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Beowulf is an Old English heroic elegy,[1] of anonymous authorship, assigned to the period 700-750,[2] or to the time of composition of the only manuscript, circa 1010.[3] At 3,183 lines, the poem is notable for its length. The poem is untitled in the manuscript, but has been known as Beowulf since the early 19th century. As the single major surviving work of Anglo-Saxon heroic poetry, the work — in spite of dealing primarily with Scandinavian matters — has risen to such prominence that it has become "England's national epos."[4]

In the poem, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, battles three antagonists: Grendel, who is destroying Heorot and its inhabitants in Denmark, Grendel's mother, and later in life (after he is King) a dragon. He is mortally wounded in the final battle, and after his death is buried in a barrow by his retainers.

Although one may find professors of Old English who informally pronounce the protagonist's name as "BAY-uh-WOLF", it should be noted that the "ēo" in Bēowulf is a diphthong and that the name should therefore be pronounced as a two-syllable word with the stress on the first syllable.[5]

Background and origins

The events described in the poem take place in the late 5th century and during the 6th century after the Anglo-Saxons had begun their migration and settlement in England, and before it had ended, a time when the Anglo-Saxons were either newly arrived or in close contact with their Germanic kinsmen in Scandinavia and northern Germany. The poem could have been transmitted in England by people of Geatish origins,[6] and it may not be a coincidence that whereas Beowulf is the best-known Anglo-Saxon work left to posterity, the best-known Anglo-Saxon archaeological find, Sutton Hoo, also showed close connections with Scandinavia. It has consequently been suggested that Beowulf was first composed in the 7th century at Rendlesham in East Anglia,[7] and that the East Anglian royal dynasty, the Wuffings, were descendants of the Geatish Wulfings.[8] Others have associated this poem with the court of king Alfred, or with the court of Canute.[3]

The poem deals with legends, i.e. it was composed for entertainment and does not separate between fictional elements and real historic events, such as the raid by king Hygelac into Frisia, ca. 516. Scholars generally agree that many of the personalities of Beowulf also appear in Scandinavian sources,[9] but this does not only concern people (e.g., Healfdene, Hroðgar, Halga, Hroðulf, Eadgils and Ohthere), but also clans (e.g. Scyldings, Scylfings and Wulfings) and some of the events (e.g. the Battle on the Ice of Lake Vänern). The Scandinavian sources are notably Ynglinga saga, Gesta Danorum, Hrólfr Kraki's saga and the Latin summary of the lost Skjöldunga saga. As far as Sweden is concerned, the dating of the events in the poem has been confirmed by archaeological excavations of the barrows indicated by Snorri Sturluson and by Swedish tradition as the graves of Ohthere (dated to c. 530) and his son Eadgils (dated to c. 575) in Uppland, Sweden.[10] In Denmark, recent archaeological excavations at Lejre, where Scandinavian tradition located the seat of the Scyldings, i.e. Heorot, have revealed that a hall was built in the mid-6th century, exactly the time period of Beowulf.[11] All the three halls found during the excavation were about 50 metres long.[11]

The majority view appears to be that people such as king Hroðgar and the Scyldings, in Beowulf, are based on real people in 6th century Scandinavia.[12] Like the Finnsburg Fragment and several shorter surviving poems, Beowulf has consequently been used as a source of information about Scandinavian personalities such as Eadgils and Hygelac, and about continental Germanic personalities such as Offa, king of the continental Angles.

Eadgils was buried at Uppsala, according to Snorri Sturluson. When Eadgils' mound (to the left) was excavated, in 1874, the finds supported Beowulf and the sagas. They showed that a powerful man was buried in this large barrow, c 575, on a bear skin with two dogs and rich grave offerings. These remains include a Frankish sword adorned with gold and garnets and a tafl game with Roman pawns of ivory. He was dressed in a costly suit made of Frankish cloth with golden threads, and he wore a belt with a costly buckle. There were four cameos from the Middle East which were probably part of a casket. A burial fitting a king who was famous for his wealth in Old Norse sources. Ongenþeow's barrow to the right has not been excavated.[13]

While it could be said that Beowulf is the only substantial extant Old English poem that addresses matters heroic rather than Christian, there are nonetheless Christian viewpoints expressed within the poem, and the overall judgement on both Christian and heroic society is ambiguous. It can be argued that Grendel and his 'clan' represent evil, destructive forces; Grendel is actually introduced as a descendant of Cain. Some scholars have suggested that the Christian elements were inserted later, perhaps by the scribe or scribes copying the manuscript.

