Study Questions for Beowulf

• Beowulf is often described as a pagan story written down by a Christian poet.  To what extent is the world of the poem pagan, or pre-Christian, and to what extent is it Christian?  What is the role of God in the poem?  What is the nature of evil in the poem, and what forms does it take?  What do you think the narrator's attitude toward war is?
• Compare Beowulf to other heroes you have read about.  Is he more or less attractive than Achilles?  What are Beowulf's flaws?  In what ways does he help other people, and in what ways is he selfish or egotistical?  What stages of life does Beowulf go through during the course of the poem?  How is the poem's depiction of heroism different from that of Greek and Roman epic?  What does Beowulf's choice of weapons tell you about him?
• What are the characteristics of good kings and warriors in the poem?  What kinds of things do the characters in the poem value?
• What is the function of monsters in the poem?  To what extent are the monsters in the poem physical projections of human fears?  Is there anything appealing, or sympathetic about Grendel?  Who is more dangerous, Grendel, or his mother?
• Where do the main events of the poem take place?  What is the significance of the mead hall?
• What is the role of women in the poem?
• What is the role of poets or bards (scops) in the poem?

Passages from Beowulf read in Anglo-Saxon.

The opening lines of Beowulf in Anglo-Saxon:

Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum,
þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.
Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,

monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah,
egsode eorlas. Syððan ærest wearð
feasceaft funden, he þæs frofre gebad,
weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah,
oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra

ofer hronrade hyran scolde,
gomban gyldan. þæt wæs god cyning!
ðæm eafera wæs æfter cenned,
geong in geardum, þone god sende
folce to frofre; fyrenðearfe ongeat

þe hie ær drugon aldorlease
lange hwile. Him þæs liffrea,
wuldres wealdend, woroldare forgeaf;
Beowulf wæs breme (blæd wide sprang),
Scyldes eafera Scedelandum in. 

Online Resources:

Beowulf in Hypertext

ORB:  The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies

The Internet Medieval Sourcebook

Old English ay the University of Virginia 

Beowulf map: