The Beowulf Narrative Poem As A Model For Traditional Environment And Decorum.

"Its narrative elements may belong to a previous age but as a work of art it lives in its own continuous present, equal to our knowledge of realtiy in the present time." Seamus Heaney. From the introduction to his 2000 translation.

We will be working with the Seamus Heaney translation which includes both the original Angle-Seax and modern English. Beowulf was an oral tale of the scops of England, set in Denmark and Sweden, but written down by English scribes sometime between the 7th to 10th century. The Angle-Seax 'scop' is equivalent to the Scandanavian 'skald' as a poet who has memorized the oral narratives from antiquity and has power to create new tales in a prescribed form. This was believed to have a Magical power and they were regarded as magicians in their own right. Beowulf was a favorite English tale but its setting was in Scandanavia. The Angle-Seax looked to their homeland in continental Europe just south of Denmark as their source on ancient ways.

Beowulf the hero sails from Sweden to achieve his victory for the rescue of the Danish king Hrothgar and his people. This is the first part of the story, which is best known, yet in the second half of the tale Beowulf goes back to Gotland Sweden to become a king himself and honorably rule a prosperous kingdom for 50 years.

When Beowulf's Elders among the Geats heard of his intention to take on the quest they encouraged him and helped him make ready. They inspected the omens. We have established a culture of magic and action and what we are looking for is the environment in which this culture meets. For true formal and even less formal meetings in the home we need to recreate the atmosphere of our Elders. From Beowulf's perspective as the one venturing into a different environment for a challenge we have already looked at how he declared his intention and practiced divination. Once clearly focused on success the retinue sets forth to Denmark.

When landed on the shores, Beowulf and his retinue are met by King Hrothgar's thejn. The formal duty of this watchman is to challenge the visitors and give them the opportunity to express their purpose. Beowulf meets this challenge with his own formal response. Here is one place we can look at the similarities between Old English and modern English. Beowulf unlocked his word-hoard ('word-hord onleac'- pg. 17) which means he began to speak. The power of the spoken word is given great credence in Scandanavian and Angle-Seax culture.