E 505: BEOWULF


505 Schedule Simon Keynes' Anglo-Saxon Resources
 

Feb

We meet TTH 9:30 am - 10:45am in Bartlett.

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WEEK 4 Grendel

    Tu 15 Feb. grim ond graedig

    • TRANS 115a-188b (Fitt II);
    • Handbook, chapter 7, "Sources and Analogues";
    • Fox, Grettir's Saga.

    Th 17 Feb. Wise Ones

    • TRANS 189a-257b (Fitt III);
    • M&R, "Maxims I," pp. 216-17;
    • Fee, 101-108, 127-30, 147-48, 155-58, xxxvi-lxi.

Why is there a shore guard in this poem? What purpose does he serve? Grettir and King Olaf: correspondences to Beowulf?

Here is a scene from Sturla Gunnarsson's Beowulf and Grendel, kindly sent to me by Mr. Gunnarsson, depicting Hrothgar cradling Grendel's arm. The scene asks us to consider how the famous death of Grendel substitutes for Hrothgar's legacy, for a son to carry on his name. He cradles the story that will bear his fame, while his wife sits at a distance, her thoughts elsewhere.