Beowulf

“So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by/and the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness./We have heard of those princes’ heroic campaigns.”

The famous first lines of Beowulf—including the Old English exclamation “Hwaet,” here translated as “So”—ground us in the poem’s world. With the immediacy of that “Hwaet,” we are immersed in a culture founded on warlike heroism, honored ancestry, and storytelling.

“Beow’s name was known through the north./And a young prince must be prudent like that,/giving freely while his father lives/So that afterwards in age when fighting starts/steadfast companions will stand by him/and hold the line. Behaviour that’s admired/is the path to power among people everywhere.”

The moral principles here introduced will continue to be important throughout the poem. Displays of heroism and generosity create and maintain power in this world. While personal strength and correct behavior is the seed of power, allegiance maintains that power.

“Then a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark,/nursed a hard grievance. It harrowed him/to hear the din of the loud banquet/every day in the hall, the harp being struck/and the clear song of a skilled poet/telling with mastery of man’s beginnings,/how the Almighty had made the earth/a gleaming plain girdled with waters;/in His splendour He set the sun and the moon/to be earth’s lamplight, lanterns for men,/and filled the broad lap of the world/with branches and leaves; and quickened life/in every other thing that moved.”

The introduction of Grendel gives us a sinister taste of his rage at his exclusion from society, and introduces us to the blend of ancient custom and Christian belief that underpins Beowulf’s world. The poem described here retells the first chapter of the book of Genesis. Grendel’s anger at hearing this poem might subtly associate him with Satan (fittingly, since Grendel and other monsters were believed to be the descendants of the murderous Cain.)