Why Beowulf Matters
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
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Beowulf if one of the English language's oldest and most significant stories. But it wasn't always seen as so valuable. Today, we're exploring the story, its themes, its academic history and that one time it almost burned to a crisp.
A very fun Beowulf performance: • Beowulf: The Epic in P...
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My favorite line in Beowulf is when they say he 'unlocked his word-hoard.' Word-hoard is such a cool way to describe your vocabulary.
Modern English got 'thesaurus' from Greek for ‘storehouse, treasure’, but word-hoard is better.
@@johnscanlon8467 Kennings are great. 😊
The contemporary Dutch word for vocabulary is woordenschat, meaning words-treasure. (The "oo" is pronounced as in "oar", the "ch" sounds like a "g", "a" as in "mast".)
I've always been convinced that the "Friday the 13th" movies are inspired by "Beowulf". They're all about a monster with a vengeful mother who arises from a spooky lake to wreak havoc on people just trying to enjoy a few drinks in the woods.
That's...a really interesting point actually
@@Jess_of_the_Shire I second that! What's funny about that series, in my opinion at least, is that it didn't become truly entertaining until film 6 onwards because they leaned more into absurdism and self-parody. The first 3-4 films are kind of boring and you can skip 5. Jason X is a comedic masterpiece and you can't convince me otherwise.
Well spotted. 🙂👍
@@sebastianevangelista4921the first several were overly self serious morality plays where the kids being the most "sinful" were always the ones "punished" for their "unacceptable youth behavior"
all stories are rehashes of a handful of few story ideas. nothing wrong with that. but once you know it, you'll never stop seeing it.
Tolkien’s views on literature being over analysed and microscopically examined are absolutely correct! For example, I feel exactly the same about how Shakespeare is taught in schools. I absolutely adore his plays because I was lucky enough to see many of them on stage when I was young. They were written to be performed, to create an atmosphere and to entertain, not to be dissected or read as a novel. There are incredibly complex underlying themes in many of his plays, but ultimately they’re written to be experienced, not studied!
yeah could you imagine if music was taught that way, if instead of instruments to play, you just got quizzed on details about the sheet music?
I like the story of JRRT roaring 'hwaet!' to his class at Oxford. The first word in Beowulf. A student recalls that he had shouted 'Quiet!'
I would have loved to see him teach! It seems he was a very dynamic professor
@@Jess_of_the_Shire Diana Wynne Jones mentioned in her nonfiction collection Reflections that Tolkien mumbled a lot and didn't appear to actually enjoy lecturing.
@@sebastianevangelista4921 It's important to point out that she studied under him around the time The Lord of the Rings was about to be published, Tolkien must have been worried about the last minute changes and editions he would have to make. 😅
@@Jess_of_the_Shire if you could understand a word he said. A lot of students said they couldnt.
@@sebastianevangelista4921 Jess mentioned that he'd mumble his way through interviews with the press, too, in an earlier video, so that makes sense.
Beowulf, Cantaberry tales, the Green Knight, there are several classical old English and Middle English worth reading, even if just the translation. Thank you for covering this wonderful work.
Beowulf was, far and away, my favorite thing I ever read in English class. Growing up in the US, I seldom got to engage with anything historical older than the eighteenth century -- and I do like eighteenth-century history! But given its antiquity makes it special. I'm so glad you mentioned the fire where we nearly lost the manuscript. My heart breaks to think that there may have been documents as old and just as significant as Beowulf that were never copied, and we'll never know what was in them.
DEI stopped schools from teaching any history that does not involve American slavery. No Ancient history, no European history whatsoever. Not even world war 2. it’s a tragedy for an entire generation.
We have fragments, comparative mythology with the Norse, and AI to reconstruct such things.
AI will never actually be able to recover it. Nothing truly can -- and AI could never do it better, or come up art more worthy than that created by a human being, who, unlike a robot, is actually capable of original thought.
This is the exact reason I couldn't get into it when I was in school. I didn't understand what it was in any context because the only context I had, starts in 1776 and never before.
My Dad was a high school English teacher (including speech and debate, AP English, Psychology, and College Prep) and Beowulf was always part of his curriculum going way back to the 70's. He loved it. Then in the mid oughts the school administration decided to force a new curriculum on the staff. He took one look at the new curriculum, which did not include Beowulf at all, and retired early. Gud fra ye olde man.
If your dad was teaching English, etc., in the 70s, how is retiring in the 2000s, early? Abruptly, maybe, but not early! BTW; I respect his integrity.
@@deaddocreallydeaddoc5244 He retired at 63, when waiting until 65 would have got him full retirement. He started teaching in the late 60's about when I was born. (In fact he was a student teacher when I was born in 67) He tried administration for a few years in the late 70s and early 80s before going back to teaching. He hated being an administrator!
