Hello, and welcome back to the Mythic Mind Legacy Podcast. I'm your host,
Andrew Snyder, and as always I am truly grateful for your company and
welcome back as we get ready for our series on Tolkien's translation of Beowulf,
although you don't necessarily need his particular translation to follow along. But before we
do that, I want to thank all of my patrons for their support,
and my super patrons and hire by name, and so many thanks to Mark
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if you just want to support me and not necessarily do anything else, then
you're welcome to do that as well. Okay, so now on to our
main course. So I've been reading and listening to a lot of Beowulf and
related materials recently. This semester, I'm teaching a course at my university called
Life, Death and Meaning. It's going to be a great study as we
focus on figuring out how to live meaningful lives in relation to our mortality.
And in that course, we're going to be looking at Tolstoy, frankled Nietzsche,
Plato, Tolkien, Ecclesiastes, and then we'll be ending with Beowulf.
And then in the summer, I'm going to be leading a public life Death
and Meaning study focusing on Boethius's The Constellation of Philosophy and Beowulf. I'll have
more to say on that soon, hopefully by the next episode or two.
But my point in bringing this up now is to say that Beowolf is playing
an important role in the season that I'm currently entering. Now, what I
discussed in this podcast series will only be scratching the surface. I'm not going
to be bringing in a lot of extra material, or get really deep into
the weeds. Well, at least as much as I can help that.
This is going to be more of a survey style summary and reflection than what
will be provided in my upcoming courses. And so whether you are well versed
in Beowulf or you're just stepping in, I hope this will be a good
place to become enchanted or re enchanted by the power of the northern heroic spirit
that holds its ground against the encroaching darkness, not necessarily for ultimate victory,
but for the victory of the day in expectation of eventual defeat. It is
a tragic kind of heroism, but perhaps that is all we can hope for
in the press mortal life. And so to that end, there's much truth
to be found in these pages and in the heart of resolute valor. Oh
and I should start by apologizing for any mispronunciations of names along the way.
I intend to iron that out by the time I leave my formal studies,
but it is what it is for now. Okay, So here we go
with at this point just the really the introduction that is set up to the
story of Beowulf. So we start off with some backstory regarding Shield Shaving,
the legendary founder of our main Danish dynasty, sometimes referred to as the Shieldings.
He was a good king, embodying the cultural ideal of what a king
should be, as we're told that he often rob the host of foemen of
the seats where they drink their mead. He laid fear upon men, throve
in honor, and many hearkened to him and yielded him tribute. By the
way, she just stop there and say that, if nothing else, you
should read Beowulf simply for the power of its language. I mean, we
very simply could have been told he defeated his enemies, but no, we're
told that he robbed the host of foemen of the seats where they drink their
mead. There's something power there. Well. Anyways, Shield is a legendary
somewhat Arthurtian figure who is shrouded in myth. He enters into the story is
a lone child in a boat, washed upon the shore, with this destiny
of greatness for his people. Where exactly did he come from? Well,
ultimately I suppose from God or perhaps the lowercase gods. The powers kind of
whatever they are. He's not divine, but his story is cloaked in a
shroud of divine greatness and doom. And to him was born a son by
the name of BeO, not to be confused with the main character Beowulf.
Now BeO bor nobility in his own right as he grew in honor and esteem
under his father's leadership and protection. We're told, thus doth a young man
bring it to pass with good deed and gallant gifts while he dwells in his
father's bosom, that after in his age, they're cleaved to him loyal knights
of his table, and the people stand by him when war comes. This
is significant and speaks greatly to our age of extended adolescence in our culture.
We generally do not think of someone as really entering into adulthood until maybe thirty
if then, and even then there is this broad insecurity about doing adult things.
Really, we've been conditioned to forego bearing real responsibility in character formation indefinitely.
What we see in Bayo, however, is someone who is intentional about
the resources of his youth, so that he's set up for definitive action when
he's in his prime. He engages in good deeds, and he endears to
him the virtuous, so that when it is time for him to lead,
he has already intentionally established both himself and his community. Too often, in
our delayed responsibility, we neglect both of these elements, the formation of ourselves
and of our community, and so we end up with sickly unintentional manifestations of
both. And then we get this great line. We're told that by worthy
deeds in every folk is a man ennobled. It is profound but simple enough.
