Beowulf

BEOWULF

Beowulf is the first major poem in any European vernacular language, and is not only much the longest work of the thirty thousand lines of Old English (Anglo-Saxon) that remain to us, but is incomparably the greatest. The historical period described may be the 6th century AD, but we only possess a much later manuscript. The poem is generally thought to have achieved its present form around the time of Bede (q.v.).

The tale of Beowulf's battles with the monster Grendel and his mother, followed fifty years later by his fight with the dragon which brings death to both, is marked by a sustained nobility of language. It also has the typical Anglo-Saxon heroic preoccupation with dogged courage and fortitude, coupled with a poignant awareness of the transience of life. There is a good deal of scholarly controversy surrounding the poem, but there are a number of grounds for believing that Beowulf was a product of the court poets of Northumbria. The work seems to have been transcribed into West Saxon dialect from a Northumbrian or Mercian original and a claim for the great poem to be a part of the North East heritage can be plausibly sustained. The hall of the Danish king Hrothgar (Britain is never mentioned in the poem) is described in terms which might well be applied to that of King Edwin of Northumbria, excavated at Yeavering in Northumberland. The very name of Hrothgar's hall Heorot (Hart) and the mere or pool inhabited by the fearful monster Grendel and his mother, recall the ancient (pre-heraldic) seal of Hartlepool (Hart-le-Pool), now prosaically found on the municipal buses and elsewhere. It depicts a hart being attacked by a hound, reminding us that in Beowulf, a stag would rather be torn by the hounds than venture into the mere where Grendel dwelt. There is also an old tradition that Beowulf was buried on Boulby Cliffs in Cleveland.

'Upon the headland, the Geats erected a broad high tumulus plainly visible to distant seafarers...'

Another Anglo-Saxon poem Widsith consisting of a roll-call of Germanic heroes from AD 375 to AD 568, is the oldest in the language. Professor David Daiches states that though the manuscript we have dates from the 10th century, the poem originated in Northumbria at the time of Bede.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
BEOWULF Beowulf is the first major poem in any European vernacular language, and is not only much the longest work of the thirty thousand lines of Old English (Anglo-Saxon) that remain to us, but is incomparably the greatest. The historical period described may be the 6th century AD, but we only possess a much later manuscript. The poem is generally thought to have achieved its present form around the time of Bede (q.v.). The tale of Beowulf's battles with the monster Grendel and his mother, followed fifty years later by his fight with the dragon which brings death to both, is marked by a sustained nobility of language. It also has the typical Anglo-Saxon heroic preoccupation with dogged courage and fortitude, coupled with a poignant awareness of the transience of life. There is a good deal of scholarly controversy surrounding the poem, but there are a number of grounds for believing that Beowulf was a product of the court poets of Northumbria. The work seems to have been transcribed into West Saxon dialect from a Northumbrian or Mercian original and a claim for the great poem to be a part of the North East heritage can be plausibly sustained. The hall of the Danish king Hrothgar (Britain is never mentioned in the poem) is described in terms which might well be applied to that of King Edwin of Northumbria, excavated at Yeavering in Northumberland. The very name of Hrothgar's hall Heorot (Hart) and the mere or pool inhabited by the fearful monster Grendel and his mother, recall the ancient (pre-heraldic) seal of Hartlepool (Hart-le-Pool), now prosaically found on the municipal buses and elsewhere. It depicts a hart being attacked by a hound, reminding us that in Beowulf, a stag would rather be torn by the hounds than venture into the mere where Grendel dwelt. There is also an old tradition that Beowulf was buried on Boulby Cliffs in Cleveland. 'Upon the headland, the Geats erected a broad high tumulus plainly visible to distant seafarers...' Another Anglo-Saxon poem Widsith consisting of a roll-call of Germanic heroes from AD 375 to AD 568, is the oldest in the language. Professor David Daiches states that though the manuscript we have dates from the 10th century, the poem originated in Northumbria at the time of Bede.
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