Of princes & kings
The world of Beowulf, courtly kings and striving princes, confronting enemies and monsters to protect their people. The technical and...
How to write a paper
Heaney’s introduction to his translation of Beowulf praises Tolkien’s ‘epoch-making paper’, a lecture delivered in 1936 entitled ‘Beowulf: The Monsters...
The poetry of endurance
Endurance is intrinsic to the poem of Beowulf, and is vividly and touchingly depicted here as a bedrock of humanity....
Foursquare
I like this stolid, resolute word:
(Of a building or structure): square shape and solid appearance. Squarely and solidly: a...
Wide as the wind
Another pithy metaphor that deserves to enter daily use: 'as wide as the wind'. So, let me wish you this:...
Where gannets swoop and rise
In the countdown to a major gift-giving season, I liked this ancient reference to a human presents. May you give and...
A stook of grain
A sight we no longer see: a group of sheaves or grain stood on end in a field. Also 'to stook',...
Care for a tarn dip?
A small mountain lake, originally Middle English from old Norse: tjorn. In Beowulf, it refers to the watery home of Grendel's...
Fate goes as ever fate must
This translation by Seamus Heaney rings like a proverb on the immutability of fate. Elsewhere, he brings it up close and...
Iron-braced door
A door to keep enemies at bay? Except perhaps Grendel who would have torn it off by the hinges.
Source: Seamus...
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