Blogging Beowulf: Fit XIX, lines 1251-1320

14 March 2009

The Danes fall asleep in Heorot and Grendel’s mother appears to avenge her son. The fit opens with a reminder that Grendel is the spawn of Cain and a recap of Beowulf’s fight (kind of a medieval “last week on Beowulf...”). Then the poet describes her attack on the hall, telling us that she isn’t as strong or dangerous as a man—which is odd, since she turns out to be a much more formidable opponent for Beowulf than Grendel was. She kills one of the Danes—Hrothgar’s chief thane—while all the others scatter in fear. Grendel’s mother flees, taking Grendel’s hand with her. Then when morning comes, Hrothgar summons Beowulf to his chambers.

The description of the attack is worth repeating (lines 1279-95):

Cōm þā tō Heorote,      ðær Hrinġ-Dene
ġeond þæt sæld swæfun.      Þā ðær sōna wearð
edhwyrft eorlum,      siþðan inne fealh
Grendles mōdor.      Wæs se gryre læssa
efne swā micle      wā bið mæġþa cræft,
wīġgryre wifes      be wæpnedmen,
þonne heoru bunden,      hamere ġeþrūen,
sweord swāte fāh      swīn ofer helme
ecgum dyhttiġ      andweard scireð.
Þā wæs on healle      heardecg togen
sweord ofer setlum,      sīdrand maniġ
hafen handa fæst;      helm ne ġemunde,
byrnan sīde,      þā hine se brōga anġeat.
Hēo wæs on ofste,      wolde ūt þanon,
fēore beorgan,      þā hēo onfunden wæs;
hraðe hēo æþelinga      ānne hæfde
fæste befangen,      þā hēo tō fenne gang.

(She came to Heorot,      where the Ring-Danes
slept throughout the hall.      Then at once happened
a turn of fortune for the men,  after the inside reached
Grendel’s mother.      The terror was less
even as great      as is the strength of women,
the war-horror of women  compared to an armed man,
when the bound sword,      orged with a hammer,
a sword decorated with blood      strong of edge,
cuts opposite      into the swine-image on a helmet.*
Then in the hall was      drawn a hard-of-edge
sword over the seats,      many a broad-shield
was raised fast in hand; helmets were not remembered,
nor broad mail-coats,      when the terror seized him.
She was in haste,      and would be out from there
to save her life      when she was found out;
quickly she a nobleman      one had
seized fast,      then she went to the fen.)

*I changed the order of the half-lines here so it makes sense in modern English. As I’ve noted before, being an inflected language, Old English is extremely flexible with its syntax. Modern English doesn’t inflect its nouns and uses word order to convey case.

I’ve been putting off a discussion of meter, a subject I don’t know so well, but I’m starting to get a handle on it. So here goes a very simplified explanation of how meter in Anglo-Saxon poetry works. Remember that it actually has a lot more subtleties than how I’m explaining it, but this will do for now.

All Anglo-Saxon poetry is written out on the page as if it were prose. The scribes did not break the lines up on the page, instead filling the entire width of the paper with words and only starting a new line when they ran out of room. In modern editions, the poetry appears in lines consisting of two half-lines, separated by a break, called the caesura. This is a 19th century innovation to make it more obvious to the modern reader how the lines should be read.

The half-lines, or verses, are known as the a-verse and the b-verse (or the on-verse and the off-verse). Usually (but not always), each half-line contains two stressed syllables, also known as lifts, and an uncounted number of unstressed syllables. The first stress of the b-verse alliterates with one or both of the stresses in a-verse. The second stress of the b-verse does not typically alliterate, nor do any of the unstressed syllables. Example:

Cōm þā tō Heorote,      ðær Hrinġ-Dene
/ x x x / x,      x / / x

Note the first stress in the b-verse (Hrinġ) alliterates with the second in the a-verse (Heo). Traditionally, stressed syllables are marked with a slash and unstressed ones with an x.

The next line alliterates on both stresses in the a-verse:

ġeond þæt sæld swæfun.      Þā ðær sōna wearð
x x x x / / x.      x x / x /

Sæld, swæfun, and sōna all alliterate.

Consonants alliterate only with themselves, as do the consonant clusters sc, sp, and st. G can also alliterate with ġ and c can alliterate with ċ. Vowels can alliterate with any other vowel.

As I’ve said before, the meter is actually more complex. Lines are divided into five classes (A-E) and there are also half-lifts, or sort-of-stressed syllables. But this is a rough overview of the basics.

Blogging Beowulf: Fit XVIII, Lines 1192-1250

9 March 2009

This fit finishes up the celebratory feasting with more gifts. In particular, Beowulf receives a precious necklace. There is an allusion to the death of Hygelac, the king of the Geats, which will happen in the future. And the Danes settle in for the night in the mead-hall with some foreshadowing of more death to come.

Beowulf is given this wonderful and famous necklace, which according to other tales, once belonged to the goddess Freya. More recently it was in the possession of Eormanic, the king of the Goths, who serves as is an archetype for the tyrannical ruler in Norse sagas. The necklace is stolen by a man named Hama and it eventually comes into possession of the Danes, who give it to Beowulf, who will give it to his queen Hygd, who will give it to her husband, Hygelac, who will take it on a raid against the Frisians where he will be killed. This sequence is interesting in that it demonstrates the Anglo-Saxon attitude toward inheritance and gifts. Precious objects have a history and do not permanently belong to people, who can only brūcan þenden hie mōte, or use them while they can, a phrase that is repeated throughout the poem. Wealth and worldly things are fleeting.

There is an enigmatic reference in line 1201 where it says that Hama, after stealing the necklace from Eormanic, ġeċēas ēċne ræd, or chose eternal counsel. It may be a reference to entering a monastery, which Hama does in some versions of the tale. Or it could be some reference to having chosen to be a thief he has chosen his fate. No one is really sure.

Wealhtheow speaks more words of praise for Beowulf. There is more feasting until Hrothgar departs for his apartment and rest. The rest of the Danes settle down to sleep in the mead-hall, as they used to before the predations of Grendel. (We find out later that Beowulf and the Geats are given their own apartment to sleep in.)

The poet makes a point of telling us that the Danes go to sleep with weapons and armor at the ready, as good soldiers do. There is some irony in this as they are not prepared for what is to come. As it says in lines 1233b-1235:

                              Wyrd ne cūþon,
ġeosceaft grimme,      swā hit āgangen wearð
eorla manegum,      syþðan æfen cwōm.

(                              They did not know fate,
grim fate,      as it would happen to come to pass
for many a man,      after evening came.)

Blogging Beowulf: Fit XVII, lines 1125-1191

8 March 2009

The scop finishes up the song about Hnæf, Hengist, and Finn. Hengist and the Danes lived with Finn and the Frisians for the winter, unable to sail home due to weather. But they did not forget the wrong done to them, and come spring they struck back in revenge, killing Finn and looting his treasury. Then they sailed home, taking Finn’s wife, Hildeburh back to her Danish homeland.

When the song ends, we get another mention of Unferth, and then Wealhtheow performs another cup ceremony and makes a plea that Beowulf watch out and be a benefactor to her two young sons. She also reminds Hrothulf, Hrothgar’s nephew and likely heir, of the kindness and wealth that she and her husband have given him, and that he has an obligation to care for her sons when Hrothgar eventually passes. There is a strong implication in the poem that Hrothulf will dispatch the two young boys as soon as he can get away with it to secure his place on the throne, a bit of political intrigue to spice up the main plot of monster-killing.

We learn a bit more about Unferth, the counselor who challenged Beowulf before the fight with Grendel, accusing the hero of being less than he maintained. In line 1165 he is called a þyle, an orator or spokesman. Some have maintained that this actually means that he is a court jester of sorts, also pointing out that he is referred to as being drunk when he makes his earlier challenge. But he seems to be more than an entertainer. He is also described here as, lines 1165-68a (this section is hypermetrical):

                  Swylċe þær Ūnferþ þyle
æt fotum sæt frēan Scyldinga;      ġehwylċ hiora his ferhþe trēowde,
þæt hē hæfde mōd miċel,   þēah þe hē his magum nære
ārfæst æt ecga ġelacum.

(                  Likewise, there Unferth the spokesman
sat at the foot of the king of the Scyldings;      each of them trusted his spirit,
that he had great courage,      though he was not with his kinsman
honorable in the play of edges.)

The ecga ġelacum, or play of edges, is swordplay, a reference to Unferth having killed his brothers. Here, that act is described as something less than completely honorable, but probably short of criminal—as he still maintains an honorable position at the king’s side. Ārfæst can be translated as merciful, as well as honorable, so the translator can spin how the modern audience reacts to the character. The poet tantalizes us with snippets of Unferth’s backstory, but never gives us the complete low-down on him. Whether the Anglo-Saxon audience would be familiar with the character from other tales, or if they would be similarly tantalized is not known.

We are similarly tantalized by the subtextual story of Hrothgar’s succession. Hrothgar earlier leaned toward adopting Beowulf—to what degree is open to interpretation. Here Wealhtheow puts the kibosh on that in lines 1175-76a:

Mē man sæġde      þæt þū ðē for sunu wolde
hereri[n]ċ habban.      Heorot is ġefælsod,
bēahsele beorhta;      brūc þenden þū mōte
maniġra mēdo,      ond þīnum māgum læf
folc ond rīċe,      þonne ðū forð scyle,
metodsceaft seon. 

(I have been told      that you would for a son
have this warrior.      Heorot is cleansed,
the bright ring-hall;      enjoy while you can
your many rewards,      and leave to your kinsmen
your people and kingdom,      when you must go forth
to see the decree of fate.)

She goes on to attempt to enlist Beowulf and Hrothulf in the guardianship of her sons. There is a lot of political intrigue just below the surface of Hrothgar’s court. And from this intrigue, which we never learn the full details of—it is a minor subplot, almost subtext—Wealhtheow emerges as one of the most fully rounded characters in the poem. While she is certainly not a focus of the poem, she is something more than just a minor character—I haven’t counted, but I suspect she has more speaking lines than anyone except Beowulf, Hrothgar, and Wiglaf (who appears in the final part of the poem.) She has depth and her own purposes and ambitions. She is more than just a trophy wife to an aged king, but something of a power in the court. No mean feat for a woman in the warrior society of Germanic tribes.

She is also portrayed as a skilled political maneuverer.  Her wording in the above-cited passage indicates this. She was present when Hrothgar “adopted” Beowulf, but here she gives herself plausible deniability by invoking the omnipresent and impersonal man, or they, as reporter of the fact.

We’re shortly going to be introduced to the other major female character in the piece, Grendel’s mother.