Write a short note on Beowulf.

Write a short note on Beowulf.

Ans. Of the old English poetry Beowulf is most remarkable. Like Greek literature, English literature begins with an epic. It is a poem of historic scope telling of heroes and of the world, human and non-human. It is the longest and richest of old English poems. Beowulf showed the English, the world of their ancestors, the heroic world of the past. The date and provenance of Beowulf are uncertain. Its author is unknown. The text of the Beowulf is found in a manuscript in a west Saxon dialect of Wessex which became the literary standard. All the text are about monster. But the prime concern of Beowulf is not with monsters or even heroes but with human wisdom and destiny. There are many episodes and digressions in the story of Beowulf. It is impossible to give a brief synopsis of the narrative. In outline it can be said that, Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow sails to Denmark with a band of warriors and rids the Danish king Hrothger of a terrible monster called Grendel. The mother of Grendel seeking revenge for the death of her son, meets the same fate. Beowulf was rewarded and returned to his native land. He becomes the king of Geatas and after a prosperous reign of some forty years, he kills a dragon which ravaged his land but in the fight he received a mortal wound. The poem cöncludes with the funeral ceremony in honour of the dead hero.