I. Beówulf: an Anglo-Saxon poem. II. The fight at Finnsburh: a fragment.
General
I. Beówulf: an Anglo-Saxon poem. II. The fight at Finnsburh: a fragment.
Dragons -- Poetry; Epic poetry, English (Old); Monsters -- Poetry
l. 343. Cf. l. 1714 for the same beód-geneátas,--"the predecessor title to
that of the Knights of the Table Round."--E. Cf. _Andreas_ (K.), l. 2177.
l. 344. The future is sometimes expressed by willan + inf., generally with
some idea of volition involved; cf. ll. 351, 427, etc. Cf. the use of
willan as principal vb. (with omitted inf.) at ll. 318, 1372, 543, 1056;
and sculan, ll. 1784, 2817.
l. 353. sîð here, and at l. 501, probably means _arrival_. E. translates
the former by _visit_, the latter by _adventure_.
l. 357. unhâr = _hairless, bald_ (Gr., etc.).
l. 358. eode is only one of four or five preterits of gân (gongan, gangan,
gengan), viz. geóng (gióng: ll. 926, 2410, etc.), gang (l. 1296, etc.),
gengde (ll. 1402, 1413). Sievers, p. 217, apparently remarks that eode is
"probably used only in prose." (?!). Cf. geng, _Gen._ ll. 626, 834; _Exod._
(Hunt) l. 102.
l. 367. The MS. and H.-So. read with Gr. and B. glädman Hrôðgâr, abandoning
Thorkelin's glädnian. There is a glass. hilaris glädman.--_Beit._ xii. 84;
same as gläd.
l. 369. dugan is a "preterit-present" verb, with new wk. preterit, like
sculan, durran, magan, etc. For various inflections, see ll. 573, 590,
1822, 526. Cf. _do_ in "that will _do_"; _doughty_, etc.
l. 372. Cf. l. 535 for a similar use; and l. 1220. Bede, _Eccles. Hist._,
ed. Miller, uses the same expression several times. "Here, and in all other
places where cniht occurs in this poem, it seems to carry that technical
sense which it bore in the military hierarchy [of a noble youth placed out
and learning the elements of the art of war in the service of a qualified
warrior, to whom he is, in a military sense, a servant], before it bloomed
out in the full sense of _knight_."--E.
l. 373. E. remarks of the hyphened eald-fäder, "hyphens are risky toys to
play with in fixing texts of pre-hyphenial antiquity"; eald-fäder could
only = _grandfather_. eald here can only mean _honored_, and the hyphen is
unnecessary. Cf. "old fellow," "my old man," etc.; and Ger. _alt-vater_.
l. 378. Th. and B. propose Geátum, as presents from the Danish to the
Geatish king.--_Beit._ xii.
l. 380. häbbe. The subj. is used in indirect narration and question, wish
and command, purpose, result, and hypothetical comparison with swelce = _as
if_.
ll. 386, 387. Ten Br. emends to read: "Hurry, bid the kinsman-throng go
into the hall together."
l. 387. sibbe-gedriht, for Beowulf's friends, occurs also at l. 730. It is
subject-acc. to seón. Cf. ll. 347, 365, and Hunt's _Exod_. l. 214.
l. 404. "Here, as in the later Icelandic halls, Beowulf saw Hrothgar
enthroned on a high seat at the east end of the hall. The seat is sacred.
It has a supernatural quality. Grendel, the fiend, cannot approach
it."--Br., p. 34. Cf. l. 168.
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