genesis creation narrative]], the story of [[Cain and Abel]], [[Noah]] and the [[Genesis flood narrative|flood]], the [[Devil in Christianity|Devil]], [[Hell]], and the [[Last Judgment]].<ref name="Irving" />

== Dialect ==
{{Old English topics}}

''Beowulf'' predominantly uses the [[West Saxon dialect]] of Old English, like other Old English poems copied at the time. However, it also uses many other linguistic forms; this leads some scholars to believe that it has endured a long and complicated transmission through all the main dialect areas. It retains a complicated mix of [[Mercian dialect|Mercian]], [[Northumbrian dialect|Northumbrian]], Early West Saxon, Anglian, Kentish and Late West Saxon dialectical forms.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Tuso |first=Joseph F. |title=Beowulf's Dialectal Vocabulary and the Kiernan Theory |journal=South Central Review |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=1–9 |year=1985 |doi=10.2307/3189145 |jstor=3189145}}</ref><ref name="Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.heorot.dk/beowulf-vorwort.html |title=An Introduction to the Structure & Making of the Old English poem known as ''Beowulf'' or ''The Beowulf'' and the Beowulf-codex of the British Museum MS Cotton Vitellius A.xv |last=Slade |first=Benjamin |website=Beowulf on Steorarume |date=21 December 2003 |access-date=18 January 2017}}</ref>

== Form and metre ==

An Old English poem such as ''Beowulf'' is very different from modern poetry. Anglo-Saxon poets typically used [[alliterative verse]], a form of [[poetry|verse]] in which the first half of the line (the a-verse) is linked to the second half (the b-verse) through [[alliteration|similarity in initial sound]]. In addition, the two halves are divided by a [[caesura]]: {{lang|ang|Oft '''Sc'''yld '''Sc'''efing \\ '''sc'''eaþena þreatum}} (l. 4). This verse form maps stressed and unstressed syllables onto abstract entities known as metrical positions. There is no fixed number of beats per line: the first one cited has three ({{lang|ang|Oft SCYLD SCEF-ING}}) whereas the second has two ({{lang|ang|SCEAþena ÞREATum}}).{{sfn|Tolkien|1997|pp=61–71}}

The poet had a choice of formulae to assist in fulfilling the alliteration scheme. These were memorised phrases that conveyed a general and commonly-occurring meaning that fitted neatly into a half-line of the chanted poem. Examples are line 8's {{lang|ang|weox under wolcnum}} ("waxed under welkin", i.e. "he grew up under the heavens"), line 11's {{lang|ang|gomban gyldan}} ("pay tribute"), line 13's {{lang|ang|geong in geardum}} ("young in the yards", i.e. "young in the courts"), and line 14's {{lang|ang|folce to frofre}} ("as a comfort to his people").<ref name="Bolton 1985">{{cite journal |last=Bolton |first=W. F. |title=A Poetic Formula in "Beowulf" and Seven Other Old English Poems: A Computer Study |journal=Computers and the Humanities |date=1985 |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=167–173|doi=10.1007/BF02259532 |s2cid=10330641 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Prosody of Beowulf |url=https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/251/ProsodyEarlyEnglish.docx |publisher=North Dakota State University |access-date=7 December 2020 |date=9 July 2010}}</ref><ref name="Fox2020">{{cite book |last=Fox |first=Michael |title=Following the Formula in Beowulf, Örvar-Odds Saga, and Tolkien |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RHD-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PR8 |year=2020 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-030-48134-6 |page=1ff}}</ref>

[[Kenning]]s are a significant technique in ''Beowulf''. They are evocative poetic descriptions of everyday things, often created to fill the alliterative requirements of the metre. For example, a poet might call the sea the "swan's riding"; a king might be called a "ring-giver." The poem contains many kennings, and the device is typical of much of classic poetry in Old English, which is heavily formulaic. The poem, too, makes extensive use of [[elision|elided]] [[metaphor]]s.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Greenblatt |editor1-first=Stephen |editor2-last=Abrams |editor2-first=Meyer Howard |editor1-link=Beowulf |title=The Norton Anthology of English Literature 8 |date=2006 |publisher=W. W. Norton |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/nortonanthologyo02chri/page/29 29] |edition=8th |url=https://archive.org/details/nortonanthologyo02chri |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0393928303}}</ref>

== Interpretation and criticism ==

The history of modern ''Beowulf'' criticism is often said to begin with Tolkien,{{sfn|Orchard|2003a|p=7}} author and Merton Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the [[University of Oxford]], who in his 1936 lecture to the [[British Academy]] criticised his contemporaries' excessive interest in its historical implications.{{sfn|Tolkien|2006|p=7}} He noted in ''[[Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics]]'' that as a result the poem's literary value had been largely overlooked, and argued that the poem "is in fact so interesting as poetry, in places poetry so powerful, that this quite overshadows the historical content..."{{sfn|Tolkien|1958|p=7}} Tolkien argued that the poem is not an epic; that, while no conventional term exactly fits, the nearest would be [[elegy]]; and that its focus is the concluding [[dirge]].{{sfn|Tolkien|1997|p=31}}

=== Paganism and Christianity ===

In historical terms, the poem's characters were [[Germanic paganism|Germanic pagans]], yet the poem was recorded by Christian Anglo-Saxons who had mostly converted from their native [[Anglo-Saxon paganism]] around the 7th century. ''Beowulf'' thus depicts a [[Germanic peoples|Germanic warrior society]], in which the relationship between the lord of the region and those who served under him was of paramount importance.<ref name="Leyerle">{{cite book |last=Leyerle |first=John |editor-last =Fulk |editor-first=Robert Dennis |title=Interpretations of Beowulf: A Critical Anthology |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_sU0bTfcIjYC&pg=PA155 |year=1991 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-20639-8 |pages=146–167 |chapter=The Interlace Structure of Beowulf}}</ref>

In terms of the relationship between characters in ''Beowulf'' to God, one might recall the substantial amount of paganism that is present throughout the work. Literary critics such as [[Fred C. Robinson]] argue that the ''Beowulf'' poet tries to send a message to readers during the Anglo-Saxon time period regarding the state of Christianity in their own time. Robinson argues that the intensified religious aspects of the Anglo-Saxon period inherently shape the way in which the poet alludes to paganism as presented in ''Beowulf''. The poet calls on Anglo-Saxon readers to recognize the imperfect aspects of their supposed Christian lifestyles. In other words, the poet is referencing their "Anglo-Saxon Heathenism."{{sfn|Robinson|2002|pp=150–152}} In terms of the characters of the epic itself, Robinson argues that readers are "impressed" by the courageous acts of Beowulf and the speeches of Hrothgar. But one is ultimately left to feel sorry for both men as they are fully detached from supposed "Christian truth".{{sfn|Robinson|2002|pp=150–152}} The relationship between the characters of ''Beowulf'', and the overall message of the poet, regarding their relationship with God is debated among readers and literary critics alike.{{sfn|Liuzza|2013|pp=27–36, "''Beowulf'' between Court and Cloister"}}

Richard North argues that the ''Beowulf'' poet interpreted "Danish myths in Christian form" (as the poem would have served as a form of entertainment for a Christian audience), and states: "As yet we are no closer to finding out why the first audience of ''Beowulf'' liked to hear stories about people routinely classified as damned. This question is pressing, given... that Anglo-Saxons saw the [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danes]] as '{{linktext|heathen}}s' rather than as foreigners."{{sfn|North|2006|p=195}} Donaldson wrote that "the poet who put the materials into their present form was a Christian and ... poem reflects a Christian tradition".<ref name="Tuso 1975"/>

Other scholars disagree as to whether ''Beowulf'' is a Christian work set in a Germanic pagan context. The question suggests that the conversion from the Germanic pagan beliefs to Christian ones was a prolonged and gradual process over several centuries, and the poem's message in respect to religious belief at the time it was written remains unclear. Robert F. Yeager describes the basis for these questions:<ref name="nhum"/>

{{blockquote|That the scribes of Cotton Vitellius A.XV were Christian [is] beyond doubt, and it is equally sure that ''Beowulf'' was composed in a Christianised England since conversion took place in the sixth and seventh centuries. The only Biblical references in Beowulf are to the Old Testament, and Christ is never mentioned. The poem is set in pagan times, and none of the characters is demonstrably Christian. In fact, when we are told what anyone in the poem believes, we learn that they are pagans. Beowulf's own beliefs are not expressed explicitly. He offers eloquent prayers to a higher power, addressing himself to the "Father Almighty" or the "Wielder of All." Were those the prayers of a pagan who used phrases the Christians subsequently appropriated? Or did the poem's author intend to see Beowulf as a Christian Ur-hero, symbolically refulgent with Christian virtues?<ref name="nhum">{{cite web |last=Yeager |first=Robert F. |publisher=National Endowment for the Humanities |access-date=2 October 2007 |url=http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/1999-03/yeager.html |title=Why Read Beowulf? |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930202351/http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/1999-03/yeager.html |archive-date=30 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

Ursula Schaefer's view is that the poem was created, and is interpretable, within both pagan and Christian horizons. Schaefer's concept of "vocality" offers neither a compromise nor a synthesis of views that see the poem as on the one hand Germanic, pagan, and oral and on the other Latin-derived, Christian, and literate, but, as stated by Monika Otter: "a 'tertium quid', a modality that participates in both oral and literate culture yet also has a logic and aesthetic of its own."<ref name="Otter 1992">{{cite journal |last=Otter |first=Monika |url=http://serials.infomotions.com/bmcr/bmcr-9404-otter-vokalitaet.txt |title=Vokalität: Altenglische Dichtung zwischen Mündlichkeit und Schriftlichkeit |trans-title=Vocality: Old English Poetry between Orality and Script |journal=Bryn Mawr Classical Review |access-date=19 April 2010 |number=9404 }}</ref><ref name="Schaefer 1992">{{cite journal |last=Schaefer |first=Ursula |title=Vokalität: Altenglische Dichtung zwischen Mündlichkeit und Schriftlichkeit |trans-title=Vocality: Old English Poetry between Orality and Script |journal=ScriptOralia |volume=39 |year=1992 |place=Tübingen |language=de}}</ref>

=== Politics and warfare ===

[[Stanley B. Greenfield]] has suggested that references to the human body throughout ''Beowulf'' emphasise the relative position of [[Thegn|thanes]] to their lord. He argues that the term "shoulder-companion" could refer to both a physical arm as well as a thane (Aeschere) who was very valuable to his lord (Hrothgar). With Aeschere's death, Hrothgar turns to Beowulf as his new "arm."{{sfn|Greenfield|1989|p=59}} Greenfield argues the foot is used for the opposite effect, only appearing four times in the poem. It is used in conjunction with [[Unferð]] (a man described by Beowulf as weak, traitorous, and cowardly). Greenfield notes that Unferð is described as "at the king's feet" (line 499). Unferð is a member of the foot troops, who, throughout the story, do nothing and "generally serve as backdrops for more heroic action."{{sfn|Greenfield|1989|p=61}}

