WEBVTT 1 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:15.640 Hello, and welcome back to the Mythic Mind Legacy Podcast. I'm your host, 2 00:00:15.720 --> 00:00:28.440 Andrew Snyder, and as always I am truly grateful for your company and 3 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:32.640 welcome back as we get ready for our series on Tolkien's translation of Beowulf, 4 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:37.719 although you don't necessarily need his particular translation to follow along. But before we 5 00:00:37.799 --> 00:00:40.719 do that, I want to thank all of my patrons for their support, 6 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:45.759 and my super patrons and hire by name, and so many thanks to Mark 7 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:50.840 Aaron, Paul Aaron Aaron, Andrew Brandon, Emmy Harrison, Ian Jeremiah, 8 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:55.600 Joscelyn, Joshua Landon, Matthew William and Christopher. 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Okay, so now on to our 18 00:01:32.359 --> 00:01:36.280 main course. So I've been reading and listening to a lot of Beowulf and 19 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:41.079 related materials recently. This semester, I'm teaching a course at my university called 20 00:01:41.159 --> 00:01:44.280 Life, Death and Meaning. It's going to be a great study as we 21 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:49.480 focus on figuring out how to live meaningful lives in relation to our mortality. 22 00:01:49.959 --> 00:01:53.599 And in that course, we're going to be looking at Tolstoy, frankled Nietzsche, 23 00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:57.000 Plato, Tolkien, Ecclesiastes, and then we'll be ending with Beowulf. 24 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:00.079 And then in the summer, I'm going to be leading a public life Death 25 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:07.400 and Meaning study focusing on Boethius's The Constellation of Philosophy and Beowulf. I'll have 26 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:09.360 more to say on that soon, hopefully by the next episode or two. 27 00:02:09.719 --> 00:02:14.199 But my point in bringing this up now is to say that Beowolf is playing 28 00:02:14.199 --> 00:02:17.199 an important role in the season that I'm currently entering. Now, what I 29 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:22.240 discussed in this podcast series will only be scratching the surface. I'm not going 30 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:25.360 to be bringing in a lot of extra material, or get really deep into 31 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:29.120 the weeds. Well, at least as much as I can help that. 32 00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:32.319 This is going to be more of a survey style summary and reflection than what 33 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:37.280 will be provided in my upcoming courses. And so whether you are well versed 34 00:02:37.319 --> 00:02:39.759 in Beowulf or you're just stepping in, I hope this will be a good 35 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:45.879 place to become enchanted or re enchanted by the power of the northern heroic spirit 36 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:51.280 that holds its ground against the encroaching darkness, not necessarily for ultimate victory, 37 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:54.639 but for the victory of the day in expectation of eventual defeat. It is 38 00:02:54.680 --> 00:02:59.319 a tragic kind of heroism, but perhaps that is all we can hope for 39 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:02.439 in the press mortal life. And so to that end, there's much truth 40 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:07.719 to be found in these pages and in the heart of resolute valor. Oh 41 00:03:07.719 --> 00:03:10.879 and I should start by apologizing for any mispronunciations of names along the way. 42 00:03:12.039 --> 00:03:14.639 I intend to iron that out by the time I leave my formal studies, 43 00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:16.599 but it is what it is for now. Okay, So here we go 44 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:21.439 with at this point just the really the introduction that is set up to the 45 00:03:21.479 --> 00:03:24.599 story of Beowulf. So we start off with some backstory regarding Shield Shaving, 46 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:30.560 the legendary founder of our main Danish dynasty, sometimes referred to as the Shieldings. 47 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:34.159 He was a good king, embodying the cultural ideal of what a king 48 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:37.840 should be, as we're told that he often rob the host of foemen of 49 00:03:37.879 --> 00:03:40.840 the seats where they drink their mead. He laid fear upon men, throve 50 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:45.759 in honor, and many hearkened to him and yielded him tribute. By the 51 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:46.719 way, she just stop there and say that, if nothing else, you 52 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:51.800 should read Beowulf simply for the power of its language. I mean, we 53 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:53.960 very simply could have been told he defeated his enemies, but no, we're 54 