This text is a fragment of the second part from the epic poem ¨Beowulf¨.

The poem was

written in old English and transcribed in 10 th /11th century by two anonymous scribes
with Christian perspective. But the original story is dated circa 5 th century. This
manuscript was kept in the Cotton Library. The first part talks about young Beowulf, an
Anglo-Saxon hero, fighting against a monster (Grendel). This second part of the poem
narrates how old Beowulf fight against a terrible dragon. Finally, Beowulf die, and the
poem describes the funeral of Beowulf after the battle. All the plots took place in the
kingdom of the Danes, but Beowulf was from the kingdom of Geats.

This poem is important because is part of oral tradition, so it could be the oldest long
poem that survives nowadays and is one of the most relevant Anglo-Saxon poetry and
culture of Old English literature.

On the historical background, we can see how in the poem are allusions about the death
of the King of the Geats, Hygelac, who was the uncle of Beowulf and his feudal lord, on
an expedition to the Franks, Frisians and Hetware. He dies in Frisia 516. The death of
the king was recorded in ¨Historia Francorum¨ in late 6 th century as the Danish King
Chlochilaicus. In the ¨Liber Monstrorum¨ is also mentioned where is said that King
Hygelac was who ruled the Geats and was murdered by the son of the Frankish Kings.
Finally, Beowulf becoming the new King of the Geats. All these historical events are
dated from the Great Age of Germanic Migrations circa 522.

Focusing on the text, the poem is composed by kennings in some words, alliteration,
with many repetitions of sounds, irregularity and there are so many hemisthics/caesura
between the verses. This fragment narrates Beowulf´s death and, we can see admiration
to the king for being a good lord. In the first line, we can see burial practice and how
they organized that. This burial is an example of comparation with Sutton Hoo Ship
Burial. Here we can see the man who had a good relationship with Beowulf, Wiglaf
(The son of Weohstan), who ordered to the population to bring wood for the (pyre) line
5, that they had made for the king, and they decorated with weapons and treasures. It is
a sample of ¨comitatus¨, a lord-warrior agreement. In this case, Wiglaf was the only
loyal warrior accompanying and advising Beowulf, who had fame of ideal king and
good lord. This fame comes from last battles which he won, and he got treasure and
glory. The glory that he earned was the ¨inmortality¨. It means that he is alive in all
minds.
A few lines down, we can see three different descriptions of the battles that Beowulf
had to endure. They are represented so hard and with many arrows: (rain of irons,
battle-halls, arrow storms), lines 8-9. Later, it is mentioned (seven king´s thanes), line
14, who were the warrior of the king that were proud of Beowulf. Warriors built a
(barrow), line 15, where they put all jewelry as rings, gold and so many treasures there
led by the (hoard-keeper), line 25. It´s an example of Kenning. Also, they pushed the
dead body of the dragon over the cliff, exactly over the (cliff-wall), line 24. Beowulf is
described by the warrior as ¨the noble, the grey-haired king), line 27, and here we can
notice about the admiration of them.

The burning of Beowulf was so hard, and people was so sad about his lost: (Sad and
despairing, the warriors grieved for the death), line 41. Also, the writer remembers the
memorial barrow that was built for honoring the king, (Weder built on that cliffa
memorial barrow), line 48. In the line 55, we can see an example of Heiti, a rhetoric
figure that Nordic poets used referring to a synonymous of one word for show quality.
In this case (jeweled ring) is a synonymous or of ¨treasure¨. In the Old English version
of the poem, the word (beg) means rings and originally the word was ¨bague¨, meaning
¨ring¨ in French. And, finally, the last paragraph is an epitaph for Beowulf from his
supporters honoring him (the kindest man, the most courteous man).

As conclusion, the fragment of the poem narrates a sad situation between all the people
who admired the king but is shown all the respect that they had to him, and they
acknowledge his bravery as hero. After this, dead bodies were deposited in ship burials
with a good treasure and was commonly used from 5th century until 10th century.