Daniel Podgorski has argued that the work is best understood as an examination of inter-generational vengeance-based conflict, or [[feud]]ing.<ref name="Podgorski 2015">{{Cite web |url=http://thegemsbok.com/art-reviews-and-articles/book-reviews-tuesday-tome-beowulf/|title=Ending Unending Feuds: The Portent of Beowulf's Historicization of Violent Conflict |last=Podgorski |first=Daniel |date=3 November 2015 |website=The Gemsbok |access-date=13 February 2018}}</ref> In this context, the poem operates as an indictment of feuding conflicts as a function of its conspicuous, circuitous, and lengthy depiction of the [[Geatish-Swedish wars]]—coming into contrast with the poem's depiction of the protagonist Beowulf as being disassociated from the ongoing feuds in every way.<ref name="Podgorski 2015" /> Francis Leneghan argues that the poem can be understood as a "dynastic drama" in which the hero's fights with the monsters unfold against a backdrop of the rise and fall of royal houses, while the monsters themselves serve as portents of disasters affecting dynasties.<ref>Francis Leneghan, ''[https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781843845515/the-dynastic-drama-of-ibeowulfi/ The Dynastic Drama of Beowulf]'' (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2020)</ref>

== See also ==

{{Portal|Anglo-Saxon England}}
* [[List of Beowulf characters|List of ''Beowulf'' characters]]
* [[On Translating Beowulf|On Translating ''Beowulf'']]
* [[Sutton Hoo helmet#Beowulf|Sutton Hoo helmet § ''Beowulf'']]

