Beowulf Manuscript (c. 1000)
History of the English Language in Ten Minutes
Beowulf is a pagan epic poem with Christian additions passed down orally from the southern Swedes to the English in the 5th century when the Anglo-Saxons and Jutes invade Britain. It is only written down sometime between the 8th and 10th centuries.
The Poem’s Invention, Its Written Text:
- Two scribes, A and B, working around the year 1000 CE
- The only manuscript survives a fire in 1731
- Scribes weren’t the poets, but rather the editors
The Poet:
- The term “author” does not convey the same static quality in the Anglo-Saxon period as it does in the modern day. Beowulf could have existed in a multiple of versions, depending on how many Anglo-Saxon poets, scops (pronounced “shops” and related to the word “to shape”) were around to interpret and re-tell the tale, much like the many interpretations of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
- Every performance and reading reshapes the poem and how we approach it, even the modern day versions. The Beowulf-poet, in a sense, is more of a collective noun than an individual author.
- The poet takes poetic license (his own embellishments) with Beowulf’s character, and invites the audience to consider the complex role of oral poetry, and how the audience—both Anglo-Saxon and modern—should interpret this work. He says, “I heard,” or “I have learned.”
The Poem’s Hero:
- Beowulf is mortal, but like other epic heroes (Gilgamesh, Odysseus, Achilles) he is stronger and more brave than most men. The last line of the poem tells us that “Beowulf was keenest to win fame.” Immortality in this culture means to win fame in stories and reputation.
- Beowulf fights monsters, as Gilgamesh fights Humbaba and Odysseus fights the Cyclopes, and we may glean the values of a Germanic leader, its culture, through its hero. Tacitus (1st CE) claims that warfare is a standard way of life for the Germanic people, to survive and prosper, ie: a good king is a “ring-giver.”
Characteristics of the Poem:
- It has Christian elements: Grendel is a descendant of Cain, the flood story is inscribed on the sword that Beowulf uses to kill Grendel’s mother, and in the mead hall the scop sings a song that recounts a creation story similar to the one in Genesis.
- J. R. R. Tolkien’s reading: the troll, the sea-woman, the dragon are from Norse and Germanic mythology—they represent coldness, darkness, wilderness, and are enemies of human values and reflections. The mead hall is a circle of light, which ultimately calls Grendel into existence. Tolkien’s criticism of the poem treats it as a poem, not as a historical document or an ethnographic study of the Germanic people.
- The poem begins with a funeral and ends with a funeral—nothing lasts.
- The three fights only take up 500 out of 3200 lines, and so community is more the driving point of the epic—it begins with Shield Sheafson. At the end of the epic, we know the Geats will eventually disappear because they fail to help Beowulf against the dragon.
- It contains understatements, such as “he’s feeling no pain” when someone is drunk; instead of saying “I’m happy,” they say “I wouldn’t want you to think that I’m not happy;” “that was no good place” insinuates part of the darkness and vision of these people.
