BEOWULF – TEXT ANALYSIS

The extract is taken from the epic poem Beowulf.

It consists of a single section which deals about Beowulf’s voyage to help his neighbour Hygelac. It’s a narrative text organized into couplets and mainly focuses on the hero’s departure and communicates all the actions he did and needed to go to sea.

It goes without saying that it tells about Beowulf, the protagonist, providing his characterization as well as the idea of the setting so that the intelligent reader can make up a mental picture of what he’s reading.

One cannot forget that the language of the extract isn’t the original version but is rather a contemporary rendering of an epic poem written in Old English. Old English was a German dialect and could not be understood today.

The text opens with immediate reference to Grendel so that the reader understands who the monster is and who the protagonist Beowulf is going to fight against. The danger represented is suggested by the verb “heard”, which comes right at the beginning of the line in an alliterative use of the language. This is damn on purpose to convey its terrible reputation. Immediately after the reader is provided with information, details about the setting so that he can better understand where events take place. Geatland is the focus of the setting. Immediately the intelligent reader understands the narrative strategy of the composer: the narrator wants to highlight the unique qualities of the hero that may become such just because he’s ready to risk his life for a good cause: showing generosity and solidarity with they who are in danger. Beowulf is created as sort of a single personality, not as an ordinary man; “no one else” and “like him” make that clear right from the start. In addition expressions like “alive” and “on heart” underline his peculiar strength and courage suggesting that people different from him could not remain alive. Besides reinforcing his high-positive reputation the narrator underlines his feasibility in doing any sort of duty. He was the “mightiest” man. Again the use of an alliteration of the sounds M anticipates other features of this character protagonist who is from a prestigious family (high born) and who has got a power that nobody wants to put into discussion. He was a smart man, able to make the right choice at the right time. He manages to choose the most suitable boat for the voyage, one that “would ply the waves”. Like the leader he was, he told the other warriors his intensions: he was going to reach the famous prince’s land who needed them as defenders  by crossing the swan’s road. In these lines the reader understand there’s someone who need to be protected by the warriors in a far place, across the sea. The intelligent reader should notice that Beowulf is very self-confident and strong-minded in what is going to do and he imparts this qualities to his friends. The next lines highlights the leader’s reputation: expressions like “nobody tried to keep him from going” or “they spurred his ambition to go” make the intelligent reader imagine how much Beowulf’s fame was high: he was a man well-known for his abilities, his strength, his courage and everyone relied on him. The reader can deduce how much important his mission was: references on the warrior’s enrolment underlines that the task required skills not easy to find in a soldier; what’s more the expression “the best he could find” gives again the idea of their competences. The fourteen warriors, leaded by Beowulf, started their voyage on a wood ship: from line 19 to line 25 there’s a description of the men’s actions and of the boat. The intelligent reader can hear an alliterative use of the sounds on the letter W (“war, will, wood, weathered, waves, wind”). The last words gives the idea of a description of nature landscapes:  the reference “flew like a bird” highlights once more that. The next description (lines 27-30) uses alliterative sounds of the letter S (“seafarers, sighted, sunlit, sheer, sought”) which gives the idea of the sound of the sea; these exquisite and pleasing rings underline also the relief of the land’s view, which implied the end of the voyage and then their arrival in the new place. In the last five lines the use of many commas, dots and short words gives the idea of the quickness of actions after the arrival on the unknown land, taken as a deliverance for the warriors who had been sailing so much to reach their destination. Last but not least the writer reports a thanksgiving to God for that easy crossing on a calm sea.