One of the things that I love about Beowulf is the use of real history, places and people. This is absolulty an artistic choice by the poet- it will not have been present in the stories it was woven from. Without any attempt to make the story realistic, this device drags the magic and the monsters into the real world. Like a campfire horror story set in 'the next town over'.
I often think that if Mary Shelly had made Victor Frankenstien a wizard or an alchemist, the novel would would just be another little remembered gothic romance. But making him a scientist from a University brings the supernatural into our world.
Very timely. Beowulf is in my queue to read soon. Tolkien's translation, of course. Looking forward to another interesting video, Jess. You're like the English teacher we all wish we had in school.
I hope you enjoy the readthrough! Tolkien's translation is very poetic
@@Jess_of_the_Shire How could it not be? That is so entirely fitting.
@@Jess_of_the_Shire After watching your video, I have a new appreciation for Beowulf. I read it in school, like you, but thought it was kind of a simple, obvious story. Your video put it in context, and told me things I did not know (like how it was almost lost to history). Looking forward to reading it again after all these years.
I preferred Seamus Heaney's translation from 25 years ago.
@@JelpermanSeamus!!!!! Koller cover image and design.
My favorite translation was the Seamus Heany translation. Burton Raffel might be more widely used in schools, but Heany is much more readable.
Oh my gosh, I read the Heany translation in my freshman year of college!
I was thinking about this after recently finishing Beowulf. The inspiration Tolkien took from this poem in which a hero with a special sword slays a dragon who’s hoarding a pile of treasure in a mountain is very obvious. This is not even to mention how the name “middle earth” and concept of a lord gifting rings to his allies are in the poem.
So, if you take the position (as many do) that Tolkien effectively created the genre of high fantasy and every fantasy series post LOTR has drawn some inspiration from LOTR while recognizing the enormous debt LOTR owes to Beowulf, it’s not that much of a stretch to say a massively popular genre wouldn’t exist as it is without this story.
Truthfully, the only stories I can think of that could possibly be said to be more influential than Beowulf are the Homeric epics.
Tell me if I’m crazy for this take y’all. I was just blown away by how many tropes of modern fantasy I saw in this ~1000 year old story.
Beowulf is to fantasy what Frankenstein is to Science Fiction. Not the first, but it made it something to be reckoned with.
If you classify the Bible as “stories” then id argue it’s more influential
@ That's to culture. We meant to the fantasy genre.
@@carsonsmith7314 well it did influence both LOTR and Narnia
Overly Sarcastic Productions have a great video titled 'Trope Talk: Dragons' that delves into Tolkien's love of the Beowulf dragon and how it influenced Smaug.
As a non native english speaker. The first time i heard about Grendel was listening to the Marillion song of the same name that my father shown me when i was younger. Only now by finding this chanel was i able to understand the full story.
Thank you Jess for sharing your knowledge and for the company your videos provide.
My earliest memory of Beowulf is an old recording of the poem in old English which my parents had. I fell in love with it, probably around the age of ten or twelve. I couldn't understand it but I loved the sound of the language. Soon after I found a comic book version (First Comics')in my grandfather's collection and loved it.
I first read Beowulf in the 8th grade. I had a remarkable English teacher that year. She was a lot like you in she loved the literature and history of the language and the people. As the wife of an Air Force officer she lived in England but not long enough to speak like them. She owned and drove a Cooper Mini (Mr Bean vintage) and when it died, had all the fluid drained an put it in her living room as a coffee table. You would have liked her. It is because of her teaching I haven’t love of literature.
Judging by you saying she did not live long enough to have an accent, does that mean she lived there since she was a child?
Beowulf has always held a really special place in my heart because of my father. He loves the story, and he loves the connection to our Nordic Viking heritage (I know Beowulf is a Danish story about a Swedish king, but the Vikings were everywhere lmao) It was one of the stories he would tell to me as a child, alongside The Hobbit. I don't think he ever knew Tolkien's connection with Beowulf either, so that coincidence honestly makes me so happy. I'm very proud of my Scandinavian roots, and Beowulf is absolutely one of my reasons for that.
Geatland was southern Sverige and a few Danish islands: the Scanians ("snowlanders"), and the Gotalanders are the descendants of the Geats. Scania is still distinct, being a Bible Belt (imagine being as religious as the South but in Sverige), being a dialect continuum between the mostly mutually unintelligible Dansk and Svenskar languages, and was fought over by the Dansk and the Konigs of the Svenskar, Gotas, and Wendols (Vandals, so essentially the people of Ruten in eastern Sverige), after the Kalmar Union fell.
