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The Haunted Mere in Beowulf

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Extract

Romance, so modern criticism proclaims, is in no wise incompatible with the temper of the heroic epic. As in tragedy moments of poignant emotion are at once heightened and relieved by the introduction of comedy, so in epic a classic clearness of outline and tranquillity of mood are rendered doubly effective when contrasted with the mystery and magic of romance. Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated than in the second adventure of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, in which the hero does battle with a supernatural monster far away from the haunts of men. The scene shifts suddenly from the realistic setting at the Danish court, and the very air grows heavy with baleful suggestion,—just as when the lights and feasting of the Wartburg are left behind and the mountain in which Venus holds her revels looms up at twilight. “That,” says the Anglo-Saxon poet, “is an uncanny place.” The situation grows tense with a new horror, not felt even in the earlier scene when the demon Grendel, creeping through the mists of evening, invades once too often the hall of the Danes. The element of strangeness is added to beauty, with marvellous effect.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1912

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References

page 209 note 1 Ed. Heyne-Socin, revised by Schücking, ninth ed., Paderborn, 1910.

page 209 note 2 The best are by Brooke, who does not take into account all the evidence, and Panzer, who does not consider the views of other scholars. A dissertation by E. Erlemann announces a discussion of the location of the fight with Grendel as one of the “Thesen,” but this discussion is not printed. See below, p. 227.

page 209 note 3 Paul's Grundriss, second ed., p. 989: “unter einem Binnensee,” etc.

page 209 note 4 Studier i Beowulfsagan, Uppsala, 1909, “på bottnen af en insjö,” etc. Cf. p. 18, where he seems to regard it as a marsh,—“på bottnen af ett träsk,” etc.

page 210 note 1 Cambridge History of English Literature, Vol. i, p. 25.

page 210 note 2 History of Early English Literature, N. Y., 1892, p. 42. The description in Brooke's shorter English Literature from the Beginning to the Norman Conquest is not so detailed, but is in essential agreement with the longer work.

page 210 note 3 Studien zur germanischen Sagengeschichte, I, Beowulf. Munich, 1910, p. 281.

page 210 note 4 Danmarks Heltedigtning, Vol. i, p. 13.

page 210 note 5 Beowulf, London, 1911, p. 5.

page 210 note 6 As, for example, by Chantepie de la Saussaye, Religion of the Teutons, Boston, 1902, pp. 159-160. “That nature-myths lie concealed behind the main episodes of Beowulf may be regarded as certain. …. The high floods and depths of the sea have. … been personified in the savage water monsters of Grendel and his mother.” The remarks on Beowulf in this generally excellent book are exceedingly infelicitous.

page 211 note 1 For a review and bibliography of these hypotheses, as well as of those of Uhland and Laistner, see Wülker, Grundriss der angelsächs. Litteratur, pp. 257 ff.

page 211 note 2 Cf. Brandl's remarks in the Archiv, 1909, p. 473, criticising the attack made by the present writer on the mythological theories in Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, 1909, Vol. xxiv, pp. 245 ff.

page 212 note 1 Cf. Schücking, Glossary, p. 193: Under fyrgenstrēam (bezeichnet die Stelle, wo der Bergstrom nach 1359 sich ins Grendelmeer ergiesst) 2128. See below, p. 237, for a discussion of the passage.

page 213 note 1 Loc. cit., p. 43. The quotations from Gummere and Gering are taken respectively from The Oldest English Epic, p. 83, and the German translation of Beowulf, Heidelberg, 1906.

page 214 note 1 It is perhaps worth while to point out that Panzer has misunderstood the text, 840 ff., “Von Grendels Spuren heisst es 840 nur, dass sie geond wīd-wegas verfolgt werden bis zum Meeresufer,” etc., p. 282, note. The passage means, of course, that the “leaders of the people” had journeyed to Heorot to look at the marks of Grendel's visit, and that they had come from far and near over ways leading thither from a distance; it is of no significance as establishing the distance between Heorot and the pool. The rest of Panzer's note need not be quoted; it may be well, however, to observe that he attributes far more consistency to epic descriptions than careful examination confirms.

page 215 note 1 Cf. 87, 103 ff., 161 ff., 450, 710 ff., 755 ff., 762 ff., 819 ff., 844 ff.

