Beowulf

[KEV67]

I am progressing with this. It is written in Old English on one side of the page, modern English on the other. It was translated by John Porter and it is a fairly literal translation.  My step-mother gave me a translation by Seamus Heaney once, but I never read it. I suppose the translation was a little more free. I think the story is jolly good. There is quite a lot of preamble. Beowulf does not just turn up and start fighting monsters. There are lots of pleasantries and formalities.  You can't just turn up and fight monsters without a by-your-leave, particularly if you turn up in a boat full of armed men.

Edited February 23, 2024 by KEV67

[lunababymoonchild]

I read the Seamus Heaney translation and loved it.

[KEV67]

I am about half way through. Beowulf has killed the Grendel by ripping off his arm. Beowulf must have been pretty strong, because I image the Grendel being as strong as a grizzly bear. I expect Jeff Capes would have had a problem ripping a grizzly bear's arm off. 

[KEV67]

I thought I was half way through in May, but I am not yet half way through in July. I read the same page each day until I understand it. When I understand a page without having to refer to the translation I start a new page the next day. They're after Grendal's mum now. Was Grendal's mum tougher than Grendal? I dare say my mum is not as tough as me, but maybe it is different with primeval monsters.

[KEV67]

Beowulf just chopped through Grendal's mum's neck with a giant sword he found in her lair. I can see the influence in J.R.R. Tolkein's books. Magic swords and mail, precious jewels, giants, monsters, dragons, trolls. In Beowulf the word 'faege' (I think) meaning fey. In The Silmarillion heroes and villains were usually fell or fey or both.

[KEV67]

I am still reading this. I have got to the bit with the dragon. It reminds me a lot of Smaug from The Hobbit. Someone steals a gold cup from the dragon's hoard, and the dragon goes nuts.

[Hayley]

On 2/27/2025 at 5:00 PM, KEV67 said:

I am still reading this. I have got to the bit with the dragon. It reminds me a lot of Smaug from The Hobbit. Someone steals a gold cup from the dragon's hoard, and the dragon goes nuts.

Maybe it did inspire Smaug! Tolkien did spend a long time translating Beowulf . (I agree that ‘feage’ would be fey as well - interesting how in old stories the idea of ‘fey’ was so much broader than what we think of as fairies now!)

[Madeleine]

Yes fairies have been cutified haven't they. I think Tolkien took a lot of inspiration from the Nordic tales.

[KEV67]

Almost in June and I am still reading it. Beowulf is in battle with the dragon. He has struck him in the head with his sword, but the blade has shattered. He is not fighting alone, however. One of his kinsmen has come to help him. His kinsman was at a disadvantage, because only Beowulf had a metal shield. His kinsman has had to come shelter behind Beowulf's shield, because his own has burnt away to the boss. It must be like fighting a cross between a Churchill tank equipped with the Crocodile flame-thrower equipment and a military helicopter. I was going to write a Black Apache helicopter, but in fairness the dragon does not any missiles. All Beowulf has is iron weaponry and armour, not even proper steel. He is still in the fight, which is not bad considering he is an old man of 70.

[KEV67]

Wiglaf is giving his comrades a dressing down for making themselves scarce while he and Beowulf were fighting the dragon, but isn't that a bit unfair. Beowulf told them himself he wanted to tackle the dragon alone, and he was the only one to have a metal shield. I suspect Beowulf did not trust his retinue and was bit of a glory hunter. The greater the odds, the greater the glory. This demoralized and enervated his troop. Thus they were not mentally match fit when they needed to be. 

[KEV67]

Only one page left. I read the same page of Old English every day until I understand it, before moving on to the next page. Hence it has taken me over a year to read. I do not think it is an efficient way to learn a language.

 

It was a good poem. It reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. What I liked about BtVS were the everyday teen issues Buffy was having. For example, her school grades suffered because she had to devote so much time to her vampire slaying. Her mother worries about unsuitable boys. She is disappointed about not making the cheerleader squad. The monsters were a huge concern, but a series just containing fight scenes with monsters would not have been as fun. In Buffy the monsters were a difficult fact of life, but they were also a sort of metaphor for something else. Similarly in Beowulf, the monsters are real, but so are all the other dangers: hostile tribes, feuds, stupid mistakes, natural calamities. One of the scenes I liked best was when the Geats shove the dead dragon off a cliff into the sea. They are going to honour their fallen leader with a funeral pyre, but the dead dragon is just a distraction that is maybe starting to smell.

[KEV67]

It is odd that Anglo-Saxon England's greatest poem was set in Scandinavia. The Anglo-Saxons had great difficulty with the Danes and Vikings, and Norse people generally, so why listen to stories about them? Does the Beowulf story originally come from Scandinavia?