Not really, it's like saying Walt Disney's nineteen thirties Snow White is a German film 😑
If you read Beowulf it becomes quickly apparent it lifts the lid on Anglo Saxon culture in the same way Dozey and Dopey are Americanisms ✌️😐
From my point of view, it's crazy that people still think burning witches was a medieval practice when, in fact, it began at the end of the 15th century and lasted until the 18th. So no, you wouldn’t have been burned in 1150. Besides, witch burning was never as prevalent as people believe, as it's estimated that around 50,000 people were executed over a span of 200+ years-which is not as many as commonly assumed.
It was political.
To be fair, it began in 1400 with folk Catholicism taking folk beliefs seriously, and pagans believed in witches, but they wouldn't assume a foreigner who couldn't speak Old English was a witch. Besides, as I have indicated above, a Scots speaker, a Geordie, or someone from Great Yarmouth or the West Country would be able to understand an Old English speaker: think of the fast-talking West Country speaker and his son from "Hot Fuzz," I would think that if Jess talked slower the Old English she spoke would be understandable. I would think someone from Herefordshire (which retains Middle English dialect, and from what I have seen of Tolkien reading "The Hobbit" would be the dialect spoken by the trolls and Bilbo, with the trolls speaking in dialect), would be able to more-or-less understand an Old English speaker.
Though if even one person was burned as a witch it shows the ridiculous kool-aid serving power of a religion that has only ever wanted control over subservient masses.
That's something like 250 a year, seems like a lot
@ It would be the equivalent of killing a religious minority (remember, witches were believed to worship Satan, and the concept of Dark magic would refer to things like worshipping Hekate or Loki before Christianization).
I first encountered Beowulf on a very long road trip with my dad when I was in elementary school. He played an audiobook version and while I did not understand a lot of it, I thought it was cool. I fully read it for the first time in high school and just recently read it to my girlfriend to help her understand it for a college class. It had always been my dad's favorite story, and again it is becoming one of mine. I'm up to owning three different translations including Tolkien's.
Today we would get a sequel where Wiglaf must face the exiled thanes (Game of Thrones style), a spinoff concentrating on Swedish -Geatish wars and a prequel showing how Grendel became a monster. Who knows, maybe Beowulf's extended universe existed but was lost to time
Haha! Wait for it, it will still happen!
they ever make a Beowulf movie that becomes a blockbuster smash, that's what you'll get. Though they'll prolly change the name to Wyclef
In the poem, it is said that Cain's descendants "wandered far from the race of men" and became the Alfr, the ettins, and the demons (since Cain was not the father of fallen angels, we can assume he became the ancestor of daemons as in guardian spirits), and Grendel fled after killing someone in a bar brawl. I know one of the Nephilim killing someone in a bar fight and running away sounds strange. Wiglaf was said to be a peaceful ruler, and according to the poem, Kjarr ("Caesar"), ruled at the time, and Beowulf met Hengest.
Well, the "extended universe" would just be the rest of theor religious/ historical lore.
I really appreciated my Mythology professor for two things, that we read Volsasaga over the Prose Edda and that the version of Beowulf he assigned was written in verse! I’ll have to go through my old spirals to see who the author was!
Here is the book I read : The Harvard Classics Epic and Saga Beowulf, The Song of Roland, The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel, The Story of the Volsungs, and Niblungs 1909. I'm curious, they do teach that Mythology is just a fabrication of Psychology to cope with the human condition as promulgated by Carl Jung?
@@bardmadsen6956 The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel? That might be familiar, but it sounds like a either a parody, a South Park title, or a UA-cam Poop.
Michael Wood has a great documentary about Beowulf and it touches on how there may likely have been several other stories about Beowulf that we no longer have as a result of Henry VIII dissolving the monastaries and a fire that the Beowulf that we do have survived by pure chance.
Glad the algo brought you to me! Have read most of these books but, have just discovered the Joy of having them read aloud to me... and, I really enjoyed your assessment of Beowulf.. and yes, I am subbing!
I read LOTR in middle school before I read Beowulf in high school. I was as captivated by Beowulf as I was by LOTR. I have the translation by Seamus Heaney, the Irish poet, which I believe to be superior to all others.
Seamus Heaney is so good! I don't know if there was ever a better fit for translator. He was so good at capturing the poetic rhythm and imagery of the text.
I’ve never commented on your channel before, but I have watched several of your previous efforts. It really is a pleasure to listen to someone explain the history and meaning of something old and maybe a little obscure with such clarity. With all your videos, your intelligent shines through And I’ve learned quite a bit from what you’ve told. Keep going!
I have always enjoyed older stories and legends like Beowulf, the Arthurian, and Robin Hood.
