Self & Society: British Lit @Hood College

"When the dragon stirred, strife was renewed; he slithered alone the stones, stark-hearted he found his enemy's footprint --- he had stepped too far in his stealthy skill, too close to the serpent's head. Thus can an undoomed man easily survive wrack and ruin, if he holds to the Ruler's grace and protection!" (lines 2287-2293)

"His courage did not melt, nor did his kinsman`s legacy," (2628)

"Beowulf spoke, said boasting words/for the very last time: "I have survived many battles in my youth;I will yet, /an old folk-guardian, seek out a feud/and do a glorious deed, if only that evildoer will come out to me from his earth-hall"(Lines 2510-2515).

Lines 2729-2732 "Now I should wish to give my war-gear / to my son, if there had been such, / flesh of my flesh, if fate had granted me / any heir." Lines 2813-2816 "You are the last survivor of our lineage, / the Waegmundings; fate has swept away / all of my kinsmen, earls in their courage, / to their final destiny; I must follow them." Beowulf recognizes that his lineage has been almost completely decimated and yet he produced no children. Do you think he regrets this decision, or that he didn't see it as his responsibility? Was he too blinded by fame and glory to see this as an issue?

"This is not your path,/ nor proper for any man except me alone/ that he should match his strength against this monster,/ do heroic deeds." ( Beowulf , 2532-2535) If it is no one else's path but yours, Beowulf, then should you fall, would the world fall too?

Beowulf "No more soaring about in the skies/ at midnight, preening in his precious treasures,/ showing his face - he fell to the earth/ through that war-commander's handiwork." (Beowulf 2832-2835)

" With heavy spirits they mourn their despair, the death of their lord;  and a sorrowful song sang the Gettish woman, with hair bound up, for Beowulf the king, with sad cares, earnestly said that she dreaded the hard days ahead,the times of slaughter, the host's terror, harm and captivity. Heaven swallowed the smoke." (Lines 3148-3155)

"His heart was grieving,/restless, ripe for death -- the doom was immeasurably near/that was coming to meet that old man,/seek his soul's treasure, split asunder/his life and his body; not for long was/the spirit of that noble king enclosed in its flesh" (2419-2424) Link for picture: http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/long-shadow-digit-number-four.html

Image by Erin Schwagerl                                        "Then day was departed to the delight of that worm; he did not linger on the barrow wall, but took off burning in a burst of flames." - Beowulf , Lines 2306-2309

Quotes and Questions Reading 9/6: Beowulf    ll. 2200 – 3182 "...[let no] fair maiden have a ring-ornament around her neck, but sad in mind, stripped of gold, she must walk a foreign path, not once but often,..." (3016--3019)

The Sutton Hoo helm, a well known Anglo-Saxon artifact excavated from the Sutton Hoo ship-burial in England photo credit; myself, i took this at the British Museum in 2015. From Beowulf, page 207 line 2538 to 2541. Then that brave challenger stood up by his shield, stern under his helmet, bore his battle-shirt under the stone-cliffs, trusted the strength of a single man -- such is not the coward's way.

"They said that he was of all the Kings of the world the mildest of men and the most gentle, the kindest to his folk and the most eager for fame".-3180-3182