Beowulf
(ca. 1000)

Beowulf is the earliest long poem in English and one of the great epics of world literature. Although the poem's author and its exact date of composition remain unknown, many experts believe that a Christian poet, perhaps a cleric, shaped the epic as we have it some time during the eighth century A.D. in southern England. Our single manuscript of the poem dates to the early eleventh century. Although it is commonly thought of as English, Beowulf unfolds in southern Scandinavia at least two centuries before the epic reached final form. During the intervening generations, the memory of these events was most probably kept alive through oral tradition.

Like all great epics, Beowulf is dominated by a larger-than-life hero who embodies the values and ideals of society. Beowulf, whose name may mean "bear," is a superhero of remarkable physical strength who is destined to struggle against three powerful antagonists: the monster Grendel, Grendel's mother, and a fearsome dragon. All three opponents clearly symbolize chaos and savagery. Typically, for an epic, the hero's glorious victories are also symbolic in that they represent the triumph of good over evil.

The Beowulf saga evolved during the formative years of Christianity in Britain, and it is thus not surprising to find Christian and pagan elements side by side in the poem. All the "Christian" references, however, are to the Old Testament: specifically, the Book of Genesis. The values of pagan warrior society—especially prowess in war, courage, and loyalty of warriors to a liege lord—form a strong component of the epic, and these values are sometimes in conflict with the Christian perspective.

Beowulf is almost certainly the product of oral tradition. For centuries, tales of heroic exploits were elaborated and sung by Anglo-Saxon bards, called scops, who accompanied themselves on the harp. Beowulf contains several glimpses of such "singing of tales." For example, King Hrothgar himself is said to "weave stories" to the sound of the harp (lines 364–370), and Beowulf retells his Danish adventures to King Higlac and his assembled warriors at a great feast in Geatland (lines 311–443). The oral roots of Beowulf are also apparent in the poem's style and structure. For example, the poet often uses appositive and adjective phrases to accumulate details. Anglo-Saxon verse employs a strongly rhythmic four-beat line, as well as an intricate pattern of alliteration—sound effects that would be especially striking in oral delivery. Hrothgar's use of the sermon form in his long speech about the dangers of pride (lines 59–134) is another sign of the epic's orally derived character.

Beowulf exists in a single manuscript, dating from about A.D. 1000, which is now in the British Library in London. In the sixteenth century, the manuscript was acquired by the antiquarian and book collector Sir Robert Cotton, but it was damaged during a fire in Cotton's library in 1731. Copies made later in the eighteenth century became the basis for the first published edition of the epic in 1815. The first modern English translation appeared in 1833.

Several passages in Beowulf describe skillfully decorated objects, either functional (helmets and swords) or ornamental (rings and necklaces). In 1939, archaeologists made a landmark discovery at Sutton Hoo in southeast England that revealed for the first time the high standard of art and craftsmanship in Anglo-Saxon Britain.

The Sutton Hoo treasure, which was buried in the grave of a king or a prominent noble, included a helmet, sword, and shield of splendid workmanship, as well as golden ornaments inlaid with jewels, silver bowls and spoons with Christian symbols, and various other artifacts. The design of a boar's crest helmet, which was made in eastern Sweden, exactly matches the description in Beowulf of a helmet presented by Hrothgar to the hero. The complex interlacings of animal and geometric designs on many of the objects have been compared to the intricate design of the epic's narrative structure, as well as to the sound patterns produced by the strong rhythm and striking alliteration of Old English verse.

Another important find at Sutton Hoo was the remains of a six-stringed harp. Experts have dated the instrument's origin as not later than A.D. 625. Reconstruction of this harp has led to practical experiments on the relationship of the rhythmic structure of epic verse in Beowulf with musical performance.

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