Just like you, read Beowulf as a kid and didn't get it. But years ago I read Seamus Heaney's version and LOVED it. What stood out for me most was the role of fate, that idea that at the moment of the hero's great victory there lie the seeds of decay and eventually, loss and defeat (the hero's strengths are at their most potent, now they will inevitably wane, and so goes the fate of the nation). And there was little that could be done except to meet fate with courage and honor. All through the book/poem there was that sense and that resonated with me. Another highlight was that Heaney recreated the lyrical element of the story (as I read I could hear the poetry). Thank you for this video!
Wtf?
I always enjoyed hearing people perform Beowulf in Old English, even if I don't understand it. Just sounds so much more compelling than the translation, of course, being a poem. The Middle English version is also better if only for being a bit closer to the original. There's a video of someone performing it in period dress for a group of people that's amazing; the guy nails it. Can't recall the title at the moment.
The brief time we studied Beowulf in my high school senior English class sparked in me a fascination with Anglo-Saxon languagevand culture that's persisted well into my adulthood. I started studying OE in my free time at the start of this year and my hope is to someday read Beowulf in its original language
3:02 "You are not going to understand a word of what they're saying" There are still substantial areas of England where this is true. There's a huge cultural divide between regional accents and BBC (home counties) English speakers.
"Ach, ya skivens! Yez lukin' at a faceful o' heid!" "Crivens!" "Sezu?" "Helweit! Summun hol' me cote!" "Gude! Now, summun hol' his arms!" "Stitch this, f'ra ma brinnit goggel!"
@@tarmaque Blimey!!
Yes, I have said speakers of a few regional accents would understand Beowulf easily (with modernized spelling), and Old English speakers would easily understand them: I also said people from Herefordshire (when Tolkien read "The Hobbit," the trolls spoke in the accent: when I said Bilbo spoke it without dialect, I was wrong, he spoke in a Salopian accent like me), would more or less understand due to the dialect resembling Middle English.
Memorable exposure to Beowulf: sophomore English with Mrs. Johnson. A bubbly life of the party temperament, mid 60s at the time and blew me away when she praised the imagery infused in Pink Floyd. A memorable educator.
I've always thought about Beowulf whenever I'm watching the scene in RoTK when Theoden and the Rohirrim are celebrating the victory at Helm's Deep. The "hail the victorious dead" scene. The hall they are in always reminds me of Heorot.
As it wast meant to. My husband and I always comment on it when (re)watching the movie.
My first encounter with Bowulf was with my English elective at Mechanical Engineering college ... we "talked" our professor into letting us read the book out in the lawn instead of the classroom. It was already my favorite just because of the history, but that summer day reconfirmed it
I am Ripper... Tearer... Slasher... Gouger. I am the Teeth in the Darkness, the Talons in the Night. Mine is Strength... and Lust... and Power! I AM BEOWULF!
Edit: I'm a geat, although we're called _götar_ today.
The name Ingvar or Yngvar has historical and mythological connections that tie it to Odin, the chief god in Norse mythology. In Old Norse, the name Ingvar is derived from Proto-Norse *Ing(w)ia, which is linked to Yngvi, a title for Freyr, who is often identified with Odin's son. The second element of the name is likely *harjaz (warrior) or *warjaz (defender), making the name either "Freyr's warrior" or "Freyr's defender." Ingvar was killed in a raid and was buried in a mound at a place called Stone or Hill fort (at Steini) on the shores of Estonia (Aðalsýsla).
In the context of genealogical discussions and sagas, figures like Ingvar Harra, Yngvar Harra, or Ingvar "the Tall" Øysteinsson are mentioned as part of a lineage that could trace back to Odin.
In a Latin adaptation known as Chronicon Æthelweardi, the 10th century historian Æthelweard (descended from the 9th-century King Æthelred I, the elder brother of the King Ælfred the Great) laments Woden’s divine status within the Norse Pantheon. In his chronicle, Æthelweard complains that ignorant Scandinavian pagans have mistakenly deified Woden, whom Æthelweard identifies as a king of the barbarians. He bemoans how these pagans honor Woden as a god rather than the ancestral chieftain that Æthelweard, like so many Anglo-Saxon authors, understood him to be.
Some versions of the English royal line of Wessex add names above that of Woden, purportedly giving Woden's ancestry, but the names are now usually thought be from another royal lineage erroneously added to the standard genealogy.
Some of the genealogies end in Geat (or Geata) who is identified as an ancestor of Woden, and father of Godwulf. Geat, it is reasonable to think, might be Gaut. Others continue with Geat's father, Tatwa (Tetuua). In the Life of Alfred (893), Asser states that the pagans worshipped Geat himself, for a long time, as a god.
I love that!
Reminds me of how the Goblin King talks in The Hobbit.
Let's get dangerous
And I read that with Ray Winston's voice in my head!
I've never given money to a creator on Patreon before, but, to see a JessOTS short film, I'm strongly considering it.
I remember seeing a performance of Beowulf, in modern English, set in a meadhall. It was gripping but I haven't been able to find it again. And that means I imagined the whole thing.
