Beowulf: An Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem
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Beowulf: An Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem
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For twelve years a monster called Grendel has come out of the moors at night to empty the great hall of the Danes. Beowulf sails from Geatland with fourteen men, and takes on Grendel bare-handed, then Grendel's mother in her lake, and fifty years later a dragon. The oldest long poem in English, by a poet nobody can name.
About the book
Composed in Old English somewhere between the eighth and eleventh centuries and surviving in a single fire-damaged manuscript, Beowulf is the oldest long poem in English. For twelve years the monster Grendel has come out of the moors at night to carry men out of Heorot, the great hall of the Danish king Hrothgar. Beowulf sails from Geatland with fourteen companions, waits for Grendel unarmed, and tears his arm off; Grendel’s mother comes the following night for revenge, and has to be followed down into her lake. The third act is fifty years later, when Beowulf is an old king and a dragon is woken by a stolen cup. The poem is not really about monsters: it is about kingship, loyalty, gift-giving and the feuds that are always about to restart, told by a Christian poet looking back at a pagan world he treats with enormous respect.
Characters
Beowulf — Protagonist
A Geatish warrior of extraordinary strength who comes unasked to clear another king’s hall.
Grendel — Monster
A descendant of Cain who cannot bear the noise of the hall, and empties it nightly for twelve years.
Grendel’s mother — Monster
Who comes the next night for her son’s body, and must be fought at the bottom of her own mere.
Hrothgar — King of the Danes
The old king who built Heorot and has watched it stand empty, and who warns Beowulf about pride.
Wiglaf — Kinsman
The one retainer who does not run when the dragon comes, and who is left to bury a king.
The dragon — Monster
A hoard-guard of three hundred years, roused by a single stolen cup and set on burning the country.
Unferth — Danish courtier
Who taunts Beowulf at the feast with a swimming match he lost, and later lends him a sword.
Wealhtheow — Queen
Hrothgar’s queen, who carries the cup round the hall and speaks for her sons’ inheritance.