page 215 note 2 Cf. the N. E. D. “Fen: low land covered wholly or partially with shallow water, or subject to frequent inundations; a tract of such land; a marsh.” “Moor: a tract of unenclosed waste ground”; also obs. “a marsh.”

page 216 note 1 Accepting the reading dēaf (North, dēof) for ms. deog. The exact rendering of the line is of small consequence for our general investigation.

page 216 note 2 I cannot accept Heinzel's retention of ms. hwœper, “welcher von beiden,” which Schücking adopts,—cf. his ed. p. 114, and glossary p. 221,—paraphrasing Heinzel (Anz. für deutsches Alt., vol. xv, p. 173): “Grendels Mutter ist in finsterer Nacht gekommen, die Dänen können nicht bestimmt sagen, wer ihr Gegner gewesen. HrωÐgār drückt dies aus durch: ich weiss nicht, wer von beiden es war.” But in the very next sentence Hrothgar continues, “She has avenged the feud,” etc. Translators generally, and rightly, I think, have read hwœder, “whither.” The ellipsis assumed by Heinzel seems to me too violent.

page 218 note 1 The citations are from Krapp's edition of the Andreas, Albion Series, Boston, 1906.

page 218 note 2 The same principle applies to nœs, a cliff running out into the water.

page 219 note 1 Cf. 1428.

page 220 note 1 Harvard Studies and Notes, Vol. xi, p. 222. Professor Hart refers especially to pp. 31 ffg. of Brooke's discussion. The inconsistencies in the description of the haunts of the demons have already been noted by critics. Cf. Panzer, loc. cit., p. 282: “Es überrascht zunächst nach dieser Beschreibung das Gedicht an zahlreichen anderen Stellen versichern zu hören, dass die beiden Dämonen die ‘Mark,’ das ‘Moor,’ den Sumpf, bewohnten. … Es erklärt sich das offenbar daraus, dass die unbebaute Mark vor dem Meere, der Wald- und Sumpfgürtel, der zwischen der See und dem Königshofe liegt, noch zum Bereiche der Dämonen gerechnet werden.”—Panzer fails to note that the pool itself is actually put in the fen; cf. 1. 851 and the preceding discussion, p. 215.

page 221 note 1 Edition of 1901, p. xxiii.

page 222 note 1 Sigurþarkviþa en skamma, st. 8.

page 222 note 2 Contrast the Atlamól with the Atlakviþa.

page 223 note 1 It is hardly necessary to say that the present argument is not based on acceptance of the theory that the Beowulf-poet was merely stringing together or dovetailing epic lays. I agree with those critics who regard the present poem as free composition on the basis of oral epic material.

page 223 note 2 Loc. cit., p. 96.

page 223 note 3 The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Vol. iii, pp. 50, 51. See also Hart, loc cit., p. 89.

page 224 note 1 “Zwei verschiedene Sagen, die in älterer Zeit verschiedene Dichter an ein und dieselbe Person geknüpft haben, vereint er (the poet) und bringt nun die Ereignisse in zeitliches Verhältnis zu einander.” Mogk, Paul's Grundriss, Vol. ii, p. 627.

page 224 note 2 “This lay tells about the death of Sigurd, and it appears here, that they slew him out of doors. But others say that he was killed indoors in his bed, while he slept,” etc.

page 224 note 3 Cf. Panzer, loc. cit., p. 309: “Die Erzählung von Beowulfs Drachenkampf ist stoffgeschichtlich kein einfacher Typus, zeigt sich vielmehr zusammengeschweisst aus dem Thor- und dem Fafnir-typus,” etc. Cf. also the present writer's Medieval Story, N. Y., 1911, pp. 43 ff.

page 224 note 4 Studier i Beowulfsagan, p. 22.

page 225 note 1 Jellinek and Kraus, Zts. für d. österr. Gym., 1893, pp. 673 ff. Cf. also on this general subject, Gummere's Oldest English Epic, pp. 6 ff.

page 227 note 1 The New English Dictionary defines the pool in Beowulf as “a sheet of standing water; a lake, pond,” as opposed to other meanings of mere, which connect it with the sea or the fens. See under mere (general editor, Henry Bradley).

page 227 note 2 Das landschaftliche Auge der ags. Dichter, Berlin, 1902. This “thesis” is not defended in the dissertation as published. The later work announced by the author, Die Natur in der ags. Dichtung, I have not seen, nor have I found a record of its publication.

