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.)