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Sometimes they vowed at their temples of idols
To their gods worship, with words they prayed
The destroyer of spirits would render them help
Against their folk-sorrows. Such was their custom.1

4. SCENES IN HROTHGAR'S HALL AFTER THE ARRIVAL OF BEOWULF

Then was in joy the giver of treasure,
Gray-haired and war-fierce; help he expected,
The ruler of Bright-Danes; in Beowulf heard
The people's shepherd the firm-set purpose.

There was laughter of heroes, the harp merry sounded,
Winsome were words. Went Wealltheow forth,
The queen of Hrothgar, mindful of courtesies,
Gold-adorned greeted the men in the halls,
And the high-born woman then gave the cup
First to the East-Danes' home-protector;
Bade him be blithe at the beer-drinking,
Him dear to his people. In joy he received
The food and the hall-cup, victorious king.
Then around went the Helmings' lady
To every division of old and of young.
Costly gifts gave, until the time came

That she to Beowulf, the ring-adorned queen,
Noble in mind, the mead-cup bore.2

5. BEOWULF'S FIGHT WITH GRENDEL

Then came from the moor 'neath the misty slopes
Grendel going, God's anger he borc.

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The wicked foe thought of the race of man
Some one to entrap in that high hall:

He went 'neath the clouds whither he the wine-hall,

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The gold-hall of men, most thoroughly knew,
Shining with gold-plates: that was not the first time
That he of Hrothgar the home had sought.

Ne'er in his life-time before nor after

Bolder warriors, hall-thanes, did he find!

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Then came to the hall the being approaching,
Of joys deprived. The door soon sprang open

Fast in its fire-bands, when he with hands touched it.

Then burst the bale-bringer, since he was enraged,
The door of the hall. Soon after that

On the many-colored floor the fiendish one trod.

1 Lines 99-104; 115-125; 170-178.

Lines 607-624.

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Mad in mind he went: from his eyes stood

A loathsome light likest to flame.

He saw in the hall many of warriors,

A band in peace sleeping all together,

A heap of kin-warriors. Then laughed his mood:
He thought that he would, ere day came, divide,
The terrible monster, of every one

The life from the body, since to him was fallen

A hope of much food. That no longer was fated,
That he might more of the race of man
Devour by night.

Remembered he then, good kinsman of Hygelac,
His evening-speech; upright he stood

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And him fast seized: his fingers cracked

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The eoten would outwards: the earl further stepped;

The mighty one thought, whereso he might,

Afar to escape, and away thence

Flee to the marshes: he knew that his fingers
Were in his foe's grip: That was a bad journey
That the harm-bringing foe had taken to Heorot.

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For earls the ale spilt. Angry were both
Furious contestants: the hall cracked aloud:
Then was it great wonder that the wine-hall

Withstood the fierce fighters, that it to ground fell not,
The fair folk-hall: but it was too fast
Within and without in its iron bands

By cunning skill forged. There from the sill fell
Many a mead-bench, as I have heard say
Adorned with gold, where the foes fought.

Pain of body endured

The terrible monster: there was on his shoulder
An evident wound; apart sprang the sinews,
The bone-frame burst. To Beowulf was
Battle-fame given.1

6. THE DEATH OF BEOWULF.

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(Fifty years after his fight with Grendel.)

"Now I for the hoard of jewels have paid

Mine own aged life; do ye now supply

The needs of my people; I may not longer be here.

1 Garnett's translation, lines 710-736; 758-766; 769-777; 815-819.

[graphic][merged small][merged small]

Bid ye the war-famed a mound to make
Bright after the pyre at the sea's point.

Which shall for remembrance to mine own people
Raise itself high on the Whale's ness,
That it the sea-farers hereafter may call
Beowulf's mound, who shall their high ships
O'er the sea's mists from afar drive."
He put from his neck the golden ring,
The bold-minded prince, gave to the thane,
The young spear-warrior, his gold-adorned helm,
Collar and burnie, bade him use them well:
"Thou art the last left of our own kindred
Of the Wacgmundings. Weird carried away all
Of mine own kinsmen at the time appointed,
Earls in their strength: I shall go after them."
That was to the aged the very last word
In his breast-thoughts.1

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Different explanations have been given for the events of the poem. Some people believe that the story is based on fact, there having been, at some time, a real Northern hero who delivered the people from great dangers. The superhuman powers that are attributed to this hero would hence be due to the imagination of the scops who handed down the stories. They lived in the "childhood of the race," when all things were deemed possible.

Different Explanations of the Poem

It may be, as other students of the subject suggest, that the fights that Beowulf had with the three monsters are to be taken allegorically. Thus the fight with Grendel is really to represent the overcoming of the dangers from malaria through the draining of the stagnant pools and marshes. The fight with the seawife is the conquering of the power of the ocean when man discovered how to make it serve his needs, or, perhaps, how to hold it back by means of dykes. The fight with the fire-drake is to represent the struggle to control other forces of nature that endangered man's existence-possibly to fight, successfully, forestfires.

The poem consists of over 3180 lines. The Anglo-Saxons had no knowledge of rhyme, but their poetry had rhythm, produced by a certain arrangement of accents, and by consonantal alliteration, or the use of the same consonant to begin two or more

1 Lines 2799-2818.

words in a line. Each line of Anglo-Saxon poetry had four strong accents and was divided into two parts by

The Poetic
Form of
Beowulf

line.

a pause in the middle. In the first half the two most important words usually began with the same That same letter was also used to begin an important word in the second half of the

consonant.

"Misery of mind! Man oft sat."
"Grendel going, God's anger bore."
"Bucklers bright; on the bench were there."
"Beds and bolsters.-One beer-carouser

In danger of doom lay down in the hall."
"A warrior watching and waiting the fray."
"Sea-dragons strange that sounded the deep."

Although alliteration is not always observed in translations of "Beowulf," it characterized the original poem.

The Anglo-Saxons. If it is desired, further work may be done on the Anglo-Saxons as a people, their racial characteristies; their reasons for coming to Britain; their effect on the later language and literature of England. Material for this work may be found in any good history of England, or in the chapters dealing with the Anglo-Saxon period in any of the literary histories.

Paradise Lost.-The second great epic of England was the deliberate work of one writer, Milton. "Paradise Lost" is, therefore, a literary epic. It is based on the first three chapters of Genesis and sets forth the circumstances and motives which led Satan to go to the Garden of Eden, the temptation and fall of Adam and Eve, their expulsion from Paradise, and the plan of redemption through Christ. The setting is stupendous. Milton has taken as a background for his mighty scenes all of Heaven, Chaos, the planetary Universe, and Hell. "Paradise Lost" has been called the greatest single poem in the English language. It is wonderful for the magnificent word-pictures presented.

Paradise Regained. This poem is the natural sequel of "Paradise Lost." As Paradise is lost when Adam and Eve yield to the temptation of Satan, so Paradise is regained when Christ, although tempted in all points the same as man, resists the tempter. "Paradise Regained" is founded on the first eleven verses of the fourth chapter of St. Matthew. Although Milton regarded this work as his masterpiece, it is ranked below "Paradise Lost" in the judg ment of the rest of the world.

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