Abstract
The extent of the Beowulf poet’s knowledge of pre-Christian Germanic mythology is a matter of considerable dispute. The present article reconsiders the claims of Ursula Dronke’s 1969 essay “Beowulf and Ragnarǫk” and corroborates her argument that the poet, instead of unwittingly transmitting pre-Christian mythological traditions, knew and deliberately utilized the myth of Ragnarǫk. Parallels between the background narrative of Beowulf and the myth preserved in eddic materials are detected; resemblances between Herebeald and Baldr, and between the father in the “Old Man’s Lament” and Frigg, are explored. By identifying an array of hitherto unrecognized connections, this article increases the likelihood that the Beowulf poet was well informed about Germanic mythological traditions similar to those preserved in later Old Norse sources.
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Notes
Tolkien’s theory is criticized as “highly doubtful” by T. M. Gang because the Norse poetry on which Tolkien bases his argument is “of a later date than Beowulf” (1952, p. 11; cf. van Meurs 1955, pp. 116–119). Dronke’s essay, on the other hand, argues for the antiquity of the concept of Germanic eschatology preserved in Norse materials (1969, p. 309).
Only a few scholars have given extended consideration to the association between Beowulf and Ragnarǫk. Paul Beekman Taylor examines Heorot as a counterpart to Asgard, showcasing the creation and destruction of the world (1966). James W. Earl discusses the Christian poet’s appropriation of Germanic eschatology (1994, ch. 2).
For a rebuttal of Fell’s view, see Robinson (1999).
Glosecki aligns his book Shamanism and Old English Poetry with “a trend in Old English studies […] to recognize the Christian context without underestimating the impact of a native Germanic tradition” (1989, p. ix).
In an earlier article, Niles writes: “To look […] for echoes of pagan myths [in Beowulf] is to shift into an associative realm where Wagnerian strains prevail” (1997, p. 221). The argument for contemporary influence of Old Norse literature on Beowulf (Frank 1981; North 1997) is difficult to credit, since the poem appears to have been composed earlier than the Viking age. On the dating of Beowulf, see Neidorf (2017); and Neidorf & Pascual (2019).
One unpublished thesis also mentions the structural parallels between the myth of Ragnarǫk and the story of the Geats in Beowulf, but the discussion is superficial and inaccurate: “Similar to the story of Balder and Hoð dying right before Ragnarok, Beowulf tells the story of Herebeald and Hæthcyn immediately prior to his fatal dragon fight, after which Wiglaf and his messenger forecast the inevitable demise of the Geatish race. Just as the Volva predicts war spreading across Midgard before Ragnarok, Wiglaf and his messenger predict how the Geats’ neighboring peoples will declare war on them” (Beverly 2014, pp. 18–22).
Dronke discovers a further parallel in scenario, that is from the creation and recreation of gods and humans to an interruption by giants (1969, pp. 307–308).
See for example Frank (1981, p. 132; 1982, p. 11); Harris (1994, pp. 54–56); Lindow (1997, pp. 141–144); North (1997, pp. 198–202); Orchard (2003, pp. 116–119); and Neidorf (2022, pp. 54–56). Heather O’Donoghue, though feeling obliged to spotlight the “striking resemblance,” hardly offers any more evidence (2003, p. 82; 2007, p. 93; 2014, p. 18). For the etymology of Baldr’s name, see Green (1965, pp. 3–18). On the rarity of Herebeald’s and Hæthcyn’s names, see Wormald (2006, pp. 75–76). On the theophoric names in Beowulf, see Neidorf & Zhu (2022, p. 123).
Klaeber writes: “it is difficult to believe that the story told in Beowulf has any mythological basis. It rather impresses us as a report of an ordinary incident that could easily happen in those Scandinavian communities and probably happened more than once” (1950, p. xli). In agreement with Klaeber, Turville-Petre adds that the name elements are common and concludes that “the similarities between the two stories are too superficial to force the conclusion that there was any relationship between them” (1964, pp. 120–121). De Vries is neutral due to a lack of certain evidence of Baldr’s presence in Old English traditions (1970, § 480). Margaret Clunies Ross, though acknowledging the presence of “core elements,” regards it as “not necessary” to assume a direct connection (1994, p. 272). Anatoly Liberman, in his assessment of the myth of Baldr, views the episode in Beowulf as “of questionable value” due to its dissimilar situation (2004, p. 21).
Burton Raffel in his translation notes the parallel in the glossary (1963, p. 153). Howell D. Chickering, Jr. refers to the connection in a cautious manner: “it is possible that the poet was influenced by some early version of the Norse myth of Ragnarǫk” and that the story of Baldr “may have provided a pattern” for Herebeald’s death (2006, p. 254).
The narrative emphasis is laid upon the Vanir’s capability of regeneration. Though Ynglinga saga (ch. 4) does mention the decapitation of Mímir after the divine wars, this is not, strictly speaking, a death, for Mímir’s head continues to tell Óðinn otherworldly secrets (Vǫluspá, str. 46; Ynglinga saga, ch. 7).