page 228 note 1 Panzer, p. 116: “In den meisten Varianten liegt das Reich des Dämons unter der Erde. Man erblickt zunächst nur den Zugang, der in verschiedener Weise definiert wird. Die Öffnung, in der der Dämon verschwunden ist, heisst ein Brunnen (in 46 märchen), ein tiefes Loch (40 märchen), Loch im Fluss, Loch in einem Berg (5), auf dem Gipfel eines Berges (3), Gang wie ein Schornstein in einem Kjæmpehöj (der nachher Berg heisst), Schacht (2), Schacht auf dem Gipfel eines Hügels, der in einem Sumpfe liegt, Erdschlund, Abgrund (3), Höhle (14), Höhle wie ein Brunnen, Erdhöhle, Höhle auf einem hohen Berg, in einem Berg, in Berg Bolchon, Felsenhöhle, Felsenspalte, tiefe Öffnung vor einem Felsen, Grube (8), das Meer, hohler Baum, eine hohle Eiche, unter der eine Öffnung liegt, als man sie ummacht, Gewölbe, Keller, seperdura. Mehrfach verwehrt den Zugang zu dieser Öffnung ein Hindernis, das nur der Held zu beseitigen vermag. … Durch diese Öffnung nun lässt der Held sich kühn hinab in die unbekannte Tiefe. Als Beförderungsmittel dient gewöhnlich ein Seil; doch fehlt es daneben nicht an allerlei phantastischen Bestimmungen. … Mehrfach lässt sich ohne weiteres sogleich der Held selbst in die Tiefe. …”—P. 120: “Bei allen bisher betrachteten Fassungen handelt as sich um eine Fahrt in die Tiefe. Wir haben nun schon oben S. 116 aus einer Reihe von Varianten die Angabe kennen gelernt, der Eingang zu dem unterirdischen Reiche habe auf der Spitze eines Hügels, Berges, hohen Berges gelegen. Nach mehreren Varianten liegt aber jene transszendente Welt, das Reich des Dämons, der die Prinzessinnen bewahrt, selbst auf dem Berge; unzugänglich wird es bei dieser Formulierung dadurch, dass Steile und Höhe des Berges es schützen.” It is evident, then, that whether or not the demon abode was conceived as far underground, the entrance was in very many märchen placed in mountainous country.

page 229 note 1 O. Lüning, Die Natur in der altgermanischen und mittelhochdeutschen Epik, etc., Zürich, 1889, gives illustrations of this, but all his really significant citations of haunted moors are drawn from Beowulf.

page 229 note 2 For a full discussion of the legends of Cain, especially in reference to Beowulf, see O. F. Emerson, Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, vol. xxi, esp. pp. 860 ff.; 878 ff. Here and there a statement needs revision, as for example that the second adventure “is a late and less artistic imitation of the Grendel-Beowulf story” (p. 882). Cf. Brandl, loc. cit., p. 995.

page 231 note 1 For the relations between Beowulf and the Grettissaga, cf. Vigfússon, Prolegomena to the Sturlungasaga, i, p. xliv; Corpus Poeticurn Boreale, Vol. ii, pp. 501-503; Gering, Anglia, Vol. iii, pp. 74-87; Bugge, Paul-Braune Beiträge, Vol. xii, pp. 57 ff.; Panzer, loc. cit., pp. 313 ff.; Schück, loc. cit., pp. 15 ff. The theories of E. C. Boer in his edition of the Grettissaga (see below, p. 242) and in Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie, Vol. xxx, pp. 1 ff., are better avoided. See note below, p. 242.

page 232 note 1 Den oldnorske og oldislanzke Litteraturs Histoire, Vol. ii, p. 751.

page 232 note 2 The following translation is based on the edition by E. C. Boer, Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek, Vol. viii, Halle, 1900. There is a German translation by Gering, Anglia, Vol. iii, pp. 79 ff.; see also for the same, Förster, Beowulf-Materialien, Braunschweig, 1908, pp. 14 ff. The extract here translated, § lxv f. of the saga, will be found on pp. 235 ff. of Boer's edition.

page 234 note 1 A common superstition, that beings of the other world are turned to stone when the rays of the sun strike them, is here confused with the original story. Many of the latter alterations in the tale are clearly visible, as for instance, the motivation of Grettir's descent into the waterfall in order to convince the priest of his assertions.