A turning point in Beowulf scholarship came in 1936 with J. R. R. Tolkien's essay Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics when, for the first time, the poem and Anglo-Saxon literature were seriously examined for its literary merits—not just scholarship about the origins of the English language as was popular in the 19th century.

The Beowulf manuscript

Further information: Nowell Codex

Beowulf was written in England but is set in Scandinavia. It is an epic poem told in historical perspective; a story of epic events of great people of a heroic past. Although the author is unknown its themes and subject matter are generally believed to be formed through oral tradition, the passing down of stories by scops (tale singers) and is considered partly historical. Originally thought to be a majority of oral tradition merely transcribed by a literate monk, the author is now understood to be an imaginative poet in his own right, who by taking the pagan elements, the traditional accounts of heroic events and combining them with his own imaginative ingenuity created a completely new work of his own, more unified than the originally oral stories.[1][14]

The poem is known only from a single manuscript, which is estimated to date from close to AD 1000. Kiernan concluded from a detailed examination of the manuscript that it was the author's own working copy. He has dated the work to the reign of Canute the Great.[3] The poem appears in what is today called the Beowulf manuscript or Nowell Codex (British Library MS Cotton Vitellius A.xv), along with other works. The manuscript is the product of two different scribes transcribing an earlier original, the second scribe taking over at line 1939 of Beowulf.

The spellings in the poem mix the West Saxon and Anglian dialects of Old English, though they are predominantly West Saxon, as are other Old English poems copied at the time. The earliest known owner is the 16th century scholar Laurence Nowell, after whom the manuscript is named, though its official designation is Cotton Vitellius A.XV due to its inclusion in the catalog of Robert Bruce Cotton's holdings in the middle of the 17th century. It suffered damage in the Cotton Library fire at Ashburnham House in 1731.

Icelandic scholar Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin made the first transcription of the manuscript in 1786 and published it in 1815, working under a historical research commission of the Danish government. Since that time, the manuscript has suffered additional decay, and the Thorkelin transcripts remain a prized secondary source for Beowulf scholars. Their accuracy has been called into question, however (e.g., by Chauncey Brewster Tinker in The Translations of Beowulf, 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 unclear.

Authorship and questions

According to the Norton Anthology of English Literature, most scholars believe that Beowulf was written by a Christian poet.[15] Grendel and Grendel's Mother are described as descendants of Cain, and share similarities with antagonists in medieval Christian stories. Since the Beowulf poet was also very knowledgeable about pagan beliefs, the descriptions of Grendel and Grendel's mother, for example, could owe as much to pagan beliefs about trolls as they do to Christian beliefs about demons. In addition, Beowulf's cremation at the end of the poem also refers to a pagan practice. In one view, the problem is resolved by supposing that, even though Beowulf was a pagan, the poem's Christian audience could admire his heroic deeds. Beowulf may thus be a product of the poet's knowledge of both Christian beliefs and the ancient history of his people. However, this approach may overestimate the historical knowledge and multicultural tolerance of the poem's last redactor. [citation needed]A somewhat more complex view typical of oral traditional scholars,[citation needed] suggests that in the long history of the poem's transmission, a pre-Christian heroic narrative has been "baptised," perhaps superficially and with references only to those features of Christian tradition consistent with a heroic ethos. In whatever manner the two are combined, the result is a poem that seems to have appeal and to be intelligible outside of a Christian belief system.

