"beowulf" in literary history

8/13/2019 "Beowulf" in Literary History

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"Beowulf" in Literary HistoryAuthor(s): Joseph Harris

Source: Pacific Coast Philology, Vol. 17, No. 1/2 (Nov., 1982), pp. 16-23Published by: Penn State University Presson behalf of the Pacific Ancient and Modern LanguageAssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1316390.

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BEOWULF IN LITERARY HISTORY*JOSEPH HARRIS

Patristic,rchetypal,ewcritical these nd otherworthyritical rendsteach great ealabouttheformndmeaning fOld English oetic exts, utwithoutwishing o sayanything gainstmotherhoodr apple pie, wouldlike to suggest hat our preoccupationwith nterpretationinceTolkien'sfamous ecture coupled perhapswith esignationver he mpossibilityfestablishingacts has drawnenergies wayfrom hehealthyraditionalapproachthat eeksan order fworks: hat s,fromiteraryistory. ecentwork suggests, hough,that the flightfrom iterary istory hat seemscharacteristic f the 1950's and '60's is comingto an end. In otherchronological ields here ssurely vigorous evival f iteraryistoryoingon,especiallyn theform hat nterestsmehere:namely, owa laterwriterread and reacted o his sourceor influence.Admittedlyhe difficultiesfconstructingpsychologicallyased iteraryistorynthemannerf HaroldBloom ntheanonymityf theOld Englishperiod re nsurmountable,ndwhenweenquire ntothe ntertextualityfOld English oetry,he erms fthequestionmustbe broader, ften eneric atherhan pecifico a textualsource.But nthe aseofBeowulf,t east, here s some videncet hand.ForI mean t iterallynd notmerelys a fashionablehiasmwhen saythat hereasonwe do not have an adequatepicture fBeowulfnliteraryistorysthatwe have ignored he iterary istorywithinBeowulf.Though meanto arguethatBeowulf ontains ery xtensiveluesto itsown prehistory, do not interprethis in the sense of Berendsohn'sVorgeschichter Genzmer's kandinavischeQuellenor inthesenseofthemuchdisparaged nd little eadolderdissectors.'Beowulfnodoubt grew(in theorganicmetaphor) ut ofprecedingtages,but I do notpropose oconsidertsprehistoryn terms fgrowth utof iterary eception, conceptthat mplies erspective,ttitude,nd intention.na literaryistory hichsnotmindlesslyrganicbutcomposedofactsofreception, eowulfeems oresemblegreatworks like Goethe's Faust and Eliot's Wasteland, ndespecially haucer'sCanterbury ales- works hat mbodiednew iteraryformsn theirperiodsbutwhich,nevertheless,ereemphaticallyrientedtoward he iteraturef their ast.Suchworks regenericallyyntheticndpunctuate r terminate period, ummarizinghe iterary astandseemingeither ogenerate o direct rogenyrtodevour heir wnby vershadowingthemnthecourseofsubsequentiteraryistory.orwantof anestablishedterm willcallthem ummae itterarum.he Canterbury ales, he learestcase of sucha literaryumma, s mostobviously n anthology fmedievalgenres,ncludingxamplesoffabliau,miracle f thevirgin, retonay, ail-rhyme nd othertypesof romance, ermon, xemplum, nd so on. Thediversity oses the major criticalproblemof the Canterbury ales,the*Due to our typographicalimitationsll languagesquoted in this rticlemustbe approximatedn English ettersed.].

