Beowulf Beowulf is to England what Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are to ancient Greece. It is the first great work of a national literature

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  Beowulf is to England what Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are to ancient Greece. It is the first great work of a national literature. It is the mythical and literary record of a formative stage of English civilization—an epic of heroic sources of English culture. Beowulf is oral art, handed down, with changes and embellishments, from one minstrel (scop) to another. Beowulf was composed in Old English c. 650 – 750; however, the world it depicts is much older.
  

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  The only manuscript of Beowulf dates from 1000 and is housed in the British Museum in London. It was discovered in the 18^th century, having survived Henry VIII’s destruction of the monasteries 200 years earlier.
  

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  EPIC:
  

proportions

--hero is of noble birth or high position and often of great historical or legendary

importance

--hero’s character traits reflect important ideals of his society

--hero performs courageous—sometimes superhuman—deeds that reflect the

values of that era

--actions of the hero often determine the fate of a nation or group of people

--setting is vast in scope, often involving more than one nation

--poet uses formal diction and a serious tone

--major characters often deliver long, formal speeches

--plot is complicated by supernatural beings or events and may involve a long and dangerous journey through foreign lands

--poem reflects timeless values, such as courage and honor

--poem treats universal themes, such as good and evil or life and death

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  Beowulf fuses pagan and Christian elements, and this contradiction of elements often confuses the modern reader. Beowulf places his faith both in wyrd (fate) and in God. Beowulf implies that man is not a creature possessed of much free will, but rather a creature largely at the mercy of higher forces. Note the pagan and Christian elements as you read this epic.
  

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  Praise and esteem of one’s contemporaries are thematic in Beowulf. “Fame is the most permanent of all things in an impermanent world. Of all that a man can have, fame survives everything of the transient and unstable.” Throughout this epic, Beowulf is described as a man “hungry for fame.”
  
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  In summary, Beowulf tells the story of a Geat (Beowulf) from Sweden who crosses the sea to Denmark in a quest to rescue King Hrothgar from the demonic monster Grendel. Beowulf is a hero—a dragon slayer, the representative of a besieged community that stands in precarious unity against the satanic forces that lurk everywhere in the cold darkness.
  

Why Study Beowulf?

1. 
   Is the universe ruled by a benevolent, Christian deity who allows humans the freedom to make their own choices? Or is it controlled by a rigid wyrd (fate), which humans blindly follow?
   
2. 
   Is fame the equivalent of immortality in the male-dominated, war-faring society of Beowulf? How does the pursuit of fame rate throughout history and in our 21^st century?
   
3. 
   Materialism (winning valuables) is an integral part of this epic. Does materialism rule our world?
   
4. 
   Can a human create a change in destiny through the sheer force of heroism?
   
5. 
   In Beowulf, what emerges is a culture’s glorious lament for lost heroes, a reckoning of its current condition, and a consideration of its possible destiny. Do these three concerns emerge in our world today?
   
6. 
   How would you defend the following premise—for both Beowulf, the hero, and for our current times?
   

The Hero With a Thousand Faces

1. 
   Campbell explains that the hero must leave the light and go into the dark, that the hero must descend into an abyss to conquer his or her dragon. The hero must take a journey, experience a “death,” and then return (resurrection) in order to mature.
   
2. 
   Water is symbolic. It represents the unconsciousness, a darkness that a hero must endure and conquer. The hero leaves the realm of light and meets some monster—literally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and/or figuratively—descending into an abyss through water.
   
3. 
   “The ultimate aim of the hero’s quest must be neither release nor ecstasy for oneself, but the wisdom and the power to serve others. One of the many distinctions between the celebrity and the hero is that one lives only for self while the other acts to redeem society.” Who are our heroes? Our celebrities?
   
4. 
   Campbell reiterates that we are ALL heroes.
   
5. 
   Campbell stipulates that dragons represent greed.
   
6. 
   We all have dragons. Can you slay your dragon? “Psychologically, the dragon is one’s own binding of oneself to one’s ego. We’re captured in our own dragon cage. The problem of the psychiatrist is to disintegrate that dragon, break him up, so that you may expand to a larger field of relationships. The ultimate dragon is within you; it is your ego clamping you down.
   

