Beowulf’s exploits involving the Danes account for all the first two-thirds of your own 3,182 lines of poem
The existing queen try, although not, overmatched inside the final battle
New a lot of time Old English brave poem proven to modern people once the Beowulf is probably the most well-known product of your own rich literary customs of Anglo-Saxon England (and that blossomed during the time c. 650-1100). Brand new poem says to the storyline out of Beowulf, a brave warrior, and soon after queen, of Geats (a probably mythical Scandinavian group). New situations of the poem are set for the Germanic ‘heroic age’ – a time stretching on 4th with the sixth century by modern reckoning but discussed of the poet just since the geardagas (‘days out of old’).
In the course of the fresh poem, the young Beowulf excursion along side sea out of his homeland when you look at the purchase to simply help the fresh new Danish Queen Hrothgar, whoever men and women have sustained having 12 age in the hands (and you will white teeth) out-of a man-molded and you will people-restaurants animal also known as Grendel. For the a world of good crisis and you may suspense, the new poet means Grendel’s method out from the misty darkness, his sudden and you may criminal access with the hall, and his awesome ferocious give-to-hand come across that have Beowulf. The latest champion is, needless to say, successful, and battle closes that have Beowulf tearing from Grendel’s sleeve during the the fresh outlet with Grendel fleeing back to new dark, mortally injured. New save this particular earn brings towards the Danes was, however, short-stayed, because most 2nd evening Grendel’s (unnamed and in the past unmentioned) mommy symptoms the new hall and you can kills certainly one of Hrothgar’s chief counsellors by way of revenge for her dead young buck. Once again, Beowulf is known as towards the step, now taking place the brand new offending and you will descending by way of only with the a subterranean cave-such as for instance hall to combat and ultimately destroy it ferocious woman (revealed about text message given that ides agl?cwif – ‘a lady, a fearsome woman’).
Having been graciously received because of the Hrothgar and you can promised great benefits, Beowulf awaits Grendel’s future when the sun goes down throughout the royal hall Heorot
Regarding rest of the poem, Beowulf efficiency the place to find the brand new Geats, in which their difficult-obtained glory try recognized and you will rewarded of the his uncle King Hygelac. 50 ages pass, and Beowulf, today a vintage people, was queen of Geats when their men and women are menaced by a flame-respiration dragon. Roused again to courageous step, Beowulf guides an expedition on the dragon’s barrow, where he intends to endeavor this new animal inside the solitary treat (such as the days out of his teens and you may fame). Grabbed because of the shoulder on dragon’s great mouth area, Beowulf may be able to victory earn only with the assistance of their young kinsman Wiglaf and at the cost of his very own existence. The fresh new poem results in elegiac disposition, since the affair from Beowulf’s heroism mingles which have lament getting their death with afraid predictions about your destiny of their individuals.
Such a blank bottom line helps make the area and you will structure of poem sound simple, however, among the unique services of your own art out of Beowulf ‘s the way in which the brand new poet skilfully motions in reverse and ahead with each other a great linear story schedule, interweaving part of the events of the poem which have various inset and you will secondary narratives. Foreground and you can records mix in this consummate exemplory instance of therefore-called ‘interlace’ design, so the exploits off Beowulf themselves was inextricably immersed inside a wealthier history out of courageous legend. The prosperity of so it narrative strategy is one of the most significant tremendous popular features of the latest poem. While most of your own situations and you may emails stated from inside the Beowulf (along with one another Hrothgar and Hygelac) become more otherwise smaller common off their early medieval written sources, Beowulf himself isnt said in other places. It seems possible that the brand new narrative key of your poem try the new invention of the Anglo-Saxon poet, element of whose end would be to ‘place’ the fresh story issue so effortlessly within the wide corpus out-of Germanic epic history.