It's strange that meadhalls (essentially beer halls) were so important in Anglo-Saxon and Norse culture, that beer halls are important in Germanophone culture, that shabeens are important in Irish and white African culture, and that taverns are important in Australian culture. Can you imagine a Beer Hall Putsch in Hrothgar's hall, or in the Golden Hall in Edoras?
My experience with Beowulf is that in my 12th grade english class, my teacher spoke of it with such passion that he single handedly piqued my interest in literature as a whole
I read the Seamus Haney version of this to my kids as a bedtime story. They loved it so much we ended up reading it again a year later.
I first read Beowulf when I was about 12 for my middle school English class. I distinctly remember it being the first time that a book we were reading in school ever gripped me. I burned through it quickly, fascinated by the monsters and dragons. But as I got older and grew up, and the horrors of life reared their ugly heads, the story took on a new meaning for me. It was about the sheer, unbreakable human spirit and the nature of loyalty. To this day, if I know that I'm going to do something difficult, whether it be asking out a girl or interviewing for a job, I'll always set aside an hour or two the night before to immerse myself in this story again.
Since Tolkien was desperate for an English or what was perceived as ethnic Anglo-Saxon mythology in the vein of Nordics, Beowulf stood out as a seemingly piece of English myth and lore that existed. But as mentioned not quite as it still held Christian motifs and themes. Though we could probably surmise that Angle and Saxon mythology were similar to Teutonic and Nordic traditions.
The ending in the Headley translation sticks with me: They did all this grieving the way men do,
But, bro, no man knows, not me, not you
How to get to goodbye.
It’s such a beautiful expression of grief that every human has gone through or will go through at some point in their lives.
Beowulf was my favorite story we read in high school English class, followed by closely Macbeth and The Odyssey. Also, your pronunciation was great, you should do audio books!
I remember reading it in high school and being amazed by the idea that here was a poem about monsters and heroism when I was not expecting that.
When I think of Beowulf, I always think of "A Hero Comes Home". I do not know why, I just love that song. So far, it is my only experience with the story.
17:05 that part is why I did not like literature studies at school: searching symbols where there are none. Even Isaac Asimov was told, "The fact that your are the author does not mean that you know what is the text."
24:26 We have much older fictions, like The Iliad & The Odyssey.
24:51 Tristan and Iseult is another story from the Middle-Age.
Yes, deconstructionism would imply authors would not know what is in their own work: i.e. storytellers would not have known about the Jungian archetypes in their stories.
It isn't just fiction as we now categorise literature. Those categories didn't exist at the time of composition. Mythology, religious cosmology and history were understood to be a continuum and not distinguished in terms of relative truth. Beowulf does contain an abundance of historical material, in the names and anecdotes about its ancillary characters and their relationships to other characters and non-characters who are only mentioned as if the audience already knew who they were or had been. Heorot has been found by archaeologists, at Lejre. The apparent fiction, apparent to us that is - Grendel, Grendel's mother, the dragon and Beowulf himself since he appears to be a Werebear - is nested among this huge mass of historical detail, which is gradually being verified from other histories.
The reason that it was told and recorded among the Angles in England despite taking place in the Denmark and featuring Danes, Half-Danes, Goths (the Geats) and other nationalities of the Jutland peninsula, is that it covered the backstories of their own ancestors who came together under Hengist and Horsa to seize new homes in Welsh (Romanized) Britannia after being defeated and driven into exile during the Danish conquest.
Tom Shippey's recent _Beowulf And The North Before The Vikings_ lays out the genealogical argument for Beowulf's historicity. It's brief but convincing, if you can keep the genealogies and historical timelines in your head.
By the way, the Meadhalls of Beowulf, according to the archaeology, were absolutely enormous, on the scale of cathedrals, and served as royal palaces and national barracks, as well as feasting halls, which is why the Danes, in the process of their conquest, destroyed them to deprive each people of their "mead benches".
I found Shipppey's book to be fascinating. It had been a while since I last really looked into any historicity of _Beowulf_ and was really surprised to find how many names from the poem are attested in other documents. Also, I remember taking an Old English class in the mid-1990s and reading part of Beowulf. At one point, one of the students noted the it sure appeared that Heorot was in Sjælland. The professor said, "no, no, it's all made up". I hope that guy has seen the archaeological news about Lejre.
Some say that Beowulf is based on an even older version of the story, from Scandinavia, since it takes place in Scandinavia. And the tradition is that Beowulf is from either the island Gotland or maybe Götaland. There are some archaeological finds that maybe points to Gotland. The story then travelled to England, there it written down as the poem (alas, nobody did wrote down any old stories or legends from Scandinavia until much later, and then not even in Scandinavia proper, but first in Island).