== References ==

=== Notes ===
{{notelist}}

=== Citations ===
{{reflist|30em}}

===Sources===

{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Andersson |first=Theodore M. |title=Sources and Analogues |work=A Beowulf Handbook |editor1-last=Bjork |editor1-first=Robert E. |editor2-first=John D. |editor2-last=Niles |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |date=1998 |pages=125–148 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SaFdpGdjvtoC&pg=PA125 |isbn=978-0803261501}}
* {{cite book |last=Chambers |first=Raymond Wilson |author-link=Raymond Wilson Chambers |title=Beowulf: An Introduction to the Study of the Poem |publisher=The University Press |year=1921 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PlA5AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA374}}
* {{cite journal |last=Chickering |first=Howell D. |title=''Beowulf'' and 'Heaneywulf': review |url=http://people.umass.edu/sharris/in/e505s/ChickeringHeaneywulf.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://people.umass.edu/sharris/in/e505s/ChickeringHeaneywulf.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |journal=[[The Kenyon Review]] |series=New |volume=24 |issue=1 |year=2002 |pages=160–178}}
* {{cite book |last=Cook |first=Albert Stanburrough |author-link=Albert Stanburrough Cook |title=Beowulfian and Odyssean Voyages |year=1926 |publisher=Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences}}
* {{cite book |last=Greenfield |first=Stanley |year=1989 |title=Hero and Exile |publisher=Hambleton Press}}
* {{cite journal |last=Joy |first=Eileen A. |title=Thomas Smith, Humfrey Wanley, and the 'Little-Known Country' of the Cotton Library |journal=Electronic British Library Journal |year=2005 |url=http://www.bl.uk/eblj/2005articles/pdf/article1.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.bl.uk/eblj/2005articles/pdf/article1.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal |journal=The Heroic Age |issue=5 |url=http://www.heroicage.org/issues/5/toc.html |title=Anthropological and Cultural Approaches to Beowulf |date=Summer–Autumn 2001}}
* {{cite book |last=Kiernan |first=Kevin |title=Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript |location=Ann Arbor, Michigan |publisher=University of Michigan |year=1996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yv8cnwEACAAJ |isbn=978-0-472-08412-8}}
* Jaillant, Lise. [https://www.academia.edu/3765663/A_Fine_Old_Tale_of_Adventure_Beowulf_Told_to_the_Children_of_the_English_Race_1898-1908 "A Fine Old Tale of Adventure: Beowulf Told to the Children of the English Race, 1898–1908." Children's Literature Association Quarterly 38.4 (2013): 399–419]
* {{cite book |last=Liuzza |first=Roy M. |author-link=Roy Liuzza |title=Beowulf: facing page translation |publisher=Broadview Press |year=2013 |edition=2nd |orig-year=2000 |isbn=978-1554811137}}
* {{cite book |last=Lord |first=Albert |title=The Singer of Tales |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1960 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JrvQdPMXGmAC|isbn=978-0674002838}}
* {{cite book |last=Magennis |first=Hugh |author-link=Hugh Magennis (scholar) |title=Translating Beowulf : modern versions in English verse |publisher=D.S. Brewer |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-84384-394-8}}
* {{cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=Bruce |first2=Fred C. |last2=Robinson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uujn741w2Y4C |title=Beowulf: an edition with relevant shorter texts |publisher=Blackwell |year=1998 |isbn=978-0631172260}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Neidorf |editor-first=Leonard |editor-link=Leonard Neidorf |title=The Dating of Beowulf: A Reassessment |year=2014 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TBEABQAAQBAJ |publisher=[[D.S. Brewer]] |isbn=978-1-84384-387-0}}
* {{cite book |last=North |first=Richard |title=Origins of Beowulf: From Vergil to Wiglaf |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2006 |chapter=The King's Soul: Danish Mythology in Beowulf}}
* {{cite book |last=Orchard |first=Andy |title=A Critical Companion to Beowulf |publisher=D.S. Brewer |year=2003a}}
* {{cite book |last=Panzer |first=Friedrich |title=Studien zur germanischen Sagengeschichte – I. Beowulf |publisher=C. H. Beck (O. Beck) |year=1910 |url=https://archive.org/details/studienzurgerman01panz }}, and [https://archive.org/details/studienzurgerman01panz II. Sigfrid] {{in lang|de}}
* {{cite book |last=Puhvel |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Puhvel |title=Beowulf and Celtic Tradition |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press |year=1979 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JMdsC7I4HsAC |isbn=978-0889200630}}
* {{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Fred C. |contribution=Beowulf |title=The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature |editor1-first=Malcolm |editor1-last=Godden |editor2-first=Michael |editor2-last=Lapidge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |orig-year=1991 |year=2002 |pages=142–159 |isbn=978-0-521-37794-2 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Schulman |first1=Jana K. |last2=Szarmach |first2=Paul E. |chapter=Introduction |title=Beowulf and Kalamazoo |year=2012 |editor1-last=Schulman |editor1-first=Jana K. |editor2-last=Szarmach |editor2-first=Paul E. |pages=1–11 |publisher=Medieval Institute |isbn=978-1-58044-152-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Stanley |first=E. G. |chapter=The date of ''Beowulf'': some doubts and no conclusions |editor-last=Chase |editor-first=Colin |editor-link=Colin Robert Chase |title=The Dating of Beowulf |series=Toronto Old English Series |volume=6 |date=1981 |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |location=Toronto |isbn=0-8020-7879-6 |jstor=10.3138/j.ctt1287v33.18 |url=https://archive.org/details/datingofbeowulf0000unse |url-access=registration |pages=197–212}}
* {{Cite book |last=Tolkien |first=John Ronald Reuel |author-link=J. R. R. Tolkien |editor-last=Bliss |editor-first=Alan |editor-link=Alan Bliss |year=2006 |title=Finn and Hengest |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |isbn=0-261-10355-5 |title-link=Finn and Hengest}}
* {{cite book |last=Tolkien |first=John Ronald Reuel |author-link=J. R. R. Tolkien |title=Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics and other essays |location=London |publisher=HarperCollins |orig-year=1958 |year=1997 |title-link=Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics}}
* {{cite book |last=Tolkien |first=John Ronald Reuel |author-link=J. R. R. Tolkien |title=Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics and other essays |location=London |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1958 |title-link=Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics}}
* {{cite book |last=Vickrey |first=John F. |title=Beowulf and the Illusion of History |publisher=[[University of Delaware Press]] |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F02x05e2JGUC&pg=PA17 |isbn=978-0980149661}}
* {{cite journal |last=Zumthor |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Zumthor |title=The Text and the Voice |others=Englehardt, Marilyn C. (translator) |journal=New Literary History |volume=16 |pages=67–92 |year=1984 |issue=1 |doi=10.2307/468776 |jstor=468776}}
{{refend}}


==Further reading==
The secondary literature on ''Beowulf'' is immense. The following is a selection.