Professor Robert F. Yeager notes that the role of Christianity in a pagan context poses one of the mysteries surrounding Beowulf: That the scribes of Cotton Vitellius A.XV were Christian is beyond doubt; and it is equally certain that Beowulf was composed in a Christianized England, since conversion took place in the sixth and seventh centuries. Yet 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 are demonstrably Christian. In fact, when we are told what anyone in the poem believes, we learn that they are idol-worshipping 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?[16]

Themes, characters, and story

Themes

The poem as we know it is filled with elements of the Norse legendarium along with Christian statements. It is often assumed that the work was written by a Christian monk, on the grounds that they were the only members of Anglo-Saxon society with access to writing materials. However, the example of King Alfred suggests the possibility of lay authorship.

In historical terms the poem's characters would have been pagans. The poem's narrator, however, places events into a Biblical context, casting Grendel and Grendel's Mother as the kin of Cain and placing monotheistic sentiments into the mouths of his characters. Although there are no direct references to Jesus in the text of the work, there are many indirect references. Also, the book of Genesis serves as a touchstone for the poem, since Grendel and Grendel's mother (due to their heritage) are seen as punished by the Curse and mark of Cain.[17] Scholars disagree as to whether Beowulf's main thematic thrust is pagan or Christian in nature. Of particular note is the description of soldiers' helmets, decorated with boar-carvings, alongside references to God and Christ, such as when Beowulf is given up for lost in Grendel's Mere at the ninth hour, which was the time at which Christ dies on the cross in the Bible. This could possibly be evidence of Christian details being placed in the story alongside traditional accounts of ancient Germanic religious practices. However, the lack of a pre-Christian written version of the epic leaves the issue unresolved.

Thus reflecting the above historical context, Beowulf depicts a Germanic warrior society, in which the relationship between the leader, or king, and his thanes was of paramount importance. This relationship was defined in terms of provision and service; the thanes defended the interest of the king in return for material provisions: weapons, armor, gold, silver, food, and drinks.

This society was strongly defined in terms of kinship; if a relative was killed it was the duty of surviving relatives to exact revenge upon his killer, either with his own life or with weregild, a reparational payment. In fact, the hero's very existence owes itself to this fact, as his father Ecgþeow was banished for having killed Heaðolaf, a man from the prominent Wulfing clan.[18] He sought refuge at the court of Hroðgar who graciously paid the weregild. Ecgþeow did not return home, but became one of the Geatish king Hreðel's housecarls and married his daughter, by whom he had Beowulf. The duty of avenging killed kinsmen became the undoing of king Hreðel, himself, because when his oldest son Herebeald was killed by his own brother Hæþcyn in a hunting accident, it was a death that could not be avenged. Hreðel died from the sorrow.[19]

Moreover, this is a world governed by fate and destiny. The belief that fate controls him is a central factor in all of Beowulf's actions.

Beowulf (character)

The barrow of Skalunda, a barrow that was identified by the archaeologist Birger Nerman as Beowulf's burial mound.[20]
Main article: Beowulf (hero)

J. R. R. Tolkien argued that the name Beowulf means bee-hunter (literally, bee-wolf) in Old English. The name Beowulf could therefore be a kenning for "bear" due to a bear's love of honey. Bees figure prominently in many mythologies in Europe and the Near East (see Bee (mythology)). Jacob Grimm attributes the term "bee-hunter" to a type of woodpecker. Some scholars suggest that Beowulf could correspond to Bödvar Bjarki, the battle bear, from Norse sagas. Both left Geatland (where Bjarki's brother was king), arrived in Denmark and slew a beast that terrorized the Danish court. They also both helped the Swedish king Eadgils defeat his uncle Áli in the Battle on the Ice of Lake Vänern. Author John Grigsby argued that the word Beowulf translates as 'Barley wolf' and links this character to ancient warrior cults of Indo-European tradition. R. D. Fulk and Joseph Harris suggest that the name is theophoric, related to the germanic god Beow, citing the rarity of kenning derived names and other similar names such as Gott-fried, Gott-lieb, Torsten(Thor-stone), the Norse þór-ólfr, and the English Tiu-wulf.