See Poetic Edda (Vǫluspá, strs. 31–33; Lokasenna, str. 28; Baldrs draumar, strs. 8, 10, 12), the Prose Edda, Eiriksmál (strs. 4–5), and Málsháttakvæði (str. 9).
The text of Beowulf is cited here and throughout by line number from Fulk, Bjork & Niles (2008); the translation provided throughout is cited from Fulk (2010).
The reference to a pivotal, determining event, which marks the end of happy childhood and the outset of crisis, or to put it simply, a reversal of fortune, is present in Guðrúnarkviða II (1–2), Oddrúnargrátr (14–17), and Sigurðarqviða in skamma (34–38) (Harris 1992, p. 25, fn. 98). Distinguished from Beowulf’s last words, though, these eddic speeches set betrothal or marriage as a turning point, rather than the occurrence of the first death.
Lindow observes that Herebeald, like Baldr, “enters the story only to be cut down” (1997, p. 141).
The consensus agrees on the connection between Baldr’s death and Ragnarǫk. Ralph Metzner, for example, writes: “In the Eddas, Balder’s death […] is the greatest tragedy ever to befall the world of gods and men, since it sets in motion the chain of events that culminate in the ragnarök” (1994, p. 127). See also Larrington (2017, p. 182) and Hultgård (2020, p. 1030).
According to the chronology of events reconstructed by Osborn, Hæthcyn kills Herebeald in 502, and Beowulf kills Grendel and Grendel’s mother and thereby cleanses Heorot around the year 515 (1983, p. 118). Given that Grendel harasses Heorot for “twelve winters” (twelf wintra tīd, 147a), the monster’s first attack on the hall occurs around 503.
On the wars between the Swedes and the Geats in Beowulf, see Earl (2015).
T. M. Gang remarks: “it is not mere bad luck: […] it is series of human actions motivated by human emotions that lead to his catastrophe” (1952, p. 3).
On the Geats as legendary rather than historical, see Leake (1967).
On the story-within-a-story structure or mise en abyme in Beowulf, see Harris (2000).
Beowulf’s foresight is revealed in his prediction of the short-lived peace between the Danes and the Heathobards (ll. 2032–2069).
The funeral of and lament for Baldr are recorded in Húsdrápa (strs. 7–12), Málsháttakvæði (str. 9), the Poetic Edda (Vǫluspá, str. 33; Vafþrúðnismál, str. 54; Baldrs draumar, str. 12), Snorri’s Prose Edda (Gylfaginning, chs. 49–51), and Saxo’s Gesta Danorum (Book III. 3. 7–8). So fundamental is the connection between Baldr and lamentation that there is “an extensive system of allusions to Baldr and his death” in early Norse funeral poems (erfikvæði), including Eiriksmál (c. 954), Hákonarmál (c. 961), Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar (c. 1001), and Erfidrápa Óláfs Helga (c. 1040) (Harris 2007b, p. 159). Notably, three interlocutors in these elegies, Sigmundr, Sinfjǫtli, and Hermóðr, appear in the Sigemund-and-Heremod digression of Beowulf as Sigemund, Fitela, and Heremod.
Baldr’s death invokes the vehement weeping of the maidens in Baldrs draumar (str. 12), of all divinities in Málsháttakvæði (str. 9), and of all the entities except for Loki in Snorri’s Prose Edda (chs. 49–50).
It should be pointed out, though, that Staver refers to the death of Herebeald.
On the elegiac topos, see Harris (1983).
Other analogous passages have been adduced in legend (Brynjúlfsson 1998, p. 294; Detter 1894; von Unwerth 1919; Malone 1923, pp. 156–158; Malone 1936, pp. 160–161), elegy (Schrader 1984; Wehlau 1998), wisdom poetry (Hill 2012), historiography (Hill 1988, p. 120), law (Whitelock 1939; Jurasinski 2006, pp. 113–148; Hill 2012), and more recently, biblical literature (Lawhorn 2022).
On the digressions in Beowulf, see Bonjour (1950). The Herebeald episode has been related to the Scyld epigraph by O’Donoghue (2014, p. 19) and Ellard (2020, p. 110). The leitmotif of fratricide in the episodes of Cain and Abel, Unferth and his brothers, and Hæthcyn and Herebeald has been noticed by Horowitz (1981, p. 508, fn. 19), Williams (1982, pp. 82–84), Hill (2012, p. 216), Kightley (2016, p. 425), Neidorf (2022, pp. 51–57), among others. On the “Lay of the Last Survivor,” its traditions and its connection with the “Old Man’s Lament,” see Bjork (1997, pp. 209–210); and Harris (2000, pp. 332–334; 2007a).
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I thank Professor Leonard Neidorf for reading this article in draft and providing insightful suggestions. I also thank Yilin Shen and Zixuan Wei for helpfully commenting on it.
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Zhu, C. Beowulf and Ragnarǫk: A Reassessment. Neophilologus 108, 53–67 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-023-09784-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-023-09784-7