{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Anderson |editor-first=Sarah |title=Introduction and historical/cultural contexts |publisher=Longman Cultural |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-321-10720-6 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Carruthers |first=Leo |chapter=Rewriting Genres: ''Beowulf'' as Epic Romance |title=Palimpsests and the Literary Imagination of Medieval England |editor1-first=Leo |editor1-last=Carruthers |editor2-first=Raeleen |editor2-last=Chai-Elsholz |editor3-first=Tatjana |editor3-last=Silec |publisher=Palgrave |date=2011 |pages=139–55 |isbn=9780230100268 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Chadwick |first=Nora K. |author-link=Nora K. Chadwick |chapter=The Monsters and Beowulf |title=The Anglo-Saxons: Studies in Some Aspects of Their History |editor-first=Peter |editor-last=Clemoes |publisher=Bowes & Bowes |date=1959 |pages=171–203 |oclc=213750799 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Chance |first=Jane |author-link=Jane Chance |title=New Readings on Women in Old English Literature |contribution=The Structural Unity of Beowulf: The Problem of Grendel's Mother |publisher=Indiana University Press |editor1-first =Helen |editor1-last=Damico |editor2-first=Alexandra Hennessey |editor2-last=Olsen |year=1990 |pages=248–261 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Creed |first=Robert P. |title=Reconstructing the Rhythm of ''Beowulf'' |publisher=University of Missouri |date=1990 |isbn=9780826207227 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/reconstructingrh00cree |ref=none }}
* {{cite book |last=Damico |first=Helen |title=Beowulf's Wealhtheow and the Valkyrie Tradition |year=1984 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=9780299095000 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Heaney | first=Seamus |author-link=Seamus Heaney | year=2000 | title=Beowulf: A New Verse Translation | publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal |author-link=Seth Lerer |last=Lerer |first=Seth |title=Dragging the Monster from the Closet: Beowulf and the English Literary Tradition |url=http://old.ragazine.cc/2012/01/beowulf-seth-lerer/ |date=2012 |journal=Ragazine |ref=none |access-date=13 April 2016 |archive-date=28 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128084820/http://old.ragazine.cc/2012/01/beowulf-seth-lerer/ |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Nicholson |editor-first=Lewis E. |title=An Anthology of Beowulf Criticism |year=1963 |publisher=University of Notre Dame Press |isbn=978-0-268-00006-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/anthologyofbeowu0000unse |ref=none }}
* {{cite book |last=Orchard |first=Andy |title=Pride and Prodigies: Studies in the Monsters of the Beowulf-Manuscript |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |year=2003b |isbn=978-1442657090 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Puhvel |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Puhvel |title=Beowulf and the Celtic Tradition |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press |year=2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1djfAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT11 |isbn=9781554587698 |ref=none }}
* {{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Fred C. |author-link=Fred C. Robinson |title=The Tomb of Beowulf |work=The Norton Critical Edition of Beowulf: A Verse Translation, translated by Seamus Heaney and edited by Daniel Donoghue |year=2002 |publisher = W.W. Norton & Company |pages=181–197 |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal |last=Saltzman |first=Benjamin A. |title=Secrecy and the Hermeneutic Potential in Beowulf |journal=PMLA |volume=133 |pages=36–55 |year=2018 |issue=1 |url=https://www.academia.edu/26411075 |doi=10.1632/pmla.2018.133.1.36 |s2cid=165799854 |ref=none }}
* {{SLS Q|qid=Q113518958}}
* {{cite book |last=Tolkien |first=John Ronald Reuel |author-link=J. R. R. Tolkien |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |title=''Beowulf'' and the Critics |publisher=Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies |date=2002 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Trask |first=Richard M. |contribution=Preface to the Poems: Beowulf and Judith: Epic Companions |title=Beowulf and Judith: Two Heroes |publisher=University Press of America |year=1998 |pages=11–14 |ref=none}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{wiktionary}}
{{sisterlinks|d=Q48328|c=Category:Beowulf|display=''Beowulf''|n=no|s=Beowulf|wikt=Beowulf|q=Beowulf|voy=no|b=no|m=no|mw=no|v=no}}

* [http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?index=0&ref=Cotton_MS_vitellius_a_xv Full digital facsimile of the manuscript on the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts website]
* [http://ebeowulf.uky.edu/ebeo4.0/start.html ''Electronic Beowulf''], edited by Kevin Kiernan, 4th online edition (University of Kentucky/The British Library, 2015)
* [http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/englit/beowulf/ ''Beowulf'' manuscript in The British Library's Online Gallery, with short summary and podcast]
* [http://www.acmrs.org/academic-programs/online-resources/beowulf-list Annotated List of ''Beowulf'' Translations: The List – Arizonal Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130621202148/http://www.acmrs.org/academic-programs/online-resources/beowulf-list |date=21 June 2013 }}
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ascp/a04_01.htm online text] (digitised from Elliott van Kirk Dobbie (ed.), ''Beowulf and Judith'', Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, 4 (New York, 1953))
* [http://www.exodusbooks.com/category.aspx?id=8211 ''Beowulf'' introduction] Article introducing various translations and adaptations of ''Beowulf''
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/anonymous/beowulf/john-lesslie-hall |Display Name=''Beowulf,'' translated by John Lesslie Hall | noitalics=true}}
* {{librivox book | title=Beowulf | author=UNKNOWN}}
* [http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-SEL-00003-00231/1 The tale of Beowulf (Sel.3.231)]; a digital edition of the proof-sheets with manuscript notes and corrections by [[William Morris]] in [[Cambridge Digital Library]]

{{Beowulf|state=expanded}}
{{Old English poetry|state=autocollapse}}
{{Anglo-Saxon paganism}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Beowulf| ]]
[[Category:9th-century books]]
[[Category:Denmark in fiction]]
[[Category:Poems adapted into films]]
[[Category:Sweden in fiction]]
[[Category:Germanic heroic legends]]
[[Category:Fiction about monsters]]

Ceolfrith

2019-03-22T18:43:50Z

149.164.111.20:

{{Infobox saint
|name=Saint Ceolfrid
|birth_date=642
|death_date=716
|feast_day= 25 September
|venerated_in=[[Roman Catholic Church]], [[Orthodox Church]]
|image=File:St Pauls Monastery Jarrow.jpg
|imagesize=
|caption=Remains of St Paul's Monastery. Jarrow, where Ceolfrid was Abbot.
|birth_place=
|death_place=monastery of [[Langres]] in [[Burgundy (region)|Burgundy]]
|titles=
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes=
|patronage=
|major_shrine=
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
|prayer=
|prayer_attrib=
}}

'''Saint Ceolfrid''' (or '''Ceolfrith''', {{IPA-ang|ˈtʃeːolfrɪð|}}; c. 642 – 716) was an [[Anglo-Saxon]] [[Christians|Christian]] [[abbot]] and [[saint]]. He is best known as the warden of [[Bede]] from the age of seven until his death in 716. He was the Abbot of [[Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey]], and a major contributor to the project [[Codex Amiatinus]]. He died in [[Burgundy (region)|Burgundy]] while en route to deliver a copy of the codex to [[Pope Gregory II]] in Rome.