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problem funity rthe idea of hework.No onewilldispute, owever,hattheCanterburyalescan besaid topresent haucer's eading rreceptionfhighmedieval iterature.n thefollowing iterary eriod here respurioustales andspurious inks nd allmanner fChaucerian nfluence,utnorivalwork n thenewform chievedhigh tatus n literary istory. hesumma,when tis a masterpiece,eemsnecessarilyo leave behind void.Beowulf riticism,ixated n theunifyingidea and determinedofollowTolkien n restoringhemonsters o thecenter, as overlooked hepoem'santhology-likeharacteristicsnd thereforetsplaceinliterary istory. heBeowulfianumma ncludesgenealogical erse, creationhymn, legies,lament, heroic ay, praisepoem,historical oems, flyting,eroic oasts,gnomicverse, sermon, nd perhaps essformal ralgenres.naddition,number fother enres realludedto, ustas Chaucer lludes odrama;butwithout araphrases,hegenericerms for xample, pell aredifficultointerpret.2 s a whole, then,Beowulfpresents unique poet's uniquereception f the oral genresof theGermanic arlymiddleages; liketheCanterbury ales itwas retrospectivend comprehensive,umma-rizingliterary eriod na literaryormo new and so masterfulhat tapparentlyinspiredno imitators.The constituent enresof Beowulffall intotwogroups, hosethatareformallyintroduced r marked nd thosethatare only included runmarked. heformallyntroducedenres retheheroicayofFinnsburg,thecreation ymn,hepraisepoemon Beowulf ythegilphlaeden uma, helament f theGeatiscmeowle, hechoric raiseofthe welve iders,he legyofthefather orhishanged on,and everalheroicvaunts.Moredoubtfullymarked rethe ament f he ast urvivor,heflyting,nd someof hevaunts.Amongthedefinitelynmarked,implyncludedgenres, willmention hegenealogical introduction,he Offa-Modthrithigression, he gnomes,Beowulfsdeath-song,nd twostillmore bliquelyncluded exts: he ngeld-Freawaru digression nd Hygelac's raid on the Lower Rhine. Specialproblems or hisapproachare presented yHrothgar'sermon, eowulf'sfinal alute,Wiglafs omitatuspeech, nd theprophecyf hemessenger;nfact ll theconstituentexts,whetherheymay afely e taken o representgenres rnot,call for laborate ndividual iscussion.Andbynowyouhaverealized hatwhat ampresentingere s nottheproduct f,but programforresearchnBeowulf.inliteraryistory.hemethod propose ofollowsexemplified y two recentarticleson the flyting etweenBeowulf ndUnferth;hese rticles, yCarol Cloverand byme,attemptoestablish henormalform ftheflytings a genrebyexaminingtsoccurrencesutsideBeowulfndthen ocharacterizeheBeowulf oet's reading fthat enre.3It sa chancynddemandingmethod nd a sprawlingrogram,ndpotentialobjections gainstthephilological ircularitynd pan-Germanicpproachwillalreadyhaveoccurred o you.Thoseobjectionsmust emain nanswered ere, nd I havetime nly orbriefsample analysis of two constituent enres,the first ncludedorunmarked,hesecondclearly ntroduced. ines 4 throughbout64are,ofcourse,recognizedn Beowulf cholarship s a genealogy uthavenot,Ithink, eencompared o genealogicalpoetry utsideBeowulfThe lineage,

