Before students analyse a single theme in Beowulf, it helps to understand something more basic: how the poem sounded, how it was likely composed, and how astonishingly close it came […]
One of the first puzzles students encounter in Beowulf is a strange doubleness in its worldview. The characters live in a pre-Christian Scandinavian setting, cremate their dead, believe in monsters […]
Beowulf is often introduced to students as a “monster poem,” and on the surface, that is true — the plot is structured around three fights with three different creatures. But […]
When modern readers first meet Beowulf, he can seem larger than life — a man who swims for days, tears a monster’s arm off with his bare hands, and announces […]
