Sometimes they vowed at their temples of idols 4. SCENES IN HROTHGAR'S HALL AFTER THE ARRIVAL OF BEOWULF Then was in joy the giver of treasure, There was laughter of heroes, the harp merry sounded, That she to Beowulf, the ring-adorned queen, 5. BEOWULF'S FIGHT WITH GRENDEL Then came from the moor 'neath the misty slopes 25 5 10 15 The wicked foe thought of the race of man He went 'neath the clouds whither he the wine-hall, 5 The gold-hall of men, most thoroughly knew, Ne'er in his life-time before nor after Bolder warriors, hall-thanes, did he find! 10 Then came to the hall the being approaching, Fast in its fire-bands, when he with hands touched it. Then burst the bale-bringer, since he was enraged, On the many-colored floor the fiendish one trod. 1 Lines 99-104; 115-125; 170-178. Lines 607-624. 15 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: The life from the body, since to him was fallen A hope of much food. That no longer was fated, Remembered he then, good kinsman of Hygelac, 20 25 And him fast seized: his fingers cracked 30 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 35 For earls the ale spilt. Angry were both Withstood the fierce fighters, that it to ground fell not, By cunning skill forged. There from the sill fell Pain of body endured The terrible monster: there was on his shoulder 6. THE DEATH OF BEOWULF. 40 45 (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. Bid ye the war-famed a mound to make Which shall for remembrance to mine own people 5 10 15 20 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 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." In danger of doom lay down in the hall." 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. |