Beowulf Quotes

Shield was still thriving when his time came
And he crossed over into the Lord’s keeping.
His warrior band did what he bade them
When he laid down the law among the Danes:
They shouldered him out to the sea’s flood,
The chief they revered who had long ruled them.
A ring-whorled prow rode in the harbour,
Ice-clad, outbound, a craft for a prince.
They stretched their beloved lord in his boat,
Laid out by the mast, amidships,
The great ring-giver. Far-fetched treasures
Were piled upon him, and precious gear.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 26-37: The burial at sea of Danish King Shield Sheafson.

The Almighty Judge
of good deeds and bad, the Lord God,
Head of the Heavens and High King of the World,
was unknown to them. Oh, cursed is he
who in time of trouble has to thrust his soul
in the fire’s embrace, forfeiting help;
he has nowhere to turn. But blessed is he
who after death can approach the Lord
and find friendship in the Father’s embrace.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 180-188: The poet feels sorry for the pagan ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons, as they didn’t have the chance to turn to a Christian God for comfort.

These were hard times, heart-breaking
the prince of the Shieldings; powerful counsellors,
the highest in the land, would lend advice,
plotting how best the bold defenders
might resist and beat off sudden attacks.
Sometimes at pagan shrines they vowed
offerings to idols, swore oaths
that the killer of souls might come to their aid
and save the people. That was their way,
their heathenish hope; deep in their hearts
they remembered hell.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 170-180: The poet admits, with some distaste, that the medieval Danes engage in pagan practices.

‘If Grendel wins, it will be a gruesome day;
he will glut himself on the Geats in the war-hall,
swoop without fear on that flower of manhood
as on others before. Then my face won’t be there
to be covered in death: he will carry me away
as he goes to ground, gorged and bloodied;
he will run gloating with my raw corpse
and feed on it alone, in a cruel frenzy,
fouling his moor-nest.’

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 442-450: Beowulf imagines the gruesome consequences for him and his corpse if Grendel defeats him.

Grendel was the name of this grim demon
Haunting the marches, marauding round the heath
And the desolate fens; he had dwelt for a time
In misery among the banished monsters,
Cain’s clan, whom the creator had outlawed
And condemned as outcasts. For the killing of Abel
The Eternal Lord exacted a price:
Cain got no good from committing that murder
Because the Almighty made him anathema
And out of the curse of his exile there sprang
Ogres and elves and evil phantoms
And the giants too, who strove with God
Time and again until He gave them their reward.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 102-114: The demon Grendel, who represents the ultimate evil in medieval Scandanavian culture, is the descendant of Cain, the man who killed his brother.

‘I have heard moreover that the monster scorns
in his reckless way to use weapons;
therefore to heighten Hygelac’s fame
and gladden his heart, I hereby renounce
sword and the shelter of the broad shield,
the heavy war-board: hand-to-hand
is how it will be, a life-and-death
fight with the fiend. Whichever one death fells
must deem it a just judgment by God.’

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 433-440: Beowulf announces that he will fight Grendel without weapons, in hand-to-hand combat, gaining more glory for Geatish king Hygelac.

Then a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark,
nursed a hard grievance. It harrowed him
to hear the din of the loud banquet
every day in the hall, the harp being struck
and the clear song of a skilled poet
telling with mastery of man’s beginnings,
how the Almighty had made the earth
a gleaming plain girdled with waters;
in His splendour He set the sun and the moon
to be earth’s lamplight, lanterns for men,
and filled the broad lap of the world
with branches and leaves; and quickened life
in every other thing that moved.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 86-98: The threat to Heorot comes in the form of the demon Grendel maddened by the bard’s recitation of the story of creation in the hall.

So every elder and experienced councilman
among my people supported my resolve
to come here to you, King Hrothgar,
because all knew of my awesome strength.
They had seen me boltered in the blood of enemies
when I battled and bound five beasts,
raided a troll-next and in the night-sea
slaughtered sea-brutes. I have suffered extremes
and avenged the Geats (their enemies brought it
upon themselves, I devastated them).
Now I mean to be a match for Grendel,
settle the outcome in single combat.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 415-426: Beowulf describes who he is to King Hrothgar by recounting his deeds.

They stretched their beloved lord in his boat,
laid out by the mast, amidships,
the great ring-giver. Far-fetched treasures
were piled upon him, and precious gear.
I never heard before of a ship so well furbished
with battle tackle, bladed weapons
and coats of mail. The massed treasure
was loaded on top of him: it would travel far
on out into the ocean’s sway.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 34-42: The funeral of the Danis king Shield Sheafson, buried at sea. This passage deals with mortality and shows that no matter how noble and loved Shield was, he still was goig to die.

Undaunted, sitting astride his horse,
the coast-guard answered, ‘Anyone with gumption
and a sharp mind will take the measure
of two things: what’s said and what’s done.
I believe what you have told me: that you are a troop
loyal to our king.’

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 286-291: A soldier replies to Beowulf, when asked to trust what the stranger says. In medieval Scandinavian culture to boast about heroic deeds was nearly as important as the deeds themselves. Beowulf’s boasts help to identify him.

Time and again, foul things attacked me,
Lurking and stalking, but I lashed out,
Gave as good as I got with my sword.
My flesh was not for feasting on,
There would be no monsters gnawing and gloating
Over their banquet at the bottom of the sea.
Instead, in the morning, mangled and sleeping
The sleep of the sword, they slopped and floated
Like the ocean’s leavings.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 559-567: Beowulf’s swimming contest with Breca, in which he has to battle sea-monsters.

The story goes
that as the pair struggled, mead-benches were smashed
and sprung off the floor, gold fittings and all.
Before then, no Shielding elder would believe
there was any power or person on earth
capable of wrecking their horn-rigged hall
unless the burning embrace of a fire
engulf it in flame.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 774-781: Beowulf’s wrestling contest with Grendel wreaks more destruction than anyone had ever thought possible. Beowulf is depicted with almost superhuman strength.
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