Beowulf
The Poem
The Society
Christian Tradition
Values
Techniques
Themes
The Poem
the oldest of the great long poems written in English
more than 1200 years ago
 composed in the first half of the 8th century deals with
their Germanic forebears, with 2 south Scandinavian
tribes--the Danes and the Geats
 concerns a time following the initial invasion of England
by Germanic tribes in 449 AD (5th~6th Cent.)
 the composer “Christianizes” the work
 Author removes most of the supernatural references and
softens the bloody overtones of the original poem (to
remove the pagan deities)
 an epic, not as complete as Homer's epics
 more elegy than epic: a poem honoring Beowulf: his
heroic exploits and his death-- the past hero--honoring
the past way of life

Societal Values
Values of Anglo-Saxon Society


tribal society with kinship bonds
heroic code of behavior
– bravery
– loyalty to one’s lord, one’s warband
(comitatus), and one’s kin
– willingness to avenge one’s lord or
warband without regard for personal
danger or cost—death preferable to
exile and lordless life
– generosity of lord to thanes and of
hero to warband and lord—gift-giving
– heroism (i.e., great deeds) brings
honor, eternal fame, and political
power

Women were portrayed as peace-weavers
– married to powerful men from enemy states to bring political
solidarity and to reconcile warring kingdoms
– not entirely successful

mix of pagan and Christian values
– often in conflict, e.g., pagan (secular) lineage (Geats, Danes,
etc.) vs Christian lineage (race of Cain)
– eternal earthly fame through deeds vs afterlife in hell or heaven
– honor and gift-giving vs sin of pride (hubris); revenge vs pacifist
view (forgiveness); Wyrd (Anglo-Saxon "Fate") vs God’s will, etc.
– Germanic revenge ethic is consistent with Old Law of retribution
(Old Testament Lex Talionis), not with New Testament Law of
forgiveness.

songs, tale-telling, and boasting (i.e., words) inscribe
deeds in the cultural memory — oral transmission
Christian Tradition
God: the Creator of all things
the ruler of the Heavens - God's
will
 identical with fate of Grendel:
descendent of Cain the race of
giant destroyed by flood
 the dead await God's judgement
 BUT no reference to the New
Testament in Beowulf
 also reflects an ancient pagan,
warrior society tradition, in the
sense of tragic waste


Values it evokes

1) human relationship between the warrior (the
thane) and his lord
– mutual trust and respect
– loyalty treasured --a kind of visible proof that all parties
are realizing themselves to the full in a spiritual sense
– symbolic importance (spiritual material; give
honor/worth, value, ultimate achievement)
– The warrior society centered in the mead-hall provided
by the lord for his and their protection
– Gift-giving: acknowledging one's worth (primitive and
sophisticated)
– Boasting: challenging yourself to gain renown,
reputation: feeling of worth
relationship between kinsmen to exact wergild
(manprice) or to take vengeance for their
kinsmen's death
 the need to take vengeance created neverending feuds, bloodshed, a vast web of reprisals
and counter-reprisals (a strong sense of doom)
fatal evil

– Quests: In undertaking the slaying of Grendel, later
Grendel's mother, and the later, thye dragon, Beowulf
is testing his relationship with unknowable destiny.
– Whether he lives or dies, he will have done all that
any man could do to develop his character heroically
courage/ fate / "the boasting" pagan immortality.
– The memory in the minds of later generation; through
the writing of the poet, will keep him alive.








Poetic Techniques
Alliteration (Peter Piper…)
Kenning (figurative
expression: oar-steed = ship)
Boasting
Litotes (understatements)
Interlacing (digression)
story
Epic (long, adventure,
The poet honored the hero
and the end of a cultural
group far earlier in the old
English period to take the
past of old culture that is
coming to an end and a good
start of new Christian
culture.
The poem ends with
Beowulf's death: the old
society, something beautiful
has passed away: Human-mortality
Themes





The transience and the potentiality-or inevitability--of sudden attack,
sudden change, swift death omnipresent
Little hope to escape - strong sense of
doom
Feud: the tragic waste - the system of
revenge repeated in the poem
Wars settled by Beowulf kept
Beowulf's death feud going on
The contest /eternal conflict between
dark and light, good and evil Fate:
– "fate often saves the undoomed man
when his courage is good.“
– "God often saves the man when
his courage is good."
– Fate: God's will and one's own courage
together
– Courage is the quality that can perhaps
influence Fate
 “Beowulf” is chiefly concerned not with tribal feuds
but with fatal evil that threatens to the security of the
lands.
 Because the evil monsters are outside the normal
order of things, they require of their conqueror
something greater than normal warfare requires.
 Unlike Beowulf, the old Hrothgar lacks this quality
that later impels the old Beowulf to fight the dragon.
 Hrothgar is not the kind of man to develop his human
potential to the fullest extent that Fate would permit:
that is Beowulf's role.
 Boasting: a warrior's
tradition--a way of forcing
oneself to achieve a higher
level, to find the best.
– When one boasts, he is
choosing the heroic way of
life.
– One's boast becomes a vow
– The hero has put himself in
a position from which he
cannot withdraw.
 Treasure :Beowulf gives the
gift received from Hrothgar
to Hygelac, his king - a
gesture of good will, a
gesture of generosity.
– The gifts are proof of
Beowulf's value & worth as
a warrior.
– Understatement (to say less
than might be said; a
typical way of speaking in
old English)