page 234 note 2 The exact meaning of this passage is not clear. The original is as follows: En er þeir kómu til forsins, sá þeir skúta upp undir bergit; þat var meitilberg svá mikit, at hvergi mátti upp komaz, ok nœr tíu faÐma ofan at vatninu. Panzer takes the ten fathoms as the distance from the top of the cliff to the cave below the fall; Boer the ten fathoms as the distance from the cave to the surface of the pool. (P. 238, note). pat var meitilberg.komaz seems to mean that no one could get out of the cave up the precipice to the top. It seems to me most natural to take the ten fathoms as the distance from the top of the cliff to the pool beneath. The exact meaning is not important for our purposes.

page 236 note 1 Cf. Wyatt, Beowulf, 1898, p. xiv; Schück, loc. cit., p. 18.

page 236 note 2 A common märchen-exaggeration preserved in the epic, see Panzer, pp. 119, 286. As Panzer points out (note to p. 283) hwīl dœges may mean “ein gutes Stück Tags”; they left in early morning, and at three o'clock the blood appeared on the water. But the epic is not consistent in these details.

page 237 note 1 The illustration of the demon pool in Koch and Heusler, Urväterhort, Berlin (no date), p. 12, is excellent. It shows rocky mountain country, and a descending stream almost like a waterfall. But Heusler says in the text:“ Die Grendelmutter fuhr auf ihn (Beowulf) los, umkrallte seinen Leib, den die Brünne schützte, und schleifte ihn in ihren Saal am Seegrunde.”

page 237 note 2 The reading grund-sele in the deficient half-line in þam sele, 2139, is, if the present argument be correct, to be rejected, and some other, as gūÐ-sele,— (Thorpe, Holthausen, Sedgefield, etc.) substituted.

page 238 note 1 Paul-Braune Beiträge, Vol. xii, p. 364. Kålund'a work has not been accessible to me.

page 238 note 2 Panzer, p. 403; Bugge, loc. cit.; Boer, see note above.

page 239 note 1 “Auf freier phantasie,” Boer, note to p. 238.

page 239 note 2 Allein die auf Dollzey localisirte sage liegt in dem von einem Isländer verfassten Ormsþáttr Stórólfssonar weder in ihrer ursprünglichen noch in der von der Grettissaga vorausgesetzten gestalt vor, denn die Grettissaga hat mehrere hauptzüge der saga erhalten, welche in der Ormsþáttr nicht vorkommen, sich dagegen in dem Beowulfsliede wiederfinden.“ Loc. cit., p. 365.

page 241 note 1 Cf. Brandl, Paul's Grundriss, Vol. ii, p. 995: “Ursprünglich in skandinavischer Berglandschaft gedacht, kam sie (the basic story) mit den Angelsachsen nach Brittanien,” etc. Panzer, p. 394: “Die Annahme, dass dieser Märchentypus im frühen Mittelalter im südlichen Skandinavien bekannt gewesen sei, unterliegt. … keinen Bedenken.”

page 241 note 2 Panzer, p. 394: “Noch auf skandinavischem Boden hat das Bärensohnmärchen sich zur Beowulfsage gewandelt.”

page 241 note 3 I say nothing here, of course, of the dragon-fight.

page 242 note 1 “Boer's Versuch, eine ältere Fassung aus der Überlieferung herauszuschälen und eine zweifache Interpolation zu erweisen, ist weder in der Überlieferung noch durch genügende sprachliche Beweise begründet, und muss deshalb zurückgewiesen werden.” Mogk, Paul's Grundriss, Vol. ii, p. 757.—“ Boer's Erklärung erweist sich …. als in allen Punkten vollständig verfehlt.” Panzer, p. 401. See also Schück's unfavorable comments, pp. 20, 21.

page 244 note 1 The fact that both Beowulf and Orm are represented as winning partly by the aid of God, while their adversaries are conceived as heathen, is no argument, as far as I can see, for the influence of an English tale. Panzer suggests rather doubtfully that it might be, since these Christian touches could not have been due to a common Scandinavian original, but might have come from England. But these are easily explained as independent developments; one does not have to look to seventh-century England for Christian elements in a Scandinavian saga of the fourteenth century, and, as Panzer himself recognizes, the Christian elements in Beowulf are relatively superficial.