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LVII. Heorot

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Stephen J. Herben Jr
Stephen J. Herben Jr*
Affiliation:
Bryn Mawr College
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Extract

It is increasingly the tendency of Beowulf students to stress the importance of the historical passages of the poem. Since Grundtvig established the date of Hygelac's last raid, one is inclined to expect corroboration of other parts of the narrative. But the extent to which one may reasonably accept the poet's statements is a matter for dispute. When he says that Beowulf was present at the last raid of Hygelac, there is no reason for doubt. Not so when he says that the hero swam off with thirty suits of armor. When the swimming match with Breca is mentioned, one may reasonably suppose that the hero distinguished himself in a swimming contest in his youth. But when he swims for days and fights off all manner of uncouth beasts, there seems to be sufficient grounds for skepticism. Or when Beowulf, filled with years dies fighting the dragon, we may feel sure that he died a violent death, without accepting the existence of dragons in the sixth century. Thus in general, we may limit confidence to simple facts simply asserted.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , December 1935 , pp. 933 - 945
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1935

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References

* I wish gratefully to acknowledge aid generously given by my friend, the late Professor Aage Brunsendorf of the University of Copenhagen.

1 Ll. 284–285. [Ed. used, Fr. Klaeber (D. C. Heath & Co., 1922).]

2 Ll. 306–308, 312–314.

3 L. 320.

4 Ll. 917–918.

5 Ll. 1361–1362.

6 Ll. 1408–1415.

7 Ll. 1880–1882.

8 Ll. 45 ff.

9 Scriptores Rerum Danicarum (Langebeck), i, 45.

10 Thietmari Merseburgensis Episcopi Chronicon., ed. Lappenburg and Kurze (Hanover, 1889), p. 11.

11 March, 1923.

12 R. W. Chambers. Beowulf, An Introduction (Cambridge, 1932), p. 19 (quoting Sophus Larsen).

13 In this connection.

14 La Cour, Danske Studier (1921), p. 166.

15 Saxo, Bk ix, “Olavus Gotrici” etc. to “congestus excepit.”

16 Axel Olrik, The Heroic Legends of Denmark (New York, 1919), p. 334, and “Danmarks Aeldste Kongegrav,” Nordisk Tids. f. Fil. (1908), 138 ff.

17 H. L. D., p. 340.

18 Ulfilas uses the word to render the Greek , Luke, ix, 33; xiv. 9, 2 Corinthians, v. 1 and 4, which his contemporary, Jerome, translates thrice by tabernaculum, once by ædificatio.

19 Saxo., Bk. xiv, “Tunc rex urbem in solido Lethricæ” etc.

20 Anglice, “Sacred Lake.”

21 See Knudsen, Annaler f. nordisk Oldkyndlighed (1838), p. 363.

22 Compare the first verse extract of the Hrolf's Saga Kraka.

23 Beowulf Studien (1888), p. 11 ff.