beowulf lecture 1112

8/3/2019 Beowulf Lecture 1112

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Golden Cap burial mounds, DorsetOseberg ship burial, Viking ShipMuseum, Bygdy.

Beowulf: Beginnings and endings

No man can tell,

No wise man in hall or weathered veteranKnows for certain who salvaged that load


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Ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt?

What has become of those who came before us?

Stone circle nr Gidleigh, Dartmoor


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The Anglo-

Saxon city ofExeter


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Ray Winstone plays Beowulf

Bede at work


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Order from chaos:the beginnings of civilization


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the harp being struckand the clear song of a skilled poettelling with mastery of mans beginnings,how the Almighty had made the eartha gleaming plain girdled with waters;

in His splendor He set the sun and the moonto be earths lamplight, lanterns for men,and filled the broad lap of the worldwith branches and leaves; and quickened life

in every other thing that moved.


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Then a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark,nursed a hard grievance. It harrowed himto hear the din of the loud banquetevery day in the hall, the harp being struckand the clear song of a skilled poettelling with mastery of mans beginnings,how the Almighty had made the eartha gleaming plain girdled with waters;in His splendor He set the sun and the moon

to be earths lamplight, lanterns for men,and filled the broad lap of the worldwith branches and leaves; and quickened lifein every other thing that moved.

So times were pleasant for the people thereuntil finally one, a fiend out of hell,began to work his evil in the world.


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Then a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark,nursed a hard grievance. It harrowed himto hear the din of the loud banquetevery day in the hall, the harp being struckand the clear song of a skilled poettelling with mastery of mans beginnings,how the Almighty had made the eartha gleaming plain girdled with waters;in His splendor He set the sun and the moon

to be earths lamplight, lanterns for men,and filled the broad lap of the worldwith branches and leaves; and quickened lifein every other thing that moved.

So times were pleasant for the people thereuntil finally one, a fiend out of hell,began to work his evil in the world.


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The fortunes of war favored Hrothgar.Friends and kinsmen flocked to his ranks,young followers, a force that grew

to be a mighty army. So his mind turnedto hall-building: he handed down ordersfor men to work on a great mead-hallmeant to be a wonder of the world forever ...

Far and wide through the world, I have heard,orders for work to adorn that wallsteadwere sent to many peoples. And soon it stood therefinished and ready, in full view,

the hall of halls.


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[For] many a petty king ere Arthur cameRuled in this isle, and ever waging warEach upon other, wasted all the land;And still from time to time the heathen hostSwarmed overseas, and harried what was left.And so there grew great tracts of wilderness,Wherein the beast was ever more and more,But man was less and less, till Arthur came.For first Aurelius lived and fought and died,And after him King Uther fought and died,But either failed to make the kingdom one.And after these King Arthur for a space,And through the puissance of his Table Round,Drew all their petty princedoms under him,Their king and head, and made a realm, and reigned.

Tennyson, Idyllys of the King


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Civilization and its discontents IGrendel


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Grendel was the name of this grim demonhaunting the marches, marauding round the heathand the desolate fens; he had dwelt for a time

in misery among the banished monsters,Cains clan, whom the Creator had outlawedand condemned as outcasts.


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The Anglo-Saxon city ofExeter


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Civilization and its discontents IIFratricide and Feud


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DANES FRISIANS

Hnaef Hildeburh Finn

son of Hildeburh and Finn


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DANES FRISIANS

Hildeburh Finn


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DANES FRISIANS

Hildeburh


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The hall towered,its gables wide and high and awaiting

a barbarous burning. That doom abided,but in time it would come: the killer instinctunleashed among in-laws, the blood-lust rampant

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those powerful kinsmen,Hrothgar and Hrothulf, were in high spirits

in the raftered hall. Inside Heorotthere was nothing but friendship. The Shielding nationwas not yet familiar with feud and betrayal.

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two good men,uncle and nephew, each one of whomstill trusted the other

(81-85; 1014-18; 1162-4)


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The hall towered,its gables wide and high and awaiting

a barbarous burning. That doom abided,but in time it would come: the killer instinctunleashed among in-laws, the blood-lust rampant

*

those powerful kinsmen,Hrothgar and Hrothulf, were in high spirits

in the raftered hall. Inside Heorotthere was nothing but friendship. The Shielding nationwas not yet familiar with feud and betrayal.

*

two good men,uncle and nephew, each one of whomstill trusted the other

(81-85; 1014-18; 1162-4)


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Violence and civilization


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And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived,and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, andcalled the name of the city, after the name ofhis son, Enoch. (Gen 4:17)

beowulf lecture 1112

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