Beowulf is hard, Shakespeare hard. Both take a lot of time and attention to understand what is really being said. But when it comes to Shakespeare, that effort is rewarded with something akin to gold. With Beowulf, however, it feels a little more like unearthing a fossil. You know you found something valuable, even priceless, but it’s hard to know exactly what.
As the oldest surviving epic poem in the English language, Old English really, and with an oral tradition dating back to the fifth or sixth century, it feels worlds away from today. In fact, we knew nothing of this story until 1731 when it was found amidst the wreckage of a fire. Tucked away on some back shelf of Ashburnham House in London, who knows how long it would have remained hidden if not for that fire.
Since then, scholars have translated and transliterated Beowulf dozens of times. For an eager student, going through the stylistic differences and tonal shifts of each would be fascinating, if not fun. But for many, just reading one of these translations would feel tiresome.
Now, I’m not judging one way or the other. I like this stuff. As a seventh grade teacher, I also like giving my students a work that will immediately pull them in. That’s why I was so excited when I found Ian Serraillier’s version, Beowulf the Warrior. It’s a faithful text, written as much for a child as an adult, complete with blank verse, and full of literary elements. To return to our previous fossil analogy, it reads more like the dragon than the dragon’s bones.
Better still, it sounds like the dragon!
True to the oral tradition from which it came, Serraillier’s retelling makes a hauntingly beautiful read-aloud. Its primordial pulse paints my students’ faces with fascination and suspense when we read something like:
“Tricked of his treasure, angrily he prowled
Over the headland, sniffing the ground, devouring
The track of his enemy—but none could he find. At nightfall,
When the daystar was darkened, the candle of the world snuffed out,
Revengeful, riotous with rage, he went forth in flame,
Breathing out ruin, snorting hurricane.”
And just like that, the whole class begins to wonder if dragons really did exist!
Beowulf is more than fantasy, however. It is also a window into the past, showcasing what people of the early Middle Ages valued, believed, and loved. This includes not only the Scandinavian and Germanic peoples of Europe who were the focus of the tale, but also the Anglo-Saxons who eventually claimed the story as part of their cultural heritage.
Whatever your interest in Beowulf—anthropological, literary, or just plain old fun—this blog series has something for you. You’ll meet our title character, his three beastly foes, and a few other important figures. We’ll also analyze the plot and a number of significant motifs. Here is the line-up:
I. Characters
III. The Fight with Grendel’s Mother
IV. The Fight with the Fire Dragon
V. Motifs
Whether you read Serraillier’s retelling or one of the originals, I hope this series helps transport you to the world of Beowulf and unlock its mysterious beauty.