Scribal Practice in the Beowulf Manuscript
There was a time, not too long ago, when we thought we knew a great deal more about Beowulf than we do now.
Senses of the Past: The Old English Vocabulary of History
How did the Anglo-Saxons think about history?
Beowulf and the Comic Book: Contemporary Readings
This paper explores the appropriation of the Old English poem by modern popular culture in such a distinctive 20th-century art-form as the comic book, which proves that a heroic, legendary story already old for the Anglo-Saxons —it was set in geardagum, ‘the ancient days’— still elicits the interest of the audience in the modern world.
Gareth Hinds’ Beowulf
Dark and visceral, the graphic novel version of Beowulf created by Gareth Hinds is considered to be one of the most successful adaptations of the Old English tale.
Reinventing the Hero: Gardner’s Grendel and the Shifting Face of Beowulf in Popular Culture
In twentieth- and twenty-first century Anglophone culture, the impact of Beowulfiana — what we call that amorphous mass of materials that have accumulated around the poem — has been widespread yet subtle.
Grendel and Cain’s Descendants
The figure of Cain, the first rebel against the Lord and murderer of kin, acted as a particularly significant link in identifying ancient belief with the new faith through his descendant Grendel
Roses are Red, Violets are Beowulf
Let’s take five minutes to look at medieval alliterative poetry, using some of the most famous poems of the period.
The Anglo-Saxon War-Culture and The Lord of the Rings: Legacy and Reappraisal
The literature of war in English claims its origin from the Homeric epics, and the medieval accounts of chivalry and the crusades.
J.R.R. Tolkien and the morality of monstrosity
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth is Beowulf for the twentieth century.
Beowulf mini-series being created for television
A thirteen episode mini-series of Beowulf is being created by the the British broadcaster ITV.
Faith in a Heap of Broken Images: The Christian Beowulf
My paper will seek to demonstrate how the poet’s mode of interpretation informs his moral perspective, which is compatible with the unmentioned (though implied) doctrine of Christianity and diametrically opposed to the older Anglo-Saxon religious customs the poet refers to as ‘heathen.’
The Hero’s Journey: Beowulf, Film, and Masculinity
Beowulf is one of many examples of a story that employs the rhetoric of the hero. The plight of the main character Beowulf is the focus of the tale, and the tasks that he must overcome throughout the course of the poem provide insight into the development of the character of the hero.
The Horror of Saints, Slashers, and Virgins
In our modern world, the repression of sexuality is still prevalent, although it is better masked than it was in the Middle Ages, and we still use the image of women and virginity to terrorize or save.
The Anglo-Saxon War-Culture and The Lord of the Rings: Legacy and Reappraisal
Considering the scarcity of the Anglo-Saxon influence in modern war-literature in general, one may wonder and stop by a work like The Lord of the Rings or Silmarillion, which few would be willing to categorise as serious war-literature.
Seamus Heaney and Beowulf
Anglo-Saxonists everywhere should celebrate, perhaps annually in a brief offering of gifts at a local temple, the remarkable fact that Seamus Heaney completed his commissioned translation of Beowulf and published it in 1999, creating the first breaking wave of what was already a gradual tidal swell of interest in the text.
Making Sacrifices: Beowulf and Film
This essay reviews opening scenes in some recent film Beowulfs, which, although they have nothing at all to say about Scyld Scefing, suggest a sacrificial reading of the prologue and perhaps even the whole poem.
Grendel: Boundaries of Flesh and Law
In Beowulf, Grendel presents itself as a figure of inescapable ambiguity and as an embodiment of paradox that causes consternation in the human community.
Eight Videos about Beowulf
A selection of some of the most interesting videos on the web that talk about the Old English poem Beowulf:
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Beowulf published today
Nearly 90 years after he first made the translation, J.R.R. Tolkien’s version of Beowulf arrives at bookstores around the world today.
Staging Medievalisms: Touching the Middle Ages through Contemporary Performance
Examining the Middle Ages through modern eyes: movies, TV, stage, tourism and books. How do we perform the Middle Ages?
Tolkien’s translation of Beowulf coming out this spring
In 1926, J.R.R. Tolkien, who would later go on to write The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, completed his own translation of the Old English poem Beowulf. Eighty-eight years later that work is going to be published for the first time
Burning Idols, Burning Bridges: Bede, Conversion and Beowulf
This article will re-examine some of the information in Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, completed in AD 731, on the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity in the late sixth and seventh centuries.
Valentine’s Day Medieval Love: Books for that special someone
Love is in the air! Here are a few medieval books on the topic of love for your Valentine.
The Three Tellings of Beowulf’s Fight with Grendel’s Mother
Beowulf offers three descriptions of Beowulf’s fight with Grendel’s mother. The first is by the narrator (ll. 1492-1590), the second is by Beowulf to Hrothgar (ll. 1652-76), the third is by Beowulf to Hygelac (included in ll. 2131-51, within the longer speech from l. 2047).