== Early life ==
Not much is known about the earlier period of Ceolfrid's life. His desire to join the [[monastic community]] was likely due to his own brother Cynefrid's devotion to the traditions of [[Christian monasticism]]. Historians date Ceolfrid's induction into monastic tradition around the date of Cynefrid's death in 660. Ceolfrid is known to have a strong family connection to monastic tradition. In addition to his brother, his cousin Tunbert was the first Abbot of the Monastery of [[Hexham]]. His first four years in [[cloister]] took place at [[Gilling Abbey]], which was also attended by Cynefrid, prior to his departure to Ireland. Ceolfrid is described as having "behaved of the greater devotion, giving his mind continually to reading, to labour, and monastic discipline".<ref>D.S Boutflower, 56</ref> After these four years, Ceolfrid left Gilling as he "sought a monastery of a stricter character".<ref>Boutflower,10</ref> He soon took in with a band of men, led by Wilfrid, later canonized as [[Saint Wilfrid]]. These monks are identified by Boutflower as being the Benedictines of [[Ripon]] at a monastery under the same name. During this time, he came to refine his own understanding of proper monastic principles. At the age of 27, Ceolfrid was ordained as a priest, and began to acquaint himself to the utmost with the practices of monastic life.

Very little is revealed about the period between the end of his days at Ripon, and his appointment under [[Benedict Biscop]], except that he spent some time in the institutions of Abbot [[Botolph]], whom he describes as being filled with "the grace of spirit".<ref>Boutflower, 57</ref> While having been revered as an inspiration for the way of divine living, Botolph also served to inspire a greater sense of humility within Ceolfrid.

== Relationship with Benedict Biscop ==
[[File:CeolfridBibled11v.jpeg|thumb|Page from the [[Ceolfrid Bible]], one of two versions of the [[vulgate]] created in Wearmouth and Jarrow under Ceolfrid at the turn of the eighth century]]
In 674, [[Benedict Biscop]] received a land grant from King [[Ecgfrith]] for the explicit purpose of erecting a monastery. During the construction of his first monastery at [[Monkwearmouth|Wearmouth]], Biscop appointed Abbot Eosterwini (anglicized as "[[Easterwine]]") as his primary Abbot and Coadjutor. The monastery took eight years to build. This institute had left Ecgfrith so enamoured that soon after the completion of the Wearmouth Monastery, he granted Biscop another segment of land for the construction of a second monastery, [[Jarrow]], with the intention that the two should be administered as one.

It is during the construction of the Wearmouth Monastery that Benedict Biscop sought out Ceolfrid, who would become "his most zealous assistant from the first foundation of the former monastery",<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-jarrow.html
|title=Medieval Sourcebook: Bede: The Lives of The Holy Abbots of Weremouth and Jarrow
|last=Halsall
|first=Paul
|date=June 1997
|publisher=[[Internet Medieval Sourcebook]]
|accessdate=2008-10-28}}
</ref> as well as a close friend. It appears that Biscop's invitation came at a most opportune time, for Ceolfrid had been contemplating the idea of leaving the post he held at the time. He had grown rather disenchanted with the power stratification within the institution (the name of which is unknown), and had had enough of the "jealousies and very bitter persecutions of certain men of rank",<ref>Boutflower, 60</ref> and had been looking to return to his own monastery (assumed to be Ripon).

Upon the completion of the Jarrow Monastery, Ceolfrid became the Abbot of the St. Paul's Church on the monasterial grounds. Conflicting reports state that the presence of Ceolfrid during Jarrow's construction varied. Some papers state that Jarrow came into his hands after its completion, while another identified Ceolfrid as being paramount to the actual construction of the monastery; as the individual who directed the construction of the monastery itself.

The friendship between the two was fairly close. When Benedict sailed across the English channel to Rome for the last time, he chose only Ceolfrid to join him in his journey. This trip was to be the very trip that would lead to both Abbot's immortalization in the works of Ceolfrid's ward and later contemporary, [[The Venerable Bede]]. Ceolfrid also used the trip as an opportunity to explore his role in Biscop's institution, feeling that Rome would be an opportune place to learn his position's responsibilities. Twelve years later, upon the death of Abbot Eosterwini, Ceolfrid was appointed as the sole Abbot for both Monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow, an honour never heard of before. In 690, Benedict Biscop died, after being bedridden for a lengthy period of time, and Ceolfrid became the leading head of both monasteries, "[whose] libraries of both monasteries, which Abbot Benedict had so actively begun, under his zealous care became doubled in extant".<ref>Ruby Davis, "Bede's early Readings"</ref>

== Relationship with The Venerable Bede ==

[[Bede]] came into Ceolfrid's care at the young age of seven, and became the pupil of the Abbot as well as friend. In his early years at the twin Monasteries of Wearmouth – Jarrow (686), the Plague had struck Northumbria, and ravaged most of the countryside, including the twin Monasteries. Ceolfrid and Bede appeared to have remained untouched by the epidemic, and took the duties of caring for the infected and dying monks of the monasteries with unyielding fervour. They further worked together in maintaining the regular sermons when fear had gripped the population. When the Plague finally passed over, master and pupil began to rebuild the monastic foundations and succeeded effectively. Bede remained in Jarrow for the majority of his life, never straying more than 70 miles from the monastery at any time. He was a loyal pupil until Ceolfrid's death, and he died in Jarrow in 735.