… some historians here in Sweden has written that Beowulf could be based on a real person, who was “king” of Gotland. But he never fought monsters. Or maybe he did. ;)
@@tomasarfertI was quite surprised when I crossed Beowulf on my journey into Genealogy and Family Ancestors.
“Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays
See Deaths comments on fantasy in the Hogfather.
JRRT comment on the critics of Beowulf reminded me of the Gandalf quote "He That Breaks a Thing To Find Out What It Is Has Left The Path of Wisdom"
I vote for the Complete Videos of Jess of the Shire to be the single piece of media we preserve for future centuries.
In the more recent animated adaptation, they took the groping during the battle of Grendel's mother to a literal context and the dragon that ultimately kills Beowulf was the offspring of both he and Grendel's mother, while it is revealed that Grendel was sired by the very king whose hall they cavorted in.
The ALWAYS sexual bedrock to the Great Stories sanitized for the wee bairn.
The first time I read the story of Beowulf was in a book my grandmother had. It was a collection of old northern tales. Published sometime in the late 1800s. I was always fascinated by "Norse" tales and reead everything I could when I was young.
I would love to see a Beowulf Short Film!!! That would be facinating!
Thanks for the video. I've always felt a kinship to Beowulf. I first encountered the story in about 6th grade (a very watered down version, I'm sure). I was into fantasy literature and am half Nordic. It hits different now, later in life. You called the ending "tragic", however I don't quite see it that way. I'm now closer to the age of dragon-fighting Beowulf than Grendel-fighting Beowulf. I've got to applaud the old guy! At 70, I hope I'm capable of swinging a sword and fighting evil. Sure, it's a pagan trope to go out in a blaze of glory, but it still resonates.
A "tragedy" just means that the hero dies at the end of it. So technically it is a tragedy, but I agree, it's a very triumphant tragedy, the word doesn't do it justice.
I read it when I was like 12. I thought it was fantastic and Beowulf was the greates hero. I've never read it since or even seen it in print. That was over 50 years ago. You brought back a wonderful childhood memory for me. Your telling of the story brought back all the magic of my first reading. Thanks.
Good to see Beowulf get mention every now and then
The timeliness of this video suggests that the world revolves around neither the Sun, nor the Sun about the world: but the whole of the cosmos centred complete upon me, myself, and I - in unholy trinity, the universe before me.
I do jest, but substantially.
For you see: ‘twas only yesterday and two nights ago, that I first learned of alliterative verse, and only a night and day since then that I found myself tragically lacking in examples of such outside of accidents/similarities to my own stories…
And Beowulf.
Hwæt, in a world where the presence of alliterative verse is woefully unapparent and underappreciated, did appear before me this masterful rendition of mine most recent fascinations- read aloud so wonderfully as to make wicked gods weep: perpetually.
Thank you for the delightful experience, you read this beautifully, and I could not feel less than the greatest regrets that the words as translated: did away with the awesome alliterative verse in favour of finding the false-clarity of the modern prosaic catastrophe- though I can understand why it might be, that they should rob the language so terribly, but it cannot be but tragedy for poetry.
Really enjoyed the videos, thanks so much, this will be of tremendous help going forward for me.
I had a copy that is parallel. Old English and modern English side-by-side. It was a favorite of kine back in school.
Nice video! I was hoping you could also touch on the Finnish Epic of Kalevala since this is also a huge influence to Tolkien as well!
Good luck on your film quest. I am so enchanted with human creativity, so many in the public are drawn to mimicry. I think collaboration with other artists will be the way to overcome. I believe the public loves quality art and music when presented with it. So many hope to just duplicate the work of others. I completely understand your interest in doing it to your specifications.
Beowulf was one of the first pieces of literature my college literature class read. I was, at the time, only there for the credits and not really interested, but my professor brought such life and passion to these stories that I fell in love with story's even beyond a just a "i like to read book, funny" mindset
28:47 I got strong "On Fairy-Stories" and to some extent "Leaf by Niggle" vibes from the lecture's allegory.
Anybody else watch the Christopher Lambert Beowulf movie? Watched that on VHS, I remember it being pretty good when I was a kid, but I haven't seen it in years
An interesting take on Beowulf is in Peter Dickinson's "The Flight of Dragons". The illustrated book is a semi-serious look at proving dragons are real and how they exist. Beowulf is called a professional dragon hunter. Grendel is an immature dragon that lives in both water and on land; Grendel's mother is a flightless, aquatic female dragon; the last monster is the flying, male, dragon. Unfortunately, it was turned into an animated movie by Rankin/Bass using only the title, and the story from "The Dragon and the George" by Gordon R, Dickson.
I find the vision of the importance of brotherhood and fellowship in a hostile world very compelling.