Characters and objects

Queen Wealhþeow as the hostess of the banquet


Story

Jane Chance (Professor of English, Rice University) in her 1980 article, "The Structural Unity of Beowulf: The Problem of Grendel's Mother" argued that there are two standard interpretations of the poem: one view which suggests a two-part structure (i.e. the poem is divided between Grendel and the dragon) and the other, a three-part structure (i.e. Grendel's mother is included). [21] Chance stated that, "this view of the structure as two-part has generally prevailed since its inception in J. R. R. Tolkien's, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics in Proceedings of the British Academy 22 (1936)."[21] In contrast, she argued that the three-part structure has become "increasingly popular."[21]

First battle: Grendel

File:Beowulf challenged by the coastguard by E Paul.jpg
Beowulf is challenged by a Danish coast guard, by Evelyn Paul (1911).

Beowulf begins with the story of King Hroðgar, who built the great hall Heorot for his people. In it he, his wife Wealhþeow, and his warriors spend their time singing and celebrating, until Grendel, who is angered by the singing and an outcast from society, attacks the hall and kills and devours many of Hroðgar's warriors while they sleep. Hroðgar and his people, helpless against Grendel's attacks, abandon Heorot.

Beowulf, a young warrior, hears of Hroðgar's troubles and with his king's permission then leaves his homeland to help Hroðgar.

Beowulf and his men spend the night in Heorot. After they fall asleep, Grendel enters the hall and attacks, devouring one of Beowulf's men. But Grendel dare not touch the throne of Hroðgar, because he is protected by the almighty God. Beowulf, feigning sleep, leaps up and grabs Grendel's arm in a wrestling hold, and the two battle until it seems as though the hall might fall down due to their fighting. Beowulf's men draw their swords and rush to his help, but their swords break upon Grendel's arm due to the thorny spikes and iron-tough skin of the monster. Finally, Beowulf tears Grendel's arm from his body at the shoulder and Grendel runs to his home in the marshes to die.

Second battle: Grendel's mother

The next night, after celebrating Grendel's death, Hroðgar and his men sleep in Heorot. Grendel's Mother appears, however, and attacks the hall. She kills Hroðgar's most trusted warrior, Æschere, in revenge for Grendel's death.

Hroðgar, Beowulf, and their men track Grendel's Mother to her lair under an eerie lake. Beowulf prepares himself for battle; he is presented with a sword, Hrunting, by a warrior called Unferð. After stipulating a number of conditions (upon his death) to Hroðgar (including the taking in of his kinsmen, and the inheritance by Unferð of Beowulf's estate), Beowulf dives into the lake. There, he is swiftly detected and attacked by Grendel's mother. Unable to harm Beowulf through his armour, Grendel's mother drags him to the bottom of the lake. There, in a cavern containing Grendel's body and the remains of many men that the two have killed, Grendel's mother and Beowulf engage in fierce combat.

Grendel's mother at first prevails, after Beowulf, finding that the sword (Hrunting) given him by Unferð cannot harm his foe, discards it in fury. Again, Beowulf is saved from the effects of his opponent's attack by his armour and, grasping a mighty sword from Grendel's mother's armoury (which, the poem tells us, no other man could have hefted in battle), Beowulf beheads her. Travelling further into the lair, Beowulf discovers Grendel's corpse; he severs the head. Beowulf then returns to the surface and to his men at the "ninth hour" (l. 1600, "nōn", about 3pm). [22] He returns to Heorot, where he is given many gifts by an even more grateful Hroðgar.

Third battle: The dragon

Beowulf fights the dragon

Beowulf returns home and eventually becomes king of his own people. One day, late in Beowulf's life, a slave steals a golden cup from a dragon's lair at Earnaness. When the dragon sees that the cup has been stolen, it leaves its cave in a rage, burning up everything in sight. Beowulf and his warriors come to fight the dragon, but only one of the warriors, a brave young man named Wiglaf, stays to help Beowulf, because the rest are too afraid. Beowulf kills the dragon with Wiglaf's help, but Beowulf dies from the wounds he has received.

After he is cremated, Beowulf is buried on a cliff overlooking the sea, where sailors are able to see his barrow. The dragon's treasure is buried with him, rather than distributed to his people, as was Beowulf's wish, because of the curse associated with the hoard.

