Beowulf: An Old English Epic (the Earliest Epic of the Germanic Race) |
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adventure ancient Anglo-Saxon Atheling avenge band battle Beowulf blade brave Breca Burgh century chieftain collar damascened Danes Danish death deeds demon Denmark Dr Clark Hall dragon Eadgils earth Ecgtheow English Eormanric epic episode father feud fight Finn Freawaru Frisians Geatas German gold Gothic Gothland Goths GRENDEL Haethcyn hand HEALFDENE heard Heardred Heathobards heirloom helm helmet Hengest HEOROT Heremod hero Hildeburh hilt Hnaef Hoard honour HRETHEL Hrothgar Hrothulf Hygd Hygelac iron kindred king kinsman land Line lord manuscript mentioned mighty mind monster mound noble Northern Onela Ongentheow ornaments passage poem poet prince Professor Arnold Professor Earle queen race rings Saxon says Professor Scandinavian Sceaf Scyldings seat shield ship Sigemund slain Sleswig slew sorrow spear specimen Stopford Brooke strife Sweden sword Tacitus Teutonic thane thee Thorsbjerg thou translation treasure-rings treasures tribes Unferth Völsunga Saga warriors Wealtheow weapons Widsith Wiglaf word WULF
Popular passages
Page 54 - There's such divinity doth hedge a king, That treason can but peep to what it would, Acts little of his will.
Page xxiv - A reasonable view of the merit of Beowulf is not impossible, though rash enthusiasm may have made too much of it, while a correct and sober taste may have too contemptuously refused to attend to Grendel or the Fire-drake. The fault of Beowulf is that there is nothing much in the story. The hero is occupied in killing monsters, like Hercules or Theseus. But there are other things in the lives of Hercules and Theseus besides the killing of the Hydra or of Procrustes. Beowulf has nothing else to do,...
Page xiv - for the purchase of the Museum, or Collection of Sir Hans Sloane, and of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts ; and for providing one General Repository for the better reception and more convenient use of the said collections ; and of the Cottonian Library, and of the additions thereto.
Page xxxvi - The seasons change, the winds they shift and veer; The grass of yesteryear Is dead; the birds depart, the groves decay: Empires dissolve and peoples disappear: Song passes not away. Captains and conquerors leave a little dust, And kings a dubious legend of their reign; The swords of Caesars, they are less than rust: The poet doth remain.
Page 197 - His body was solemnly exposed in the midst of the plain, under a silken pavilion ; and the chosen squadrons of the Huns, wheeling round in measured evolutions, chanted a funeral song to the memory of a hero, glorious in his life, invincible in his death, the father of his people, the scourge of his enemies, and the terror of the world.
Page 59 - Suevic sea, on its eastern shore, washes the tribes of the ^Estii, whose rites and fashions and style of dress are those of the Suevi, while their language is more like the British. They worship the mother of the gods, and wear as a religious symbol the device of a wild boar. This serves as armour, and as a universal defence, rendering the votary of the goddess safe even amidst enemies, They often use clubs, iron weapons but seldom.
Page 43 - Taetwa, son of Beaw, son of Sceldi, son of Sceaf. This Sceaf came with one ship to an island of the ocean named Scani, sheathed in arms, and he was a young boy, and unknown to the people of that land ; but he was received by them, and they guarded him as their own with much care, and afterwards chose him for their king. It is from him that king Ethelwulf derives his descent.
Page 71 - Yet it is at their feasts that they generally consult on the reconciliation of enemies, on the forming of matrimonial alliances, on the choice of chiefs, finally even on peace and war, for they think that at no time is the mind more open to simplicity of purpose or more warmed to noble aspirations.
Page 140 - ... though having lost by time the sharpness of their profile, and more or less of their height and of the depth of their ditches. No masonry has ever been observed upon them which could by any possibility be attributed to their founders, or which could be supposed to be part of their original design. It is evident, however, that the earthwork was only the support of some additional defence. On the mound was certainly a residence, and both its crest and base, as well as the appended courts, must...
Page 79 - His ill-concealed desire for revenge is noticed by the Frisians, who anticipate it by themselves taking the initiative and attacking Hengest and his men whilst they are sleeping in the hall. This is the night attack described in the Fragment.