One thing that always strikes me after reading ancient literature (translated) is how not stupid people where at any time.
And to throw a little more irony on the fire, the house it was in when it got singed is called Ashburnham House. Love it.
I'm waiting for it to go back on display at the BL so I can get eyes on it.
Just found you channel… holy cow what a gem! I love how deep you go into history and the lore behind the art. Great work! You deserve more views and recognition!
I had to read it in college in the original Old English. Of course, I was majoring in English Lit, so my experience with the story was not common. But I had read modern translations as a kid, so I had a leg up on understanding it. It was one of my dad's favorite stories so I was exposed to it earlier than most.
Jess, I suggest you read John Gardiner's "Grendel". It is an amusing view of the story from the perspective of the "monster". It is a rather thin novel, full of much philosophy and great dialog and is great fun.
I agree, it was my first look at the story (age 14) made me go out and get the real story straight after!
Thoughtful, engaging, and supremely entertaining. As usual. 11/10 Storm Geats, would recommend 👍
I first met Beowulf as an undergraduate back in the 1980s . Along with Gawain I have kept up my studies at a distance, occasionally wrestling with portions of the text . Of all Tolkien's characters I think I'm most like Gollum...but the roots I delve into have always been the ancient stories😊 Now I feel inspired to make a set of Beowulf puppets😂Many thanks for your illuminating lecture
I think I first came across Beowulf in a collection of Old Norse sagas. I was in my early teens and had developed an interest in Vikings and the associated sagas of gods and heroes. My father, who was also interested in such things in his youth, had a large collection of sagas books, two editions of the Edda and many Viking novels, which I gradually began to read. I know that Bewoulf is not technically an Old Norse saga, but the story is set in a mythical version of Denmark, and I suppose that is why the publishers decided to include it in one of their collections.
Michael Wood’s In Search of Beowulf shows it as a tale to be told by a Storyteller who could captivate a Mead Hall on a dark Winter night! Before that it was the boring first story in an uninspired HS English class. A good presenter or good teacher makes all the difference (and your a really good teacher)
My first introduction to Beowulf was the cgi dead eyed version. I still kinda have a soft spot in my heart for it, though I dare not rewatch it.
This was a very cool video! I’d love to hear more of this type of analysis of things like Sir Gawain and the green night and Tristan and Isolde and other older foundational stories.. it’s always so interesting to hear about the foundations of literary tradition (English and otherwise) and to see how the literary “memes” that populate our modern fiction ecosystem came to be. Thanks again for a great video and keep up the great work!!
I first read Beowulf in the 1970s (a paperback copy of Burton Raffel's version) and loved it. I still prefer that version to the bits I've read of Tolkien's. It's interesting to note that Beowulf is a Hero, not a Chosen One. He volunteers to put himself in harm's way out of pity and in search of glory - not in order to seek brownie points from some god or because some Fate has volunteered him for the job. Maybe that's why the tale has endured. It emphasises the value of humans risking all for good purpose without expecting reward after death, surely making this the purest of motives.
This would've been extremely interesting all on its own, and perfect material for this channel. But the Tolkein connection is the cherry on top. :-)
Upon hearing you read BW, Tolkien The Hoard came to mind in the phrasing of hoard that I had not noticed before. After finishing TLOTR for the first time I went looking for other Tolkien to read and learned the hoard to tell around the campfire!
I've read Beowulf but I also read a real cool retelling called The Mere Wife which plays with the story but makes the mother more of the heart of the story. To be fair I've read The Odyssey to many times because that's one of my fav stories.
I have a similar problem with Chaucer. I found that if i read it aloud, it was easy to follow.
Another excellent video, thank you. I must say though, that overall, the 'christian tensions/influences' arguments that you referenced here, logical as those points might be, always seemed in my readings of the story, to fall just as much in line with the overall Indo-European polytheistic tradition on its own. Especially in the greek sense of the 'hero' concept. IE: one whose life is marked by fate as outstanding, though usually not one that ends peacefully or without some failing of character.
I recall my first encounter with Middle English was at university with a literature class which dwelled into The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.
Speaking of dragons, what say you of Vermithrax Pejorative from the 1981 Disney film, Dragonslayer?
So glad you mentioned Michael Crichton’s 1976 novel, Eaters of the Dead, which was adapted as the film, The 13th Warrior (1999). I personally think this is such an underrated film that more people should see.
Truly , you have a dizzying intellect. I am impressed with your enunciation and you have a lovely voice. Keep learning. Remember what the door mouse said, "Feed your head."