== The Codex Amiatinus Project ==
[[File:CodxAmiatinusFolio5rEzra.jpg|thumb|230px|Portrait of Ezra from the Codex Amiatinus.]]
The [[Codex Amiatinus]] is the oldest manuscript with a complete text of the [[Vulgate]]. The Codex Amiatinus is described as a brilliant display of the beauty that is Early British, Pre-[[Carolingian Renaissance|Carolingian]] [[calligraphy]]. The composition of the Vulgate was part of the project to expand Wearmouth and Jarrow's extensive library, and Ceolfrid ordered three copies of this Bible manuscript to be composed; one of which would be dedicated to the Pope Gregory II, while the other two copies were meant to stay in the respective churches of Wearmouth and Jarrow. There are no official records that state that the text made it to Rome. It is said that instead, it made its way into Florence, where it was presented by the Lombard Abbot Peter to the [[Abbazia di San Salvatore]] at [[Mount Amiata]] in [[Tuscany]]. It is believed that he changed the dedicatory note inscribed within the leaves as donated to the monastery. This occurred in the 9th century. The document remained at Mount Amiata until 1786, when it was relocated to the [[Laurentian Library]] in Florence. There is some dispute over what consisted of this Vulgate Codex. Over the past few hundred years, additional leaves that appear to be related to this text have been located all over Britain, as some were disguised as book wrappings and other literary-based disguises. These new discoveries have led scholars to question the total length of the codex, as there are still fragments missing from it today.

== Ceolfrid and the Picts ==

Sometime after 711, [[Nechtan mac Der-Ilei]], King of the [[Picts]], sought authoritative advice from Abbot Ceolfrid on the reform of paschal cycles with a view to harmonising the celebration of Easter within his kingdom. By 716 both the Picts and the Columban clergy of [[Iona]] had adopted the ''pascha catholica''.<ref>Grigg, Julianna (2015), ''The Philosopher King and the Pictish Nation'', Four Courts Press, Dublin</ref>

== Final Days ==

Ceolfrid apparently knew that he was coming to the end of his life, and so he resigned his post and was succeeded by [[Hwaetberht]]. He then set sail for Rome with the intent of delivering the Codex Amiatinus Bible to Pope Gregory II. He made it as far as [[Langres]] in Burgundy, where he died on 29 September 716.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03536a.htm Hind, George. "St. Ceolfrid." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 17 May 2013]</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==

* Davis, Ruby, ''Bede's Early Readings'', as appearing in '''''Speculum''''' Vol.8, No.2, 1933. PP.179–195.
* Anon., "The Anonymous Life of Ceolfrith," in ''Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow'', ed. and trans. Christopher Grocock and I. N. Wood (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2013).
* Anon., ''Life of Ceolfrid, Abbot of Wearmouth and Jarrow.'' As translated by D.S. Boutflower. London: Sunderland Hills & Company, 1912. Pgs 10,56,57.
* Bede, ''Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow'' As appearing in '''''The Medieval Sourcebook''''' [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-jarrow.html]
* Marsden, Richard, ''The Text of Old Testament in Anglo-Saxon England'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Book 15 of '''''Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England'''''
* Bell, H.I, ''Leaves of an Early Bible Manuscript''. As appearing in '''''The British Museum quarterly''''', Vol.12, No.2 April 1938, Pp. 39–40
* Laistner, M.L.W, ''Bede as a Classical and Patristic Scholar'' As appearing in '''''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society''''', Fourth series, Vol. 33, (1933), Pp. 69–94
* Lowe, E.A. ''The Uncial Gospel Leaves attached to the Utrecht Psalter'' As appearing in '''''The Art Bulletin''''', Vol.34, No.3 (September 1952)
* McGurk, Patrick ''An Anglo-Saxon Bible fragment of the Late 8th Century'' As appearing in '''''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes''''', Vol. 25, No. 1/2 (January - June, 1962), pp. 18–34

==External links==
{{commonscat|Ceolfridus}}
* {{PASE|1045|Ceolfrith 1}}
* [http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2013/05/the-ceolfrith-bible.html The Ceolfrith Bible], [http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_45025 Additional MS 45025], [[British Library]]
{{s-start}}
{{succession box |
before=– |
title=[[Abbot]] of [[Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory|Jarrow]] |
years=682–716/7 |
after=[[Hwaetberht]] |
}}
{{succession box |
before=[[Sigfrith]] |
title=[[Abbot]] of [[Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory|Monkwearmouth]] |
years=690–716/717 |
after=? |
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Bede}}
{{Anglo-Saxon saints}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Abbots of Jarrow]]
[[Category:Abbots of Wearmouth]]
[[Category:Northumbrian saints]]
[[Category:8th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:642 births]]
[[Category:717 deaths]]
[[Category:Bede]]

Ellesmere Chaucer

2019-01-17T17:46:35Z

149.164.111.20:

[[File:Ellesmere Manuscript in Huntington Library.jpg|thumb|260px|Ellesmere Manuscript in Huntington Library]]
The '''Ellesmere Chaucer''', or '''Ellesmere Manuscript''' of the Canterbury Tales, is an early 15th-century [[illuminated manuscript]] of [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]'s ''[[Canterbury Tales]]'', owned by the [[Huntington Library]], in [[San Marino, California]] (EL 26 C 9). It is considered one of the most significant copies of the ''Tales''.

