The topic of this essay is the poem Hamðismál. This poem is about the aftermath of a woman, Svanhildr, being killed, and the actions taken by her family to avenge her death. An introduction will be given to the poem in terms of what it is about and events leading up to her killing, and the events that took place after her death. The first two stanzas can be seen as an introduction to the story which the reader is about to read. It tells of a grievous deed that has taken place. A woman by the name of Svanhildur has been killed by Jörmunrekk, who was king. An explanation to the scene will be given to help to further explain the actions that take place in the poem. Svanhildr’s mother was Guðrún, the daughter of Gjúki. She had been married to King Ath Buðlason. He invited Guðrún’s two brothers, Högni and Gunnar to come live with them in the hall, but when they arrived at the hall the king had ordered them to be taken and killed. After this, Guðrún killed her two sons she had had by King Ath and made gold and silver covered casks from their skulls, from which the king would drink mead that had been mixed with his sons’ blood, and roasted their hearts, which Ath would eat. After this funeral feast everyone went to bed, but Guðrún took her brothers’ Högni’s son and they killed Ath and burned the hall. Having done this she tried to take her own life by drowning herself in the sea, but instead she drifted across the fjord and was found by a man who would become her next husband, King Jónak. With him she would have three sons, Hamðir, Sörli and Erp. Living with the king was a young girl named Svanhild, she was the daughter of Guðrún which she had had before with a man named Sigurð. At one time King Jörmunrekkr heard that a young ... ... middle of paper ... ...ing, not giving in to male domination. This essay discussed the poem Hamðismál and the actions that take place in it. There is quite a bit of killing that takes place in this poem of 31 stanzas. It begins with a woman describing an event that took place some time ago in which her daughter was killed by a king by the name of Jörmunrekkr. This woman, Guðrún, sends her two sons Hamðir and Sǫrli to avenge the death of their half-sister, Svanhildr. An account is given of the repercussions of this decision of Guðrún and the destiny of her family. Works Cited Faulkes, Anthony. "Hamðismál." A new introduction to Old Norse. 5th ed. London: Viking Society for Northern Research :, 2011. 355-358. Print. Young, Jean I.. "SELECTIONS FROM POETIC DICTION." SELECTIONS FROM POETIC DICTION. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. .
In Tolkien’s lecture, “Beowulf: The monsters and the Critics,” he argues that Beowulf has been over analyzed for its historical content, and it is not being studied as a piece of art as it should be. He discusses what he perceives the poet of Beowulf intended to do, and why he wrote the poem the way he did. Tolkien’s main proposition, “it was plainly only in the consideration of Beowulf as a poem, with an inherent poetic significance, that any view or conviction can be reached or steadily held” (Tolkien). He evaluates why the author centers the monsters throughout the entire poem, why the poem has a non-harmonic structure, why and how the author fusses together Christianity and Paganism, and how the author uses time to make his fictional poem seem real. He also discusses the overall theme of Beowulf and other assumptions of the text. To support his viewpoints, Tolkien uses quotations and examples from the poem, quotations from other critics, and compares Beowulf to other works of art. Tolkien discusses several statements in interpreting Beowulf as a poem.
The Iceland saga, The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, written in the 1300’s, represents about 1000 years of oral traditions. The remarkable similarities between this saga’s main character and Beowulf’s main character are just too astounding to dismiss as mere coincidences.
In the length of the poem, Beowulf goes from abandoned child to gallant warrior to King. This transformation, expressed in the tone and content of the poem, shows the importance of the relationship between lord and thane and expresses the ultimate value of that connection. From the difference in battle scenes to Beowulf’s speeches, it is clear that he has gone from a somewhat self-loving hero to a selfless king. Within this change he also goes from serving a lord to becoming a lord, and in that way the poem shows us the importance of both sides of the relationship.
The mentioning of Scyld, the legendary Danish hero, and of Beowulf the Dane at the beginning of the poem serve as an implicit comparison with the forthcoming Beowulf the Geat. Similarities between the warrior and the heroic predecessors expose Beowulf’s qualities.
In his translation of The Saga of the Volsungs: the Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer, Jesse L. Byock compiles many versions of this famous Norse epic and creates a very important scholarly work. Of special importance is the introduction, which provides a central working background to base readings upon. There are several themes echoed throughout the translation that reflect accurately on this portion of history. Byock does a superb job of illustrating these important aspects in his work. While the tale Byock tells is a fairy-tale handed down by generations of families, within the reader can find tell-tale signs of important aspects of Norse culture. For instance, important aspects of family life and the role of men and women surface. Likewise, the importance of wealth and material possessions on the power and prestige of a king is also evident.