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youremember,s ScyldScefing Beowa orBeowulf - HighHealfdeneand the childrenof Healfdene:Heorogar, Hrothgar,Halga til, and adaughter.Versegenealogies, r suchas wereoriginallynverse, re to befound nrelevant ourcesfrom acitustoJordanes nd on toHyndlulj6d,4but the best comparison s offeredby the surviving roup of skaldicgenealogicalpoemsfromOld Norse:theYnglingatalfThj6d61frrHvinifrom he late ninth entury, erhaps ust before875; the HaleygjatalofEyvindr innssonkaldaspillirromhe980's;andN6regskonunga alby nanonymous celanderof about 1190.5 n addition, here s the Theodoricstanzaon the wedishRi-k tone,which s drawn rom poemthat esemblesYnglingatalo closely n meter nd content hat ttakestheextant enericevidence ack before 50.6Thepeculiarityf theseNorseroyalgenealogicalpoems hat speciallyinks hemwith heopening fBeowulfsthe mphasison thedeath ndburial f herulers;7n Ynglingatal,or xample,most f hetwenty-sevenurvivinginks ellof heking'smanner fdeath, .g., tanza19:BraveOttarr ellunderthe claws of theeagle before heweaponsof theDanes; the agle, omefromfar, rodhimwith loody oot. Oftenhegravesiteor themodeofburial srecorded: or xample, tanza6: And haveoftenaskedknowledgeablemen boutthe orpse f heking,whereKing]D6marrwascarried nto heroaring-killer-of-H'alfri.e.,onto he funeral yre];nowI know hat hedescendentofjolnir i.e.,KingD6marr],dead fdisease,wascrematedt Fyrir. nmany fthedeaths he element ffate semphasized;forexample,stanza 32: And Hvedrungr'smaid [that s, death]invited[Hlfdanr] the thirdprince out of this world to a rendezvous,when[he]... had usedupthe ife ssigned y henorns; nd thevictoriousmen i.e.,Halfdanr'smen]buried heir rince t Borre.ClearlyThj6d'61fr'sifficultoem posesgreatproblems f hisown, nd Iam open to thechargeoftryingo explaintheunknown ythemoreun-known;but do believe he similarities ithBeowulf re strikingnd thatYnglingatals quitegenuine nd ustas oldas it ssupposed obe.8Notonlyis itold, but tworksout of an established radition. hisis supported yJordanes,whoknew hat heGothicroyalfamily ada genealogyn whichnotonlyparentagewas recorded ut also theplacewhere achmemberwasborn and wherehedied.9 rish nd Welshpartialparallels recitedfor hegravesof Ynglingatal,'outBeowulf howsa more losely nalogouscom-bination f elements t an earlier ateand in a literaryraditionhat s un-questionablyloselyrelated.For Beowulfhas thesame conjunction fgenealogywith mphasisondeathandfuneral; ate, oo, s prominent:Himda Scyldgewat ogescaep-hwile.. . [1.26]. Even theelement fmysteryhat ttends cyld's nd,bothhispassing nd hisfuneral,s paralleledbymany ftheYnglings;wemight,for xample, ompare cyld'svoyage, tilliving felahror),nto heunknown( Men ne cunnon/secgan o sode...hwa thaemhlaeste nfeng 11.50b-52]to KingSveigdirwhodisappeared live ntoa cliff,nticedby supernaturalcreaturesst. 2). Ofcourse,Beowulfsgenealogys both short nd swollenwithdescriptivend didactic emarks;hefuneral utweighsnd interruptsthegenealogybutthis s trueof Ynglingatallso); and Beowa,Healfdene,and the onsofHealfdenerecompletelyvershadowed yScyld.OfBeowa

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we learn hatheruled langethrage, ut his death sonly mplicit;nd thesamecan be saidofHealfdene,who ruled thenden ifde.Weclearly annottake Ynglingatals themodelfromwhichBeowulfdiverged; hj6dc61fr'spoem s itself lmostcertainly tour-de-forcehat akesa free andwith nold form.11ut itappearsthattheBeowulfpoet,from somewhat imilarstarting oint,has made changesnot unlikethosehe made in theflyting:namely, ondensation,lliptical uggestion fthesubtext,omerearrange-ment, nd a good deal ofselective xpansion.And,ofcourse,he has inte-grated hegenealogyntohispoemas a whole,partlywith heoften-notedfuneral-to-funeralrocession.HeuslerconsidersNorse verseofthetype fYnglingatalo befundamentallyraisepoetryhat ppropriates formrommemorial r isting ersepp. 93, 129).No doubtthis srights far s itgoes,but he onnections ith ultwere urelyt east s important.nany ase,theBeowulf oethaspartlytrippedwaythe essrelevant raising unctionndperhapspartly onverted t to directdidacticism;huswe stillhave thaetwaesgodcyning 1. 11 ]andthe ike,but lso Swa sceal geongg)umagodegewyrcean, fromum eohgiftumn faeder bea)rme.. . [11. 20-21].Myproposalsabout a secondexample,thepanegyric f thegilphlaedenguma, should be a little ess controversial. rothgar's hanecomposedapoem about sicT eowulfes,heexploitoffighting ithGrendel 11. 867b-915]. The content f the opening praisepassage is not related,onlythemanner f itscomposition r recitation on sped, sodegebunden ), ndthat nvery ew ines;but he cop, fwemaycall him hat,went n to tell llheknew boutSigemund,ndthis sparaphrasedntwenty-fiveines.Therefollowsa paraphraseof about twelve ines on the negativeexampleofHeremod and a suddenreversion o Beowulf nd backto Heremod t thecloseofthepassage.Theclassicquestion, hen,swhetherhegenericubtexthere onsisted fone (imaginary)raisepoem plustwonarrative eroic aysorwhetheromehowSigemund nd Heremodwerewithinhepraisepoem.Klaeber,Heusler, ndprobablymostother cholarshavethoughtherewerethree oemsunderlyinghepassage, he econd wobeing,nKlaeber'swordsshort pic poems omparablenscale to TheFight t Finnsburg ;12 f his strue,the Sigemund nd Heremodstories ertainly urst he imits f theheroic ay- both s to formndcontent as itwasdefined yHeusler.Butwouldsuggest hatHoops andde Boor,whoregardedheentire assageassummaryf oneelaboratepraisepoem,were ight.'3he main videncemustbethe tructurefthepassage,beginningndendingwith raise fBeowulf,and in between, woexempla,one positive, ne negative; heexemplaaresyntacticallyntertwinedith achother ndatthe ndwith heparaphrasedpraiseofBeowulf.A senseofunitysalso contributedy heclear nding fthewholepassagewith wilum 1.916]and a returnothepresentceneof hecavalcade.Thehwilum-sentencef 1.916,withts pontaneous orserace, sobviously reprise f thehwilumentence f 1.864;togetherhey rame hehwilum-introducedassageon thepraisepoem.Thistechnique fmakingreturn o thepresents used bythepoet after heFinnsburg ong,and acomparison f the marking fthegleomannes ydof 11. 1063-1160withthat ofthespelofthecyningeshegnn 11.867b-916 einforces,think,he