If you want to be noble, start doing noble things. Do the
right things, even when they are difficult. As Kirkygar tells us, of
course, the task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the
noble hearted. Next, we're told that she'ld dies, but in a manner
that really introduces the fate of mortality that we all must face. It's written,
then at his allotted hour, shield the Valiant passed into the keeping of
the Lord and to the flowing sea. His dear comrades bore him, even
as he himself had bidden them, while yet their prince, he ruled the
shieldings with words, beloved Lord of the land, Long was he master.
So we see that his death was no accident, but the meeting of mortality
with fate, a meeting for which he was prepared, having already made arrangements
for and with his people. This will be a major motif of our story,
our willingness to embrace our fate while holding fast to valor and nobility.
As Talking writes in The Monster and the Critics, Beowulf is not then the
hero of a heroic lay. Precisely he has know in mesh loyalties nor halfless
love. He is a man, and that for him and many is sufficient
tragedy. Now, before we go on, I have to continue reading Shield's
funeral sequence. There at the haven stood with ringed prow ice, hung,
eager to be gone the Prince's bart. They laid then their beloved king,
giver of rings, in the bosom of the ship, in glory. By
the mast. There were many precious things and treasures brought from regions far away.
Nor have I heard that men ever in more seemly wise a rate of
boat, with weapons of war and a harness of battle on his lap lay
treasures heaped that now must go with him far into the dominion of the sea
with lesser gifts. No wit did they adorn him with treasures of that people,
than did those that in the beginning set him forth alone over the waves,
a little child. Moreover, high above his head, they set a
golden standard and gave him to the ocean. Let this sea bear him.
Sad was heart and mourning in their soul. None can report with truth,
nor lords in their halls, nor mighty man beneath the sky, who received
that load. As Shield came to the land, so he departed. Yet
he was now laden with the treasure and wealth of his glory, sent back
as tribute to the sea, back to those who first delivered him to that
shore. On the scene, Tolkien writes, Shield went back to the mysterious
land whence he had come. He came out of the unknown beyond the great
Sea, and returned to it. A miraculous intrusion into history, which nonetheless
left real historical effects. A new Denmark, and the heirs of Shield in
Shedland. We see in the sequence tragedy, yet gratitude in great glory.
This is not a culture that fears death, but one that embraces its reality
with nobility. Yes, they mourn, but as those who recognize what it
is to be mortal and to owe their being to a greater reality. These
are people who recognize their finitude in a way that we very often don't.
It is simply part of their culture to have this relationship to mortality, at
least those who are grasping a virtue. Talking continues in the last lines,
men give no certain account of the havens where that ship was unlaidd. We
catch an echo of the mood of pagan times in which ship burial was practiced,
a mood in which what we should call the ritual of departure over the
sea whose further shore was unknown, and an actual belief in a magical land
or other world located over the sea can hardly be distinguished. And for neither
of these elements or motives is conscious symbolism or real belief a true description.
It was filled with doubt and darkness. And so this is a pagan culture
that has this idea of a reward for the virtuous, this idea that there
is something more on the edges of sense perception. But they don't entirely know
what that is. And so Seld sent back to wherever he came from.
Yet they recognize that is a place. However, it's not a place that
they can really understand or you know, throw down into clear doctrine. And
so this is a time of shadow. It's a time of unknown yet also
expectation. So next we're told briefly that following his father's legacy, BeO ruled
long and well, renowned among peoples. To him was born half Dana,
the High, who also ruled well for many years, protecting and leading his
people to Hafdana was born Hirogar Growthgar, and how God the good. The
story continues with Rothgar, who received such fortune and war and glory in battle
that his kindred hearkened to him, and he developed an array of strong warriors
in great wealth. And with this wealth in glory he made the great mead
Hall hero Ult, which became known far and wide. But shortly thereafter the
time of darkness began. Thank you for listening to Mythic Mind. If you'd
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All right, that's it for now, and I wish you many meaningful
roads ahead.