Note quotations/summarizations with line and page numbers as evidence of the following traits exemplified in Beowulf:

Loyalty to king/Loyalty to clan (Comitatus):

Hospitality Code:

Warrior culture / BRAVERY/Courage:

Fame is good / Boasting is good:

Over-the-top compliments show respect:

Belief in Fate:

Epic Poem Traits:

Invocation (address the muse) “Listen”:

Repetitions and Catalogues:

Stock phrases/Epithets:

Supernatural Intervention:

Affects the whole nation:

Epic Boasting:

Legendary hero

Epithet:

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  Mead-benches
  
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  Boy-child
  
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  Hall-troops
  
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  Not Old English: baseball, spacesuit, folktale
  

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  Whale road hronrad
  
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  Bee hunter beowulf
  
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  Wave steed
  
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  Wave floater wægflota
  
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  Sea house  merehus
  
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  See steed sæhengest 
  
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  Sky’s jewel
  
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  Bone cage
  
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  Bone house banhus
  
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  Head gem heafodgim
  

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  The Geatish hero
  
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  Midnight stalker
  
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  Bone crusher
  

Comitatus is the basic idea that everyone protects the king at all costs even if it means a warrior giving up his own life. If a king is killed, the warriors must avenge the death of the king or they can no longer serve as warriors for the next king. It is an idea that coexists with the interlacing theme. You will see the comitatus theme all through Beowulf and all of the Anglo-Saxon poetry. The diction (ring-giver, hearth-companion, etc) indicates the idea as well as the behavior. Notice how there is the motif of eating, sleeping, dying all the way through the text, and all of it is done as a "team" even to the passing of the cup uniting the group of warriors. They stayed in the meadhall while the king slept in an adjoining "apartment" so they could constantly protect him. You will even see the idea in the avenging of Grendel's death by his mother. Some of the same actions on her part are the same as the actions of the warriors. Beowulf is also a good text to demonstrate how comitatus died with the Anglo-Saxon period. Notice how at the end of the text only Wiglaf follows Beowulf into the battle with the dragon. When Beowulf goes into the various battles, there is a progression of the comitatus dying with the behavior of the warriors: the warriors stand on the bank waiting, the next time they are sleeping and the third time only Wiglaf goes with him.

The comitatus idea goes hand in hand with interlacing. Interlacing is best seen in the artwork of the period and then transferred into the text. You have probably seen a picture of the chalice or the necklace or even the helmet most closely associated with Beowulf. The interlacing is difficult to see on the helmet, but it is in the ridge across the top. The design is actually that of a flying dragon-like creature. The wings go across the top of the eyes like eyebrows, the head is at the nose piece and the body, twists across the head to the back of the helmet. The reason for the ridges across the helmets was to deflect a blow from a sword. It was a great illustration of the strength found in interlacing used to protect the individual.

The Belt Buckle from the Sutton Hoo treasures shows the interlacing theme quite well with its twists and turns. Interlaced human figures, interlaced dogs, and knot pattern.

The idea of interlacing was that nothing in the Anglo-Saxon period was independent. Everything depended on everything else whether agricultural, cultural, personal, or any other way. Women were protected by older men not fighting in battle, king protected by warriors who are well rewarded for their service, etc. Modern celtic designs are "modern" renditions of this early idea.

One of the best ways to illustrate the interlacing idea is through sword making of the time. Swords were made using 4-6 rods of metal. They were first twisted/braided into 2-3 rods and then pounded flat but still allowing for the twisted design to show. Then these 2-3 rods were then twisted/braided into one rod that was pounded flat and then shaped and sharpened. In many of the ancient swords that design is still seen. The idea was that everything was stronger when "braided" together. In isolation one must only depend on himself, but when linked with everything/everyone that exists within the community, one does not fight just for himself but for the entire kingdom.

Geats – from Sweden / Beowulf

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  Prompt reference (key words)
  
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  Title – underlined (because you’re handwriting it) for long poems (Beowulf), novels, and plays
  
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  Author (if there is one / Beowulf does not have an author)
  
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  Theme (statement)
  
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    What is the message for society/humanity?
    

Use at least 3 specific references to the epic tale, Beowulf, to support your thesis.

THESIS: Write a thesis statement (including ALL thesis parts: Author, title, key prompt words, theme)

Celts in Great Britain

The first British settlers were the Celts. The name, Britain, comes from a group within the Celts, called the Brythons (Britons). The King Arthur mythology originates from this group of people. {more on this later…}

It was the Celts who fought against Roman control from 55 BCE (Julius Caesar) to roughly 409.

It was the Celts who were somewhat Christianized when Christianity became the official religion of Rome in 313 with the Edict of Milan by Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.

It was the Celts who were pushed into Wales and Ireland when invaders from (what we know today as…) Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands saw an unprotected area when Rome left. These invaders were called Angles, Saxons, and Jutes.

We hear about the Angle-Saxons because the great epic Beowulf is derived from this culture. {more on this soon…}