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impressionhata singlepraise poemis the magined ubtext.But is thereany external upportforthis view? Pindar offers imilarstructures,utnotin a geneticallyelated iterature. he earliest urvivingNorsepraisepoems,however, an be broughto bear on thisproblemincetwooftheearliest o containnarrativeswithin praising ramework.hegreatdifference, owever,betweenon the one hand Bragi Boddason'sRagnarsdrdpandThjodolfr'sHaustlqng ndon the ther andourBeowulfpassageisthat hese woskaldicpraisepoemsof thefirstndsecondhalf ftheninth enturies urport o describe ceneson painted hields.A severeobjection, but two other early Norse praise poems, EiriksmalandHMkonarmrl,an be cited to support the traditionalappearance ofSigemund, itela, ndHeremodwithin Preislied,ven f heirtories renottoldthere; nd there s the imilar ollocation fHerm6dtrndSigmundrnHyndlulj6d' lateEddicpoemwithDanish andperhaps nglish onnections.A better onnoisseur fskaldicverse han might e able toproduceotherexamplesof praise poems whichare also spicedwithnarrativexempla;Korm'kr'sSigurd'ardra*pafabout 960 comes to mindfor ts briefmythicallusions, nd Snorri eferso a lost skaldicpraisepoemthat mbodied heSigurd story.14All these clues together uggestthat it would not beunreasonable o reconstructheBeowulfpoet'ssubtexthere,whethert insomesensereally xisted r moreprobablywasimaginarynd modeled n atype, s a praisepoemwith ymmetricalnd traditionallyanctioned eroicexempla.15Short hrift or ur two ample nalyses, ut must eturno theview romOlympus nd ask again What kindofa literary ork s Beowulf,nd doesthesumma-notionquarewithwhat ittlewe knowof other ttitudes fthepoet? n myopinion heswollen ay theorymaywellapplyto Waldere utdoes notfit heBeowulfianummaverywell.On the otherhandVergilianinspiration, otVergilianmitation, robablydid spark heBeowulf oet'sreaction to the antecedent iteraturen his own tradition.n that act ofreceptionhe createda genre ui generis, nd the agreement etweenhisliterarveaction nd hishistorical,eligious,ndethical eactionssstriking.

CharlesDonahue andothersnd,especiallylegantly, arijaneOsbornhavegivenus a convincing icture f a poetawareofhistorical epth, areful ospeakto his audiencewithproper pistemologicalssumptions ut ospeakof hischaracterswith ympathynd cognizanceoftheir imits.'6Such anauthor ould be expected o act similarlyoward hetexts nd genres f apassing ra.Butwhat bout thisnotion f genreuigeneris, oes treallyxist? or alltheirmulti-genericriginality e can trace theinspirationsorworks ikeFaust, the Wasteland, nd the Canterbury ales. At the riskof furtherexaggeratinghe atalogue-like ualities fBeowulf would ike osuggestnativesource for the summa-attituden Beowulf.The onlymajorearlyGermanic enre hatBeowulf oes notcontain s Merkverse rmnemonicverse;Hrothgar's cop does not regalehis audiencewith n analogueofAEtla weold Hunum,EormanricGotum/ Becca Baningum, urgendumGifica. Could itbe becausethethula-impulse ad been absorbed nto the

