Beowulf

In my periodic quest to acquaint myself with the great works of Western literature, I recently read Seamus Heaney's contemporary translation of Beowulf. I'd read John Gardner's Grendel, a retelling of the story from the monster's point of view, seen a movie version, and read about it and so it was a pleasure to finally delve into the original tale.

It's an epic poem written sometime in the latter part of the first millennium. Like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the author made use of alliteration as opposed to the rhyming that we're used to. Well, that I am used to, anyway. The events of the story take place a few hundred years prior to it being written and concerns the titular character, a Geat, who comes to the aide of Hrothgar and his fellow Danes.

The plot is fairly simple. A monster, Grendel, has been running roughshod over the Danes and making a mess of King Hrothgar's fancy mead hall. The Danes' tale of woe spread far and wide including to Geatland where Beowulf takes it upon himself to help out his neighbors to the south. He and his men arrive and gain an audience with Hrothgar. He tells him that theyve come from across the sea to take care of his problem. Beowulf and his men stake out the mead hall and take on Grendel when he appears for his nightly bout of chaos and destruction. Our hero slays Grendel and there is much rejoicing. But it's not over yet.

Grendel's mother seeks revenge for the death of her son but she too falls before the warrior from Geatland. Beowulf is rewarded handsomely and returns to his homeland. He becomes king and rules for 50 years when a dragon begins laying waste to the land and people. Beowulf once again takes up arms against a beastie and although he slays the dragon, he dies in the end. His people mourn his loss but immortalize him by interring him in a barrow.

Yes, this is a story that John Milius would appreciate. You've got a hero who embodies masculine ideals going around kicking ass and taking names. Not only is he going to kill the monster, he's going to do it bare-handed. And he has no time for emotions because action is what is needed. At one point he says, "It is always better/to avenge dear ones and to indulge in mourning." But there's more to the story than tough guy stoicism. The book's introduction is divided roughly into three parts. The first gives the background of the poem. For example, when it was written and how it has been passed down as a great work of literature The third consists of notes on the translation. These are simple and straightforward enough. But the second part was written for lit majors and was a bit beyond this unsophisticated lay reader. The key sentence is "It is impossible to attain a full understanding and estimate of Beowulf without recourse to this immense body of commentary and eludidation." Ain't that the truth.

I read Beowulf with the understanding of it having been intended as a piece of fantastical fiction and one that reflected the mores and ideals of its time.

It's not a pretty world that is described here. There is plenty of war and bloodshed. Feuds and alliances abound. Men are revered for their bravery and their honor means everything. Indeed, these concepts seem to be central to the identity of the characters. However, what's particularly interesting is how the very masculine and very violent virtues of the time are elaborated upon.

Beowulf's words and deeds prove his worth as a warrior and a man but there are long passages telling of heroic exploits of the past and of alliances and feuds. For instance, Hrothgar explains how he came to the aid of Beowulf's father, Ecgtheow, to end a feud. Hence the Geats and Danes have an alliance, a bond. But there are also a couple poems sung by a court minstrel that are of interest. One detrails the exploits of Sigemund who defeated a dragon. This not only recalls Beowulf's victory over Grendel but also prefaces his later confrontation with the dragon that's terrorizing the Geats. A second and much longer poem recalls the fighting between the Danes and the Frisians and bears much less directly on the main characters of the story. It's a depressing song and there are no overt parallels to the tale of Beowulf. From the bit about it in the introduction, I took this lengthy passage to be a reflection of the mindset of the audience of the time. It seems to reiterate the position that Fate generally placed people in: having to settle feuds and having to wage war. There is no romance here. Instead existence is red in tooth and claw. The poem just seems to be a bit of reflection on life during those times.

One thing that confused me involves religion. Early on in the text the narrator says that the Danes appealed to their pagan gods to relieve them from Grendel's onslaught.

Sometimes at pagan shrines they vowed
offerings to idols, swore oaths
that the killer of souls might come to their aid
and save the people.

…

The Almighty Judge of good deeds and bad, the Lord God,
Head of Heavens and High King of the World,
was unknown to them.

But later in the poem the Christian deity is mentioned as being familiar to the Danes after all. For example:

Beowulf was quickly brought to the chamber;
the winner of fights, the arch-warrior,
came first-footing in with his fellow troops
to where the king in his wisdom waited,
still wondering whether Almighty God
would ever turn the tide of his misfortunes.

The author was surely a Christian and the story of Beowulf was a look back at his pagan ancestors. So perhaps these latter references were inserted during a later transcription to make it a bit more amenable to Christianity.

Beowulf has this great sense of fatalism about it. Hrothgar tells Beowulf of his adventures as a young man. He too fought for glory. But Hrothgar is old now and he can only tell the hero to enjoy his youth because it is fleeting. And death awaits us all, whether you're a hero or a king or if you're a peasant. So you should at least die with your boots on.

It reminds me of St. Augustine. Beowulf represents the City of Man. Man is inherently bad and what happens down here is irrelevant. Hope for grace and pray that this life ends ASAP.

OK, so maybe my Augustinian comparison is a bit far-fetched. But reading Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight explains why parts of The Lord of the Rings are the way they are. The singing, the family trees, et al are surely derived from medieval literature.