After, Hrothgar became king of the Danes, their kingdom enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity. Hrothgar had a mead-hall, Heorot, constructed as a monument to the kingdom’s success, there the men gather with their lord to drink. But one night, a demon, Grendel, descends upon the hall and slaughters the men inside because of their celebrations,
An interesting comparison to this quote and the one previously mentioned, “She had snatched their trophy, / Grendel’s bloodied arm […]”, is the mention of hands. This reference shows the readers that Grendel’s mother’s actions were truly out of revenge, as she could have killed anyone, but she specifically killed one of Hrothgar’s closest ‘friends’. At this point in the poem, Grendel’s mother has disrupted whatever sense of stability, peace and happiness the other characters are feeling: “Rest? What is rest? Sorrow has returned” (l. 1322). This quote truly highlights the impact of Grendel’s mother’s revenge on this poem. It is evident that the mood of this poem has completely changed after the attack and that the people of Heorot are no longer in the same state of mind as they were a couple of hours previously. This sudden withdrawal of happiness in the poem is emphasized through the repetition of the word “rest” in Hrothgar’s
The main purpose of the poem Beowulf is to explain how good always conquers evil. In addition, the poem wa...
The imagery involved in this small portion of Beowulf, helps to install a frightful ambience and forming a sense of dread. The poet develops a daunting atmosphere through the use of vivid imagery and the alliteration involved in the passage. The description of the creatures and other wild things hiding on the cliffs and roaming around, helps establish the danger of Beowulf’s quest. Furthermore, the use of alliteration especially in lines 1426, 1427, and 1429 further establish the harshness of the environment. The large amount of alliteration in the small passage calls for the reader’s attention to the hazardous surrounding. Finally the poet’s use of diction creates a dreadful type of tone. The usage of words such as “sea-dragons,” “monsters
The epic poem, Beowulf, coming from the years of 600 to 700 AD has been translated in many different styles. In these excerpts by Burton Raffel and Lucien Dean Pearson, provides a clear understanding of this epic poem. Reading the two different translations, Raffel tends to provide the reader with a better understanding of the evil nature of Grendel and the heroic characteristics of Beowulf.
Tolkien, J.R.R.. “Beowulf :The Monsters and the Critics.” In TheBeowulf Poet, edited byDonald K. fry. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
In the poem, Beowulf, by an unknown poet, as translated by Seamus Heaney, we see many monstrous behaviors. A few of the examples stand out more than the rest: wanton destruction, a woman acting as a man, and the act of killing one’s kin.
Through her use of the words “dreamed”, “sweet women”, “blossoms” and the Mythology of “Elysian fields” in lines one through three, she leads the reader to the assumption that this is a calm, graceful poem, perhaps about a dream or love. Within the first quatrain, line four (“I wove a garland for your living head”) serves to emphasise two things: it continues to demonstrate the ethereal diction and carefree tone, but it also leads the reader to the easy assumption that the subject of this poem is the lover of the speaker. Danae is belittled as an object and claimed by Jove, while Jove remains “golden” and godly. In lines seven and eight, “Jove the Bull” “bore away” at “Europa”. “Bore”, meaning to make a hole in something, emphasises the violent sexual imagery perpetrated in this poem.
Beowulf, the bravest of all warriors, set sail to the distant land of the Danes. He heard of the terror that came upon the kingdom and he went in attempt to allow the people to be reassured. The Geats waited 14 years before stepping up and offering a hand to king Hrothgar. Beowulf was able to do this, not just because the omens were good but because the Danes were their allies and he wanted to help a suffering kingdom. At nightfall, on the day he landed on the shores, Beowulf witnesses what has been terrorizing the kingdom, a monster called Grendel killed people and took over the mead hall. Beowulf killed the monster by tearing his arm off of his body. Through the killing of the monster, order was restored in the Danish kingdom once again. “A prince of the Geats, had killed Grendel, ended the grief, the sorrow, the suffering forced on Hrothgar’s helpless people by a bloodthirsty fiend.” (Raffel 830-833).
Beowulf is an epic poem telling the story of Beowulf, a legendary Geatish hero who later becomes king in the aforementioned epic poem. While the story in and of itself is quite interesting, for the purpose of this paper it is important to look at the character more so then his deeds, or rather why he did what he did.