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veryframe f Beowulf?fso, we could see a progressionfliteraryhulasfromWidsithhrough eor to Beowuif.n Widsith fictionalcop portrayshis ife n themostoptimisticerms,isting eroes ndkings,he ubstance fsongs;heis too close tothe iteraryradition esings nto see it n terms fform.Deorbrings sadder nd wiserperspective,sober nswer o Widsith;heroes ndkings restill isted nd their tories ummarized,ut heytand nthe ervice fa fragileonsolation.Beowulfntegratests hula ntonarrativeto a muchgreater egree haneitherWidsithr Deor, and with tillmoreperspectivehe Beowulfpoet includes heliterary.forms,he oral genres,alongwith hepoets ndheroes s aspects f hepastorrapidly assingworldof his forebears. omeone has said thatBeowulfesBeorh,as Grundtvignamed thepoem, is a barrow orheroic ociety;f o,wemustnotforget,amongthehidden reasureshere, he ost literature.STANFORD UNIVERSITY

NOTES'Felix Genzmer, Die skandinavischen uellendes Beowulfs, rkiv iir

nordisk.filologi,5 (1950), 17-62;WalterA. Berendsohn,ur Vorgeschichtedes Beowulf, mit einem Vorwort von Professor Otto Jespersen(Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard,1935). Beowulf s cited fromFr.Klaeber,ed., Beowulf nd The Fightat Finnsburg, rded. rev. Boston:Heath,1950)butwithoutmacrons.2David R. Howlett, Form andGenre nBeowulf, N, 46 1974),309-25,makes an interesting,ystematicttempt o interpretuchterms, ut theinternalvidence lone is not sufficient.

3JosephHarris, The senna: From Descriptionto LiteraryTheory,MichiganGermanic tudies, (1979),65-74;CarolJ.Clover, TheGermanicContext of the UnferbEpisode, Speculum,55 (1980), 444-68; similarassumptions overn artof LarsLonnroth'sHjglmar'sDeathSongand theDelivery f Eddic Poetry, peculum,46 (1971), 1-20.4Edited in Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandtenDenkmalern, d. G. Neckel,4th ed. rev.Hans Kuhn Heidelberg:Winter,1962).

5These nd allother kaldicpoemsreferredoareeditednFinnur 6nsson,ed., Den norsk-islandskeSkjaldedigtning, vols. (Copenhagen,1908-15)[Al-All textsaccordingto the manuscripts; I-BII corrected extswithDanishtranslations];tandard iscussions re inJande Vries,AltnordischeLiteraturgeschichte,nd ed. rev., 2 vols. (Berlin:de Gruyter, 964-67).Ynglingatals also ineditions f Ynglinga aga (in Snorri'sHeimskringla);especially handyis Elias Wessen,ed., SnorriSturluson,Ynglinga aga,Nordiskfilologi,A:6 (Stockholm,Copenhagen,Oslo: 1964).Good brief

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accounts of Ynglingatalmaybe found n Wessen,pp. xii-xviii;HallvardMagerdy, Ynglingatal nKulturhistoriskeksikonornordiskmiddelalderfra vikingatidilreformationstid,0 (Copenhagen:Rosenkilde ndBagger,1976), cols. 362-64; and de Vries, 1, 131-36;full discussion n WalterAkerlund,Studier Over Ynglingatal, krifterutgivna av vetenskaps-societeten Lund,23 (Lund: Gleerup,1939).6Brief tatements n theconnections f theROik tonewithYnglingatalmaybe foundnMageroy,ol. 364andindeVries, , 132;fuller iscussionnAkerlund,specially p. 177-89.Thereare no brief eneral ccounts f theRok Stone itself; ee Elias Wessen, Runstenen vid Roks kvrka,Kgl.Vitterhets istorie och Antikvitets kademienshandlingar, ilologisk-filosofiskaerien, (Stockholm:Almqvist nd Wiksell,1958).7Snorri'sPrologus ays hat n Ynglingatalhirtyncestorsre isted ndthedeath and place ofburialofeach is reported:[ Ynglingatal].. I thvikvaed-irunefndir xx. langfedgahans ok sagtfra' auda hvers heira glegstad Wessen,Ynglinga aga, p. 1]. Ifso, thetwenty-sevenxtant inksmusthavebeenprecededbythree bout Odin,NjQrdTr,nd Freyr, houghthere resomedifficultiesith his ssumption;learly, owever,norriwasexaggeratingn thesecondpartof his statement incethegravesitesarereported oronlyabout nineYnglingscf. Magerby).

