Beowulf Manuscript

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Beowulf Manuscript

• Written between middle 7th and late 10th c.
• 1st mentioned in 1536
• Owned by the antiquarian Sir Robert Cotton, who
  owned the most extensive library of Anglo-Saxon
  texts ever
• 1700 the Cotton library was willed to England
  and moved to the Ashburnham House in Westminster
• October 23, 1731 The Ashburnham Fire
• 1833 first English edition of Beowulf is
  published

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Cotton Vitellius A.xv
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Four Dialects of Old English 700 1066

• West Saxon
• Kentish
• Northumbrian
• Mercian

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• Old English
• 1. Alphabet and pronunciation
• th sound þ (the thorn) wiþ (with)
• ð (the eth) ða (then)
• æ (digraph) a in hat
• sc (sh sound) sceap (sheep)
• c (k sound)
• c (ch sound)
• þat (that)
• þorn (thorn)
• scip (ship)
• bæc (back)
• benc (bench)

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Rarity of words from Latin and French
that make up large portions of our language now
(post Norman Conquest). 85 of Old English words
are no longer in use.Mann mete
wif gæs (grass) cild leaf
hus god (good) weall
(wall) feohtan (fight)
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• Old English is a synthetic, not an analytic,
  language parts of speech have endings for
  different persons, numbers, tenses, and moods
  (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative).

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Audio of lines 194 -224

• http//www.beowulftranslations.net/benslade.shtml
• Beowulf Prologue (audio with text)

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Sutton Hoo excavation site in Suffolk
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Shield Mount
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Anglo-Saxon Necklace
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Boar Crest
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Sutton Hoo Helmet
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Sutton Hoo Helmet
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The Royal Shield
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The Royal Shoulder Mounts
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The Great Gold Buckle
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Buckle Mount for Sword Scabbard
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Beowulf in the news
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Old English PoeticsGenre and Form

• Epic or Heroic Epic long narrative poem on a
  serious subject told in a formal or elevated
  style and centered on a heroic or quasi-divine
  figure on whom the fate of a tribe, nation, or
  the human race depends. Beowulf is a primary
  epic that means it originates in the oral
  tradition.
• Elegiac a formal and sustained lament in verse
  for the death of a particular person or about the
  transitory nature of life.
• Lines The poetic lines of Beowulf are
  constructed of two half lines, each with two
  strong stresses and of varying syllables (8 -12
  for Beowulf)

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Old English PoeticsAlliteration

• Definition Alliteration is the repetition of
  consonant sounds
• Use in Beowulf The alliteration of Beowulf
  always occurs between the first stress of the
  second half line and one or both of the strong
  stresses of the first half line. Translators of
  Beowulf into modern English vary in their success
  in mirroring this style of alliteration.
• Example
• Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,
• monegum m?gþum meodo-setla ofteah
• (4-5).

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Old English PoeticsThe Kenning

• Definition a kenning is an OE compound metaphor
• Examples from Beowulf
• swan-road
• wave-courser
• wave piercer (1273)
• Heavens candle (1391)
• war icicle (1420)

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Old English PoeticsThe Litote

• Definition A figure of speech, in which an
  affirmative is expressed by the negative of the
  contrary (OED) often an ironic understatement
• Examples from Beowulf
• a pyre on earth, an unweak one (3138)
• That exchange was not good (1304)
• That was not an easy journey (2586)

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Old English Interlace
The Franks casket (c 700)left panel From
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileFranks_Casket_le
ft_panel.jpg
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Old English Interlace
South face of the Bewcastle Cross in Cumberland
(pre-710) From http//magicstatistics.com/category
/history/british-history/
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Old English Interlace
Facsimile of the Book of Durrow (folio 192 verso)
(mid or late 7th c) From http//illuminations.ca/m
s-durrow.html
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Old English Interlace

• 
  The hilt of the Crundale sword (late
  7th c)
• From http//extraordinarybookofdoors.com/A
  ppendixI.aspx

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Old English Interlace
Carpet page from the Lindisfarne Gospels (c
700) From http//www.danielmitsui.com/hieronymus/i
ndex.blog/1707277/carpet-pages-from-the-lindisfarn
e-gospels/
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Old English Interlace
The Gandersheim Casket (later 8th c. or early
9th) Image from http//www.historicmedals.com/view
Item.php?no283
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Old English PoeticsBeowulfs Digressions

• First digression (778 - 810)
• Thematic focus What is a good versus a bad king?
• Second digression (937 - 1019)
• Thematic focus Commentary on problems within the
  heroic code of vengeance
• Third digression (1720 - 1735)
• Thematic focus What is a good versus a bad queen?

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Old English Poetics Beowulfs Digressions

• Fourth digression (1796 - 1827)
• Thematic focus Loyalties and peace are
  transitory.
• Fifth digression (1981 - 2003) The Lay of the
  Last Survivor
• Thematic focus We are often misguided in our
  values, including those that require revenge.
• Sixth digression (2146 - 2215) Friscian
  Campaign and Beowulfs lineage
• Thematic focus your actions are more important
  than your birth