Language and Verse-form

Beowulf is the longest poem that has come down to us from Old English, one of the languages ancestral to Modern English. It is seen as an encomium, a song of praise for a great king:

Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum

þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon

hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.

In modern English:

Lo! Of the Spear-Danes, in days of yore,

we have heard; of the glory of the people's kings,

how the noble ones did deeds of valour.

Old English poetry such as Beowulf is very different from modern poetry. Although the Beowulf poem probably started out as an oral poem, the form we have today is highly literate and shows literary devices that only work for a literate audience. Instead of pairs of lines joined by rhyme (similarity of sounds at the ends of words), Anglo-Saxon poets typically used alliteration - a technique in which the first half of the line (the a-verse) is linked to the second half (the b-verse) through similarity in initial sound. In addition, its use of Kennings is a literary concept as the wording can be poetic and difficult to understand when the poetry is being performed orally.

Oft Scyld Scefing sceaðena threatum

A line of Old English poetry usually has three words that alliterate. The meter, or rhythm, of the poetry works together with the alliteration: The stress in a line falls on the first syllables of the words that alliterate, as in the line "weo'x under wo'lcnum, weo'rðmyndum þah." (He grew under the sky, he prospered in honours.) However, it must be noted that when alliterating, only stressed syllables are used, and thus, prefixes such as "ge-" do not count. For example, the word "gefrunon" might alliterate with "feond," but never with "gesyht." Also, the lines are divided into halves, and each half has two stressed syllables. There must be alliteration in the first half that carries over into the second half, but the fourth stressed syllable is never used for alliteration, though the first three stressed syllables will alliterate.

Old English poets also used kennings, evocative poetic descriptions of everyday things, often created to fill the alliterative requirements of the meter. For example, a poet might call the sea the "swan-road" or the "whale-road"; a king might be called a "ring-giver." There are many kennings in Beowulf, and the device is typical of much of classic poetry in Old English, which is heavily formulaic. The name Beowulf itself may be a kenning, "bee-wolf," that is, "bear." These kennings work in much the same way as epithets and verbal formulae, as prefabricated diction for modular insertion into the basic structure of the Old English line. For example, in the speech-introducing-lines --

Beowulf maðelode bearn Ecgðeowes

(Beowulf spoke, the son of Ecgtheow)
Hrothgar maðelode helm Scyldinga

(Hrothgar spoke, the protector of the Scyldings)

The poet has a choice of epithets or formulae to use in order to fulfill the alliteration.

Form

The poem is in alliterative measure, in which the alliterative unit is the line and the metrical unit is the half-line.

Its poetic vocabulary included sets of metrical compounds that are varied according to alliterative needs. It also makes extensive use of elided metaphors.

The two halves of the poem are distinguished in many ways: youth, then age; Denmark, then Geatland; the hall, then the barrow; public, then intimate; diverse, then focused.

Here is a small sample including the first naming in the poem of Beowulf himself.

After each line is translation to modern English. A freely-available translation of the poem, now out of copyright, is that of Francis Gummere. It can be had at Project Gutenberg.[23]

