Beowulf Strength Quotes

‘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.

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.

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.

Venturing closer,
His talon was raised to attack Beowulf
where he lay on the bed; he was bearing in
with open claw when the alert hero’s
comeback and armlock forestalled him utterly.
The captain of evil discovered himself
in a handgrip harder than anything
he had ever encountered in any man
on the face of the earth. Every bone in his body
Quailed and coiled, but he could not escape.
He was desperate to flee to his den and hide
With the devil’s litter, for in all his days
He had never been clamped or cornered like this.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 744-756: When Grendel wrestles Beowulf he discovers him to be a skilled wrestler of great strength.

There was less tampering and big talk then
from Unferth the boaster, less of his blather
as the hall-thanes eyed the awful proof
of the hero’s prowess, the splayed hand
up under the eaves. Every nail,
claw-scale and spur, every spike
and welt on the hand of that heathen brute
was like barbed steel. Everybody said
there was no honed iron hard enough
to pierce him through, no time-proofed blade
that could cut his brutal, blood-caked claw.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 979-989: It is not sufficient for Beowulf to recount stories of his physical prowess, but he needs to show evidence of his great deeds, like Grendel’s severed arm hanging up in Heorot Hall.

She came to Heorot. There, inside the hall,
Danes lay asleep, earls who would soon endure
a great reversal, once Grendel’s mother
attacked and entered. Her onslaught was less
only by as much as an amazon warrior’s
strength is less than an armed man’s
when the hefted sword, its hammered edge
and gleaming blade slathered in blood,
razes the sturdy boar-ridge off a helmet.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 1279-1287: Peace in the hall of the communal Danes is disturbed when the hell-dame Grendel’s mother attacks.

Inspired again
by the thought of glory, the war-king threw
his whole strength behind a sword-stroke
and connected with the skull. And Naegling snapped.
Beowulf’s ancient iron-grey sword
let him down in the fight. It was never his fortune
to be helped in combat by the cutting edge
of weapons made in iron. When he wielded a sword,
no matter how blooded and hard-edged the blade
his hand was too strong, the stroke he dealt
(I have heard) would ruin it.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 2677-2687: In his final battle with the dragon Beowulf is able to act courageously by keeping thoughts of glory in mind.

Yet the prince of the rings was too proud
to line up with a large army
against the sky-plague. He had scant regard
for the dragon as a threat, no dread at all
of its courage or strength, for he had kept going
often in the past, through perils and ordeals
of every sort, after he had purged
Hrothgar’s hall, triumphed in Heorot
and beaten Grendel.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 2345-2353: Beowulf has no fear of the fire-breathing dragon. Though he commands skilled soldiers, the proud king thinks he can and should take on the dragon alone. A little too courageous for a king perhaps.
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