LITERATURE: TERMS, BEOWULF

LITERARY TERMS: MYTH: a traditional tale of gods and heroes not based on actual events;offering explanations of natural phenomena, of the creation of the world.
MYTHOLOGY: A system of hereditary stories which serve to explain why the world is as it is /shown through the actions of supernatural beings/
LEGEND: Stories in which the protagonist is a person rather than a supernatural being.
FOLKTALE: Stories concerning supernatural beings, but not part of the systematic mythology
EPIC: A narrative poem or cycle of poems dealing with some great deed – often the founding of a nation or the forging of the national unity. It often uses religious or cosmopolitan themes and has for a central character a cultural hero.
ALLITERATION: The close repetition of consonant sounds, usually at the beginning of words; also called “head rhyme”

BEOWULF, which probably belongs to the 8th century, is the greatest Old English poem. It is a story of about 3,000 lines, and is the first English epic. The name of the author is unknown. He probably knew Virgil's Aeneid and the epics of Homer. The poem displays the familiar epic qualities: EXTENDED NARRATIVE, MAJESTIC TONE, THE HERO WHO PERFORMS SUPERHUMAN DEEDS AGAINST ENEMIES, AND THE INCLUSION OF SUPERNATURAL POWERS THAT INTERVENE IN THE STRUGGLE.
The manuscript is in the British Museum, in London. Its social interest lies in the vivid description of life in those ancient times. The old language can be read now only by specialists.
Beowulf tells us of the times long before the Anglo-Saxons came to Britain. Ironically, the first great work of English literature is set entirely in Scandinavia without any mention of England or the English.
The scene is set among the Jutes, who lived on the Scandinavian peninsula at the time, and the Danes, their neighbours across the strait. The poem shows the beginnings of feudalism. The safety of the people depended on the warriors. There were several ranks of warriors: the folk-king, or liege lord, was at the head of the community; he was helped by warriors who his liegemen. If they were given lands for their services, they were called 'earls'. These in turn were served by a lower rank of warriors called 'knights'.
Beowulf is a young liegeman of the Jutes, or Geats. His adventures with a sea-monster abroad, in the country of the Danes /here called the Spear-Danes/, and later, with a fire-dragon at home, form two parts in this heroic epic. His unselfish way of protecting people makes him worthy to be folk-king. He would be slave to no man. Beowulf fights for the benefit of his people , not for his own glory, and in the battle he strives to be fair to the end.
Beowulf managed to tear off the monster's arm and the beast crawled away to die. In the morning, Beowulf hung the arm and shoulder in the hall and the Danes all wondered how he could have done it. The hand was so large that it filled almost all the room:
“When the hero-in-battle the hand suspended,
The arm and the shoulder, there was all of the claw
Of Grendel together, b'neath great-stretching hall-roof.
Folk-princes fared then from far and from near
Through long-stretching journeys to look at the wonder. “ (comment on the language)
“He shrank not from battle, seized by the shoulder
The mother of Grendel, then mighty in struggle
Swung he his enemy, since his anger was kindled
That she fell to the floor.”