Line Original Translation
oretmecgas æfter æþelum frægn: ...asked the warriors of their lineage:
"Hwanon ferigeað ge fætte scyldas, "Whence do you carry ornate shields,
græge syrcan ond grimhelmas, Grey mail-shirts and masked helms,
[335] heresceafta heap? Ic eom Hroðgares A multitude of spears? I am Hrothgar's
ar ond ombiht. Ne seah ic elþeodige herald and officer. I have never seen, of foreigners,
þus manige men modiglicran, So many men, of braver bearing,
Wen ic þæt ge for wlenco, nalles for wræcsiðum, I know that out of daring, by no means in exile,
ac for higeþrymmum Hroðgar sohton." But for greatness of heart, you have sought Hrothgar."
[340] Him þa ellenrof andswarode, To him, thus, bravely, it was answered,
wlanc Wedera leod, word æfter spræc, By the proud Geatish chief, who these words thereafter spoke,
heard under helme: "We synt Higelaces Hard under helm: "We are Hygelac's
beodgeneatas; Beowulf is min nama. Table-companions. Beowulf is my name.
Wille ic asecgan sunu Healfdenes, I wish to declare to the son of Healfdene
[345] mærum þeodne, min ærende, To the renowned prince, my mission,
aldre þinum, gif he us geunnan wile To your lord, if he will grant us
þæt we hine swa godne gretan moton." that we might be allowed to address him, he who is so good."
Wulfgar maþelode (þæt wæs Wendla leod; Wulfgar Spoke – that was a Vendel chief;
his modsefa manegum gecyðed, His character was to many known
[350] wig ond wisdom): "Ic þæs wine Deniga, His war-prowess and wisdom – "I, of him, friend of Danes,
frean Scildinga, frinan wille, the Scyldings' lord, will ask,
beaga bryttan, swa þu bena eart, Of the ring bestower, as you request,
þeoden mærne, ymb þinne sið, Of that renowned prince, concerning your venture,
ond þe þa ondsware ædre gecyðan And will swiftly provide you the answer
[355] ðe me se goda agifan þenceð." That the great one sees fit to give me."

Old English/glossaries and modern English translations

The first translation, by Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin and published in 1815, was to Latin, in connection with the first publication of his transcription. Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig, greatly unsatisfied with this translation, made the first translation into a modern language — Danish — which was published in 1820. After Grundtvig's travels to England came the first English translation, by J. M. Kemble in 1837. William Morris & A. J. Wyatt's translation was published in 1895.

The next major translation, text on Beowulf consisting of the poem in Old English and an extensive glossary, is Frederick Klaeber's classic Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg (first edition, 1922; last edition, 1950). Klaeber's edition is a "central source used by graduate students for the study of the poem and by scholars and teachers as the basis of their translations." [24] Contemporary editions of the poem in Old English with glossaries include George Jack's Beowulf : A Student Edition (1997) and Bruce Mitchell's Beowulf: An Edition with Relevant Shorter Texts (1998).

There have been numerous other translations of the poem in English. Some of the more well known include editions by Howell D. Chickering, E. Talbot Donaldson, C. L. Wrenn, Frederick Rebsamen, Burton Raffel, J. J. Earle, and R.M.Liuzza (2000). The poet Seamus Heaney published a popular poetic edition in 2000. J. R. R. Tolkien worked on both an incomplete verse translation and a complete prose translation of his own in the 1920s, but was satisfied with neither. There are also interpretations, if not translations, of Beowulf, including one written by Robert Nye. An online free verse translation was created by David Breeden [2].

Beowulf in art

Main article: List of artistic depictions of Beowulf

Beowulf has been adapted a number of times for the cinema, the stage, and in books. Most recently, it was loosely adapted into the 2005 film Beowulf & Grendel, and it will be the subject of an upcoming 2007 film, Beowulf, written by Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman. While some of the film remains true to the original poem, other plot elements, such as those surrounding Grendel's mother, deviate from the original poem. [25] Another fairly recent film based on Beowulf was the 1999 film The 13th Warrior, adapted from the 1976 novel Eaters of the Dead.

Further reading

Scholarship:

Guides to Old English:

  • Cameron, Angus, et al. Dictionary of Old English (Microfiche). Toronto: Published for the Dictionary of Old English Project Centre for Medieval Studies University of Toronto by the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1986/1994.
  • Frederick Klaeber, ed. Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg (Glossary). Third ed. Boston: Heath, 1950. (A fourth edition, edited by Robert E. Bjork, John Niles, and R.D. Fulk, is expected during 2006.[26])
  • Mitchell, Bruce and Fred C. Robinson. A Guide to Old English. Oxford: Blackwell publishing, (multiple printings).