The name Tolkien is contained within the name Thorkelin who was the first translator of Beowulf. Cheers from Mercia the original Shire
I first read a translation in English Lit in highschool in 1970. When I read the 'Hobbit ' years later I wasn't entirely cool with Tolkien 'ripping off' the Beowulf poem with Bilbo stealing the dragon's cup. I enjoyed a film vision done by a Danish production company called Beowulf and Grindel. It had a moral ending where Beowulf discovered why Grindel hated the Danes after he had killed Grindel. He was able to recocile Grindel's death with Grindel's very young half human son. The film makers took a lot of license with the story but I enjoyed the film very much.
I grew up with Burton Raffel's translation of Beowulf sitting on the shelf by the flusher, so I've always been a bit aware of it.
By making this video you took part in retelling of the story with emphasis on its beauty
A masterfully composed and preformed talk on Beowulf!
31:26 one could also argue that they are tropes today but maybe part of the reason why they are tropes is because ancient stories like Beowulf did them before they were tropes and set them as the standard.
Read it as freshman day wasted it ie the 1st story written in English. Loved it because, it shows the continuity of our aspirations
I've just discovered Your channel ( I'm ashamed that it's so late ) which is brilliant. Thx for the great content.
This is a most engaging and enjoyable sharing of insights into Beowulf. My feelings are not entirely congruent with your premise about the writer. As I read the poem it seemed obvious where many of the early Christian texts are inserted with the effect that I felt was the original cultural messages and virtues had been removed from the poem’s primary, living intentions. Yes, the poem has deep historical value but as it stands I felt the Christian scribe intended to foster distain for heathen ways and mythology. My thought is that the poem’s arrival in the latter period of the Early Middle Ages was for propaganda and Beowulf, transformed from aural to written text, lost its true fire.
I'm slowly working my way through Tolkien's translation and I am really enjoying it. As someone with a deep fascination with the time period that the poem seems to take place in (I'm even sewing my own warrior outfit) there are often specific details that I find interesting 😊
My first experience with Beowulf was indirect. It was through that movie starring Antonio Banderas. Later we read Beowulf in a literature class. Back then the story was the poem itself probably dated to 800 but wasn’t written down until much later.
Forgot to mention, this was in the way back times when stuff wasn’t locked behind pay walls, so I found a copy of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, and noticed there in the list of Kings was a “Bovulf” back then I thought it was neat.
Have you read the new translation by Maria Headley? It absolutely fascinates me, how she updated it to very modern language while keeping the rhythm and alliteration of the original. It really breathes life into the story in a way that older, more “proper” versions don’t pull off for me. Reading it aloud was exhilarating, and made me feel the way the story is supposed to feel: like a living, breathing thing shared around a campfire.
I’ve been obsessed with Beowulf since 4th grade when a teacher gave me the Robert Nye novelization. I was doomed then- a college course on Beowulf many years later sealed my fate as an English major 😂
Brilliantly told and very captivating, thank you. Over the years I've read several modern translations, though I think you've just tripled my comprehension of the story watching your video. Have you ever considered writing a modern retelling yourself ?.
In a slightly abstract way to explain what I mean. I've been for most of my life fascinated with the Arthurian legends and in many ways more fascinated with Merlin than Arthur. Many years ago now I stumbled upon a fantastical trilogy, pure imagined fiction , written by Robert Holdstock called " The Merlin Codex". In this story Merlin is immortal, something often referred to in many of the retold legends. Merlin's story starts out when he's a young man and one of Jason's Argonots in search of the golden fleece. Crazy I know, but go with it because you follow Merlin through his thousand plus years adventures up to his time with Arthur. It's a brilliant way of taking a deep dive into the complex character of Merlin and one of the best things I've ever read since lord of the rings.
Another and very different is the epic story of Boudica by Manda Scott.
It would be an amazing feat to retell the story of Beowulf comprehensible to an modern audience.
In college, I was so excited to take Medieval & Renaissance Lit and have a chance to study Beowulf, Everyman, and The Faerie Queene. But the professor's entire focus was around, "Try to notice the meter and alliteration," and "Make a list of as many kennings as you can spot," and it just sucked the joy out of it for me, rendering it dry academia with no other value. I'm glad, some 20 years later, to rediscover it afresh.
I’m from the midlands in England, an area that at that time was known as dawley, here there is an old dialect spoken very close to Middle English, ow bist thee, instead of how are you is a very common greeting
Currently reading The Canterbury Tales in Middle English and some years ago I slugged through Sir Gwain and the Green Knight in Middle English.
I do not know where I got it from but I do remember that Beowulff was a real king-like leader and his father died in a battle against a Friesian tribe in Holland around the 6e century AD.
So refreshing to hear (albeit briefly) middle and old english in a woman's voice!
Always enjoy your posts, and this exposition on Tolkien's translation of Beowulf is no exception.
BTW - apropos of nothing: you are so beautiful!
I'm so glad you did this one. After a year of Ivy league colleges removing "Anglo Saxon" from their textbooks and class titles.....we needed this!!!