Top 10 Beowulf Quotes

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.

He has done his worst but the wound will end him.
He is hasped and hooped and hirpling with pain,
limping and looped in it. Like a man outlawed
for wickedness, he must await
the mighty judgement of God in majesty.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 974-978: This describe Beowulf after he had killed Grendel. After his long fight with the demon, he is in pain and agony, but was still able to fight off the beast. And in the contest between good and evil, Grendel is shown to be an insignificant demon from hell, compared to the power and goodness of God.

‘Wise sir, do not grieve. It is always better
to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning.
For everyone of us, living in this world
means waiting for our end. Let whoever can
win glory before death. When a warrior is gone,
that will be his best and only bulwark.’

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 1384-1389: Beowulf’s statement of the heroic code, in which he tells Hrothgar to ensure his name lives on by glorious deeds before his death. Beowulf is speaking after Grendel’s mother has killed Aeschere.

A few miles from here
a frost-stiffened wood waits and keeps watch
above a mere; the overhanging bank
is a maze of tree-roots mirrored in its surface.
At night there, something uncanny happens:
the water burns. And the mere bottom
has never been sounded by the sons of men.
On its bank, the heather-stepper halts:
the hart in flight from pursuing hounds
will turn to face them with firm-set horns
and die in the wood rather than dive
beneath its surface. That is no good place.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 1363-1372: Hrothgar’s description of the bone-chilling, haunted mere that Grendel’s mother calls home.
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