Versions in Old English:

Modern English translations:

  • R. M. Liuzza. 'Beowulf: A New Verse Translation'. Orchard Park, NY: Broadview Press, 2000.
  • Raffel, Burton. Beowulf. New York: New American Library, 1963.
  • Anglo-Saxon poetry: an anthology of Old English poems tr. S. A. J. Bradley. London: Dent, 1982.
  • Crossley-Holland, Kevin; Mitchell, Bruce. Beowulf: A New Translation. London: Macmillan, 1968.
  • Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001.
  • --"Introduction" in Crossley-Holland, Kevin (tr.) Beowulf. London: Folio, 1973.
  • Morgan, Edwin. Beowulf. Manchester: Carcanet, 2002 (first published 1952).
  • Swanton, Michael (ed.). Beowulf (Manchester Medieval Studies). Manchester: University, 1997.
  • Tinker, Chauncey Brewster. The translations of Beowulf; a critical bibliography. New York: Holt, 1903. (Modern reprint with new introduction, Hamden: Archon Books, 1974).

Dual-Language Editions:

Notes

  1. ^ a b Tolkien, J.R.R. Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics. London: Oxford University Press, 1958, p. 127
  2. ^ "Beowulf", Encyclopædia Britannica Online
  3. ^ a b c Kiernan, Kevin S. (1981), Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript, ISBN 0813509254
  4. ^ H. Munro Chadwick (1907), "Beowulf: Scandinavian Traditions; Personality of the Hero; Origin and Antiquity of the Poem; the Religious Element", [[The Cambridge History of English and American Literature]] {{citation}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  5. ^ Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson, A Guide to Old English (Blackwell, 1986), "Diphthongs", pp. 14-15.
  6. ^ The Norton Antology of English Literature, fifth edition. p. 19.
  7. ^ Beowulf: a Dual-Language Edition, Doubleday, New York, NY, 1977.
  8. ^ Newton, S., 1993. The Origins of Beowulf and the Pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia. Cambridge.
  9. ^ Shippey, T. A.: Wicked Queens and Cousin Strategies in Beowulf and Elsewhere, Notes and Bibliography. In The Heroic Age Issue 5 Summer 2001.
  10. ^ Klingmark, Elisabeth: Gamla Uppsala, Svenska kulturminnen 59, Riksantikvarieämbetet. Nerman, Birger: Det svenska rikets uppkomst. Stockholm, 1925. See also a presentation by the Swedish National Heritage Board: [1])
  11. ^ a b Niles, John D.,"Beowulf's Great Hall, History Today, October 2006, 56 (10), pp. 40-44.
  12. ^ Anderson, Carl Edlund. (1999). Formation and Resolution of Ideological Contrast in the Early History of Scandinavia. Ph.D. thesis, University of Cambridge, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic (Faculty of English). p. 115.
  13. ^ Klingmark, Elisabeth: Gamla Uppsala, Svenska kulturminnen 59, Riksantikvarieämbetet. See also Nerman, B. Det svenska rikets uppkomst. Stockholm, 1925.
  14. ^ Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation "Beowulf: The Poem" Norton: NY, 2000. (p xi)
  15. ^ The Norton Anthology of English Literature, retrieved Dec. 4, 2006.
  16. ^ http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/1999-03/yeager.html
  17. ^ Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library, Bible, King James. Genesis, from The holy Bible, King James version, Retrieved Dec. 4, 2006.
  18. ^ Lines 460–1
  19. ^ Lines 2433–2471
  20. ^ Ewald, Gustaf. (1950). Är Skalunda hög kung Beowulfs grav? Västgöta-Bygden nr 1, sid 335-336. (Om *Birger Nermans och °Carl Otto Fasts idéer angående hednatima kungars gravplats.)
  21. ^ a b c Chance, Jane. "The Structural Unity of Beowulf: The Problem of Grendel's Mother." New Readings on Women in Old English Literature. Eds. Helen Damico and Alexandra Hennessey Olsen. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990:248
  22. ^ Jack, George. Beowulf: A Student Edition, p. 123
  23. ^ Project Gutenberg, Beowulf by Anonymous. Retrieved Dec. 4, 2006.
  24. ^ Bloomfield, Josephine. Benevolent Authoritarianism in Klaeber's Beowulf: An Editorial Translation of Kingship. "Modern Language Quarterly 60:2, June 1999
  25. ^ Director's interview
  26. ^ R.D. Fulk, "Six Cruces…", Medium Ævum 2006 LXXIV 2, p. 201.
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