Beowulf
Also known as: The Beowulf Poem, Beowulf (Old English), Bēowulf
An Old English alliterative epic recounting the hero Beowulf’s battles with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and a dragon, set among Danes and Geats. It blends Germanic heroic tradition with Christian reflection on fate, kingship, and mortality.
Description
Beowulf is the longest surviving poem in Old English, an alliterative epic set in sixth-century Scandinavia. The Geatish hero Beowulf sails to aid King Hrothgar of Denmark by defeating the hall-haunting monster Grendel and, later, Grendel’s vengeful mother in her mere. In old age, as king of the Geats, Beowulf faces a treasure-guarding dragon and dies of his wounds after slaying it with the loyal help of Wiglaf. Interwoven digressions and lays recall legendary feuds, fragile peace-weaving marriages, and the rise and fall of kings. The poem’s elegiac voice weighs fame and gift-giving against transience, reading heroic deeds through a distinctly Christian moral horizon.
Historiography
Beowulf survives in a single manuscript, the Nowell Codex (British Library, Cotton MS Vitellius A.xv), damaged in the 1731 Ashburnham House fire. The poet is anonymous; composition date is disputed, with arguments for early (8th–9th c.) and late (10th–early 11th c.) dates. The poem uses Old English alliterative meter with caesura and formulaic diction. Early editions include Thorkelin’s 1815 Latin/Old English text; modern scholarship often cites Klaeber’s Beowulf (multiple editions). The narrative engages historical figures like Hygelac and Swedish-Geatish wars, blending legend with heroic history.
Date Notes
Composed in Old English; surviving in the Nowell Codex (Cotton MS Vitellius A.xv). Date of composition debated (8th–early 11th c.); manuscript copied around the turn of the 11th century.
Symbols
Major Characters
- Beowulf
- Hrothgar
- Grendel
- Grendel's Mother
- Wiglaf
- Hygelac
- Unferth
- Wealhtheow
- The Dragon
Myths
- Beowulf and Grendel
- Beowulf and Grendel’s Mother
- Beowulf and the Dragon
- Funeral of Beowulf
Facts
- Survives in a single manuscript: the Nowell Codex (Cotton MS Vitellius A.xv).
- Composed in Old English using alliterative meter with a medial caesura.
- Set among Danes and Geats in sixth-century Scandinavia with Swedish–Geatish conflicts.
- Approximately 3,182 lines; the longest extant Old English heroic poem.
- Hygelac is likely the historical Chlochilaicus mentioned by Gregory of Tours.
- Themes of gift-giving, feuds, and peace-weaving reflect early medieval warrior culture.
- The poem integrates Christian moral reflection within a pagan heroic setting.
- Named swords (Hrunting, the giant sword) and treasure ethics structure honor and fate.
- The dragon episode frames Beowulf’s kingship and mortality in an elegiac close.
- Edges of the manuscript were damaged in the 1731 Ashburnham House fire.