1. Beowulf

2. The Basics
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?

3. By Whom? By whom was it written?
Most Anglo-Saxon poetry was oral at first, meaning it was transmitted or performed by a Bard (Scop) from memory; it wasn’t actually written down, per se until . . .
Somewhere between the eighth and ninth centuries A.D., “The Beowulf-Poet” (his identity unknown) wrote down the poem which for many years had been sung/spoken.
The Beowulf-poet, scholars believe, was an English monk (and therefore, Christian) who probably lived in one of the Anglo-Saxon settlements in Western England (Mercia)

4. About Whom?
Even though the poet himself was English and Christian, the poem is about neither Englishmen nor (full-fledged) Christians
It is the story of several Scandinavian peoples (tribes, really), mainly the Geats and the Danes, but also the Swedes. Beowulf is a Geat. He goes to the aid of the Danes, whose king is Hrothgar
They live in . . .

5. Map of Baltic Region of Scandinavia and the Viking Invasions (700-800)

6. “Who?” in Review
The poem’s hero is Beowulf, a Geat who lives in Scandinavia. He is probably a fictional character. He is certainly an epic hero [more on this later]. The poem is also about three races or tribes:
The Geats
The Danes
The Swedes
It is written by an English (Anglo-Saxon) monk who is looking back in time to the days when his ancestors still lived in Scandinavia by a different code of ethics. (The Anglo-Saxon code was on its way out, soon to be replaced by Christian values.)
The original audiences who would have heard the poem would probably have been distant relatives of those tribes who play major roles in the poem

7. Who are the main characters?
Beowulf (Geat)
Hrothgar (Dane)
Unferth (Dane)
Wiglaf (Geat)
Grendel
Grendel’s mother
The dragon

8. Main Characters: Part 2
Many people divide the poem into thirds (one possibility); it is about Beowulf’s three epic battles with evil creatures
Grendel
Grendel’s Mother
The Dragon
However, as Heaney points out, it is also really about three tribes:
The Geats
The Danes
The Swedes

9. What?
What is it? Beowulf is an epic poem. An epic is “a long narrative poem that relates the great deeds of a larger-than-life hero who embodies the values of a particular society” (Elements 1263).
What is he? Beowulf is an epic hero
What is it about? It is about a transitional point in history (though it is mostly mythical and fictional)
It is poetic, creative, imaginative, and one of the earliest works of art in the English language (albeit Old English – ‘OE’)
It is also important to remember that it is NOT a work written in Latin. It is written in the vernacular (OE) and about people who were England’s founders (or conquerors) in the middle of the first Millennium – ‘common man’.

10. What (else)?
Fuller definition of epic: An epic is “a long narrative poem that relates the great deeds of a larger-than-life hero who embodies the values of a particular society. Most epics include elements of myth, legend, folklore, and history. Their tone is serious, and their language is grand. Most epic heroes undertake quests to achieve something of tremendous value to themselves and their society. Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid are the best-known epics in the Western tradition. The two most important English epics are the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf and Milton’s Paradise Lost” (Elements 1263).

11. What (else) cont’d.
Beowulf is also, in very many ways, allegorical. An allegory is “A story in which the characters, settings, and events stand for abstract or moral concepts” (Elements 1259). Some might say that there are allegorical features in Beowulf, rather than call it an allegory. Just looking at the three creatures Beowolf defeats may help show how the poem can be read allegorically:
Grendel stands for the monstrous features of fratricide; consider that he is born of Cain (who is know for killing his brother). The Geats, Danes, and Swedes, were in many ways “brothers,” but they were also at war. Who else kills his brother (or kinsmen) in the poem?

12. What (else) cont’d.
Grendel’s mother may stand for the root of (or mother of) our deepest animalistic aggressions. When heroes go into the sea, it is said by some scholars that they are actually going into the deepest recesses of their psyche. IS Beowulf, by defeating Grendel’s mother, simply “killing” the concept of revenge for revenge’s sake?
Dragons often represent greed. They horde treasure and become violent if the treasure is touched. By killing the dragon, is Beowulf killing his own greed? Notice what he bequeaths to his people after he dies.

13. When?
When was it written? It was probably recorded in writing sometime around 700 A.D.
When did the events in it take place? It is a fictional work and an imaginative work about people who occupied the Baltic region sometime in the fifth century A.D. (perhaps 450 A.D.)
It is important to remember the vast role (Past, Present, and Future) time plays within the poem itself. Beowulf and the other characters who populate the poem seem to be obsessed with the human relationship to time (or “when”)

14. Where?
Where was it written? It was written down, most likely, in the kingdom of Mercia (East Central Enlgand today).
Where do the events in the poem take place? The action in the poem takes place in Geatland and Denmark (the island of Zealand and in Southern Sweden) Or more generally, in the Baltic region of Scandinavia
Also consider more specific settings:
The sea, the meadhall, the swamp, the cliff, the battlefield, etc.
In the modern world, it is Denmark and Sweden and the islands in the Baltic between the two countries.
But it is also indirectly about the poet who wrote the poem down; we can say this because so many Christian features exist in the work. So it is also about Anglo-Saxon England, but only indirectly. None of the action takes place in England.

15. The “Where” – Think Archetypes
Heaney puts it nicely in his introduction when he says that Beowulf takes place in a “once upon a time world” and that it taps into “three archetypal sites of fear”:
The barricaded night house (Grendel)
The infested underwater current (Grendel’s mother)
Reptile-haunted rocks of a wilderness (dragon)
Think of them this way, in terms which may mean more to our generations:
Our beds on a stormy night when we are alone in the house (where we should feel safe)
A murky lake, or the beach where Jaws takes place (Ever been waterskiing and wondered what was nibbling on your toes?). Or, how about a dark forest by yourself?
The dark recesses of the earth: a cave, or even better, your own, dark basement

16. Why?
Why do we read it?
It’s a very creative, imaginative, poetic masterpiece
It gives us insight into the origins of the British people, the culture who, through seafaring conquest, founded the world we currently live in
It gives us insight into the origins of our language
It gives us insight into all people everywhere and throughout time (time, birth, death, fame/success/ glory, honor, friendship, conflict, home, country, adventure, spirituality—all of these things transcend English literature and matter to all people)
It’s scary and gets us to think about our own worst fears
It’s a VERY important piece of literature historically (this is the “because we have to” reason!).

17. Important Themes in the Poem
Past, Present, and Future (and Fate)
Life and Death
Fame (often achieved through war)
Setting
Geography (Denmark, Geatland, Sweden, And England??)
The Meadhall (Heorot)
Good vs. Evil & Religion
Man vs. Man
Man vs. Beast (Man vs. Himself? If allegorical)
Good Christian Traits vs. Evil
Good Pagan (Anglo-Saxon traits) vs. Evil
Bad Pagan Traits
Christianity vs. Paganism (Paganism not evil)
Anglo-Saxon Code
Friendship
Loyalty
Fame, Honor
Bravery
Generosity
Man-Price
Thane’s duty to his Lord; Lord’ duty to his Thanes
Christianity emerging as the dominant faith and worldview in the Scandinavian world
Stories and Songs – Influence on Culture
Masculine and feminine roles in the world

18. Review of Important Details
Epic poem
Written in Old-English about the early Christian, but still pagan, Scandinavians who eventually conquered most of England
Epic hero represents the values of his culture