==History==
Written most likely in the second or third decade of the fifteenth century, the early history of the manuscript is uncertain, but it seems to have been owned by [[John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford]] (1408–1462). The manuscript takes its popular name from the fact that it later belonged to Sir [[Thomas Egerton, 1st Baron Ellesmere|Thomas Egerton]] (1540–1617), Baron Ellesmere and Viscount Brackley, who apparently obtained it from [[Roger North, 2nd Baron North]] (1530/31-1600).<ref>[http://sunsite3.berkeley.edu/hehweb/EL26C9.html Guide To Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library]</ref> The library of manuscripts, known as the [[Bridgewater Library]], remained at the Egerton house, [[Ashridge]], [[Hertfordshire]], until 1802 when it was removed to London. [[Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere|Francis Egerton]], created Earl of Ellesmere in 1846, inherited the library, and it remained in the family until its sale to [[Henry E. Huntington|Henry Huntington]] by John Francis Granville Scrope Egerton (1872–1944), 4th Earl of Ellesmere. Huntington purchased the Bridgewater library privately in 1917 through [[Sotheby's]]. The manuscript is now in the collection of the [[Huntington Library]] in [[San Marino, California]] (EL 26 C 9).

==Description==
The Ellesmere manuscript is a highly polished example of scribal workmanship, with a great deal of elaborate [[manuscript illumination|illumination]] and, notably, a series of illustrations of the various narrators of the ''Tales'' (including a famous one of Chaucer himself, mounted on a horse). As such, it was clearly a ''de luxe'' product, commissioned by a very wealthy patron.

The manuscript is written on fine [[vellum]] and the leaves are approximately 400mm by 284mm in size; there are 240 leaves, of which 232 contain the text of the ''Tales''.<ref name=liu>[http://www2.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/sc/chaucer/text_page.htm The Ellesmere Chaucer] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108005459/http://www.liu.edu/cwis/CWP/library/sc/chaucer/text_page.htm |date=2009-01-08 }}, [[Long Island University]].</ref> Though the text was apparently copied by a single scribe, the paintings were executed by perhaps as many as three artists.

==Scribe and its relation to other manuscripts==

The Ellesmere manuscript is thought to be very early in date, being written shortly after Chaucer's death. It is seen as an important source for efforts to reconstruct Chaucer's original text and intentions, though [[John M. Manly]] and [[Edith Rickert]] in their ''Text of the Canterbury Tales'' (1940) noted that whoever edited the manuscript probably made substantial revisions, tried to regularise spelling, and put the individual Tales into a smoothly running order. Up until this point the Ellesmere manuscript had been used as the 'base text' by several editions, such as that of [[W. W. Skeat]], with variants checked against British Library, [[Harley MS. 7334]].

The manuscript's scribe has been tentatively identified as [[Adam Pinkhurst]], a man employed by Chaucer himself, but this attribution has not gained universal acceptance. The same scribe appears to have been responsible for writing the [[Hengwrt Manuscript]] of the ''Tales'', now considered the earliest, most authoritative, and closest to Chaucer's [[holograph]].{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} This would also imply, however, that the revisions seen in the Ellesmere manuscript would have been carried out by someone who had worked with Chaucer, knew his intentions for the ''Tales'', and had access to draft materials.

The Ellesmere manuscript is conventionally referred to as '''El''' in studies of the ''Tales'' and their textual history. A facsimile edition is available.
<gallery>
File:Ellesmere Manuscript Knight Portrait.jpg|<center>The beginning of [[The Knight's Tale]] from the Ellesmere Manuscript</center>
Image:Wife-of-Bath-ms.jpg|<center>The opening page of ''[[The Wife of Bath's Tale]]'' from the Ellesmere Manuscript of ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]'', circa 1405-1410.</center>
File:Chaucer ellesmere.jpg|<center>Geoffrey Chaucer from the Ellesmere Manuscript</center>
File:Friar-canterbury-tales.jpg|<center>The Friar from the Ellesmere Manuscript</center>
File:Canterbury Tales - The Miller - f. 34v detail - Robin with the Bagpype - early 1400s Chaucer.png|<center>Robin the Miller from folio 34v of the Ellesmere Manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.</center>
File:Chaucer cook.jpg|<center>Roger the Cook from Ellesmere Manuscript</center>
File:The Summoner - Ellesmere Chaucer.jpg|The Summoner from the Ellesmere Manuscript</center>
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://sunsite3.berkeley.edu/hehweb/EL26C9.html The Ellesmere mss] at the [[Huntington Library]]
*[http://dpg.lib.berkeley.edu/webdb/dsheh/heh_brf?Description=&CallNumber=EL+26+C+9 Huntington catalogue images of Ellesmere Chaucer at Digital Scriptorium]
*[http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll7/id/2838 Full digital facsimile on the Huntington Digital Library]
*[https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/jul/20/highereducation.books Ezard, John, 'The scrivener's tale: how Chaucer's sloppy copyist was unmasked after 600 years', ''The Guardian'', 20 July 2004]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080905221803/http://www.umainetoday.umaine.edu/issues/v4i5/adam.html Nagle, M. ''Finding Adam'', Umaine Today, November–December 2004]

{{The Canterbury Tales}}

[[Category:Literary illuminated manuscripts]]
[[Category:The Canterbury Tales]]
[[Category:Collection of the Huntington Library]]
[[Category:English manuscripts]]