8Forreferencesothe ongdebate ver he geofYnglingatalseekerlund.The connection etween heSwedishgenealogynBeowulfnd Ynglingatalis,ofcourse,wellknownnOld English cholarship, ut he ormalnalogueis not; I hopeto go into both ndepth n anotherpaper.

9Jordanes,e originectibusqueGetarum,d. T. Mommsen,MonumentaGermaniaeHistorica,A. A. 5, 1 (Berlin:Weidmann, 882),p. 76 (ch. 13):quorumgenealogia read:genealogiam] tpaucispercurramelquis quoparente enitus stautundeorigocoepta,ubifinemffecit,bsque invidia,qui legis,veradicentemusculta ;cf. de Vries, , 134.'0AndreasHeusler,Die altgermanischeichtung, nded. rev. Potsdam:Athenaion, 941),pp. 93-94; rishmodels re dismissed yde Vries, , 132;discussed t length yAkerlund.It also incorporatesldergenealogical ersedeVries, , 134-36;Wess n,p. xiv).'2Klaeber, . 158;Heusler,pp. 152,125.'3Johannes Hoops, Beowulfstudien,AnglistischeForschungen,74(Heidelberg:Winter,1932), pp. 52-55, and Kommentar um Beowulf(Heidelberg: Winter,1932), p. 108; Helmut de Boor, Dichtung inGermanischeAltertumskunde,d. HermannSchneider Munich: Beck,1938), .410.My tructuralnalysiss similaro that fHoops;de Boor's deaof the ype fpoemat stake s notquitethe ameas mine r as Hoops': Er,der Kenner der 'alten geschichten,' beginnt Beowulfs Kampfvorzutragen..undgehtdanachzu demLiedevonSigmunds rachenkampf

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iiber.Das weicht omnordischen iirstenpreiseeit b. [...] Die Betonung,dass der Siinger n alten Geschichten ewandertwar, der unmittelbareUbergang zu einer solchen 'alten Geschichte' als Gegenbild desGrendelkampfes, achenes genugsamklar,wie sichder BeowulfdichterdiesesPreislied achte.Es war hmEreignisdichtungnepischer arstellungmitfortlaufenderandlungund mitden Stil-undDarstellungsmittelnesheroischen Liedes. Lebendige Wechselrede, die Seele heroischerHandlungsfiihrung,irdaus diesemTypusdes epischenPreisliedesnichtwegzudenkenein.14Thorvaldrveili was shipwreckednd saved himself n a skerryokhQfduheirllt ilklaeda okvedrkalt;th. ortihannkvaedi, rkallat r:kvidanskjilfhenda d'a: dr*pansteflausa, k kvediteptirSigurdars*gu (EddaSnorraSturlusonar,d. Thorleifrsic]JonssonCopenhagen, 875]pp.211-12 [=Hittatal,Ch. 35 (36)], this s theonlyedition vailable to me).'5Heuslerwould notagree;on the hieldpoemshewrites:Auchzudiesersehreigentiimlichenrt des Preislieds ehenwirkeinesiidgermanischenVorstufen, nd hegoes on to citethepredictablerish nfluencep. 129).16MarijaneOsborn, The GreatFeud: ScripturalHistory nd StrifenBeowulf, PMLA, 93 (1978),973-81;CharlesDonahue, Beowulf, relandand theNaturalGood, Traditio, (1949-51),263-77, nd Beowulf ndChristian radition:A Reconsiderationrom CelticStance, Traditio, 1(1965),55-116.'7N. F. S. Grundtvig, d., Beowulfes Beorh eller Bjovulfs-Drapen(Copenhagen, 1861).

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"beowulf" in literary history

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