en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf
1 correction found
Although the poem begins with Beowulf's arrival, Grendel's attacks have been ongoing.
This is backwards: the poem does not open with Beowulf arriving in Denmark. It opens with Scyld/Beow, Hrothgar, and Heorot; Beowulf enters only later, after Grendel's attacks are already described.
Full reasoning
The poem’s opening is not Beowulf’s arrival at Heorot.
Primary-text editions show that Beowulf begins with the famous prologue on the Spear-Danes and Scyld Scefing ("Hwæt! We Gar-Dena in geardagum..."). The opening section then moves through Danish genealogy and Hrothgar’s building of Heorot, followed by Grendel’s attacks.
Only later does Beowulf appear. Rutgers’ Old English Poetry Project places Beowulf’s entrance at lines 194–204, where Hygelac’s thane hears of Grendel and prepares to sail to Denmark. In other words, the poem has already spent nearly 200 lines on events before Beowulf’s arrival.
So the article’s sentence is incorrect: Grendel’s attacks are indeed already underway when Beowulf arrives, but the poem does not begin with that arrival.
2 sources
- Beowulf | Old English Poetry Project | Rutgers University
The poem opens with the prologue: "Listen! We have gathered the glory in days of yore of the Spear-Danes..." and later says of Beowulf, "Among his own Hygelac's thane had heard ... about the deeds of Grendel" (ll. 194–204), showing Beowulf appears later, not at the beginning.
- Beowulf (exc. from Beowulf By All) | The Poetry Foundation
This excerpt of lines 1–52 begins with the Spear-Danes and Scyld Scefing: "We have a story about the Spear-Danes, from the old days ..." It does not begin with Beowulf's arrival in Denmark.