Beowulf

ba'o-wulf, an Anglo-Saxon epic poem. It is of unknown authorship. In all probability this oldest of English epics grew up out of ballads sung at feasts, and was enlarged by successive singers or scops, as they were called. Scholars find reason to believe that many of these songs or ballads were composed before the Angles and the Saxons entered England. The characters of the poem are evidently Danes, and the scenes are laid on the coast of Denmark and in southern Sweden. These songs were committed to manuscript probably in the seventh or eighth century,--it is certain that it was after the introduction of Christianity into England. Although the subject matter is heathen, the poem shows the influence of the Christian religion. This manuscript came into the possession of Sir Robert Cotton, and in 1707, seventy-five years after Sir Robert's death, was sold, with his large collection of original documents, to the British nation. This collection, known as the Cottonian library, was damaged by fire in 1731. It was transferred to the British Museum in 1753 on the founding of that institution; and there this single manuscript of Beowulf, stained with smoke and torn in many places, may still be seen. It is the earliest specimen of English literature, and is the first epic in the entire Germanic group of languages.

The Beowulf manuscript contains about 6,365 lines. These are what we would call half-lines; that is, each has two strongly marked accents. As we should print the poem now, it would consist of something over three thousand lines. It is written in Anglo-Saxon. One who has made no preparation by previous study would find the manuscript as difficult to read as is Greek or Latin to one unacquainted with these languages.

Beowulf is a Scandinavian hero, corresponding to the Greek Hercules. His name means "bear," and was given in compliment--because he was so great a warrior. He "rowed upon the sea, his naked sword held in hand." He slew sea monsters and sped to the aid of the old Danish king who sat afflicted "in his great mead hall, high and carved with pinnacles." Grendel, a mighty ogre, visited the mead-hall, killing and eating the warriors. Beowulf slew the monster after a terrible fight. He slew the "foul she-wolf of the abyss," Grendel's mother. "The sword was bloody, the man rejoiced in his deed; the beam shone, light stood within, even as from heaven shines mildly the lamp of the firmament." Beowulf, having relieved the Danes, ruled his own people for fifty years, and at last died as a result of a battle with the fire dragon; but he had slain the dragon, and had won for his people the treasure of gold and jewels hidden in the earth. His people burned his body on a great funeral pyre, and long mourned his loss. They

The poem is somber--dark with blood and swords, ravens of war, and hand to hand conflicts. There is alliteration, there is powerful description throughout the poem, but there are only six similes. Several translations of this poem into modern English have been made. Those in prose form, being more literal, seem more in the spirit of the original than do those which are more poetical. The following quotation gives the words of Beowulf when he knew that he must die:

"I have held this people fifty years; there was not any king of my neighbors, who dared to greet me with warriors, to oppress me with terror. . . . I held mine own well, I sought not treacherous malice, nor swore unjustly many oaths; on account of all this, I, sick with mortal wounds, may have joy. . . . Now do thou go immediately behold the hoard under the hoary stone, my dear Wiglaf. . . Now, I have purchased with my death a hoard of treasures; it will be yet of advantage at the need of the people. . . . I give thanks. . . that I might before my dying day obtain such for my peoples . . . longer may I not here be." See Brut; Caedmon; Anglo-Saxon