864 - 897 Flashcards
What happens in this passage?
This passage acts as indirect praise of Beowulf and a celebration of heroic culture through the digressive story of Sigemund
Repetition of hwilum?
Sometimes
Repeated adverbial frame the various responses of the warriors to the victory
Hleapan?
Infinitive of prance suggests easy movement and excitement. Suggests carefree celebration
cyninges thegn, guma gilphlæden?
Variation on the king’s thanes reinforces the status of the speaker within the heroic culture,
gidda gemyndig, sē þe ealfela?
Mindful of words, who remembered a great many
Paratactic additive syntax emphasises storytelling as a unique and glorified skill
wordum wrixlan?
vary his words
Description of the craftsmanship in composition as it could be read as a reference to the technique of variation
Contrasts to the carefree celebration
We are compelled to appreciate the impending miniature narrative
ellendǣdum?
Great deeds
In the life of Sigemund
wide sīðas - wide travels
Gives audience impressionistic window into his life without diverting the central narrative
‘āna
Alone
This is alliteratively stressed
Self-willed isolation is reinforced by the variation
ne wæs him Fitela mid
Suggests Beowulf is a hero as he thought Grendel alone
him gesǣlde
Befell him
This creates a sense of divinely ordained inevitability in his victory
The paratactic structure of the clauses describing the killing of the serpent are framed by þæt, suggesting this dramatic killing is a logical extension of the impersonal will
This contrasts Beowulf’s own dragon fight later in the text, one largely bereft of divine validation
dryhtlīc īren: draca morðre swealt?
lordly sword: the dragon violently died
dental plosives give impression of sword driving through the dragon’s side
Lordly sword is a personification which imparts heroic masculinity onto the blade itself, suggesting it is an important symbol of a hero
Beowulf’s sword fails him in the fight with Grendel’s mother and the dragon
893 aglaeca?
This term was previously used to describe Grendel
O’Keefe argues it blurs the reader’s perception of hero and monster but it could just emphasise the superhuman aspect of the hero, equating him to the dragons which he faces
þaet hē bēahhordes?
That he was allowed to enjoy
Links him to the dragon as he hoards wealth but also places him at the centre of the heroic social ritual of distributing wealth to his supporters
bær on bearm?
The bright treasure
Variation on treasure reinforces its importance - a theme validated later when Beowulf asks to view the treasure he has won from the dragon
wym hat gemealt?
The serpent melted in the heat
Parallels the violent punishment of hell
Contrasts the death of Grendel who died in the water