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:58.159 told that he robbed the host of foemen of the seats where they drink their 55 00:03:58.199 --> 00:04:02.639 mead. There's something power there. Well. Anyways, Shield is a legendary 56 00:04:02.759 --> 00:04:08.280 somewhat Arthurtian figure who is shrouded in myth. He enters into the story is 57 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:12.280 a lone child in a boat, washed upon the shore, with this destiny 58 00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:15.040 of greatness for his people. Where exactly did he come from? Well, 59 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:19.959 ultimately I suppose from God or perhaps the lowercase gods. The powers kind of 60 00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:25.839 whatever they are. He's not divine, but his story is cloaked in a 61 00:04:25.959 --> 00:04:30.680 shroud of divine greatness and doom. And to him was born a son by 62 00:04:30.680 --> 00:04:34.040 the name of BeO, not to be confused with the main character Beowulf. 63 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:40.319 Now BeO bor nobility in his own right as he grew in honor and esteem 64 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:45.600 under his father's leadership and protection. We're told, thus doth a young man 65 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:49.000 bring it to pass with good deed and gallant gifts while he dwells in his 66 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:53.839 father's bosom, that after in his age, they're cleaved to him loyal knights 67 00:04:53.879 --> 00:04:58.199 of his table, and the people stand by him when war comes. This 68 00:04:58.279 --> 00:05:02.639 is significant and speaks greatly to our age of extended adolescence in our culture. 69 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:08.279 We generally do not think of someone as really entering into adulthood until maybe thirty 70 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:14.079 if then, and even then there is this broad insecurity about doing adult things. 71 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:19.759 Really, we've been conditioned to forego bearing real responsibility in character formation indefinitely. 72 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:25.480 What we see in Bayo, however, is someone who is intentional about 73 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:29.240 the resources of his youth, so that he's set up for definitive action when 74 00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:32.560 he's in his prime. He engages in good deeds, and he endears to 75 00:05:32.600 --> 00:05:35.639 him the virtuous, so that when it is time for him to lead, 76 00:05:36.120 --> 00:05:42.519 he has already intentionally established both himself and his community. Too often, in 77 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:46.879 our delayed responsibility, we neglect both of these elements, the formation of ourselves 78 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:50.160 and of our community, and so we end up with sickly unintentional manifestations of 79 00:05:50.199 --> 00:05:55.199 both. And then we get this great line. We're told that by worthy 80 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:59.959 deeds in every folk is a man ennobled. It is profound but simple enough. 81 00:06:00.360 --> 00:06:03.399 If you want to be noble, start doing noble things. Do the 82 00:06:03.480 --> 00:06:08.360 right things, even when they are difficult. As Kirkygar tells us, of 83 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:12.800 course, the task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the 84 00:06:12.839 --> 00:06:15.720 noble hearted. Next, we're told that she'ld dies, but in a manner 85 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:20.519 that really introduces the fate of mortality that we all must face. It's written, 86 00:06:21.079 --> 00:06:25.560 then at his allotted hour, shield the Valiant passed into the keeping of 87 00:06:25.560 --> 00:06:29.800 the Lord and to the flowing sea. His dear comrades bore him, even 88 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:32.800 as he himself had bidden them, while yet their prince, he ruled the 89 00:06:32.839 --> 00:06:38.279 shieldings with words, beloved Lord of the land, Long was he master. 90 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:42.800 So we see that his death was no accident, but the meeting of mortality 91 00:06:42.839 --> 00:06:46.319 with fate, a meeting for which he was prepared, having already made arrangements 92 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:50.759 for and with his people. This will be a major motif of our story, 93 00:06:51.160 --> 00:06:56.839 our willingness to embrace our fate while holding fast to valor and nobility. 94 00:06:57.199 --> 00:07:00.279 As Talking writes in The Monster and the Critics, Beowulf is not then the 95 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:05.199 hero of a heroic lay. Precisely he has know in mesh loyalties nor halfless 96 00:07:05.240 --> 00:07:10.879 love. He is a man, and that for him and many is sufficient 97 00:07:10.920 --> 00:07:14.279 tragedy. Now, before we go on, I have to continue reading Shield's 98 00:07:14.279 --> 00:07:17.560 funeral sequence. There at the haven stood with ringed prow ice, hung, 99 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:21.759 eager to be gone the Prince's bart. They laid then their beloved king, 100 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:26.279 giver of rings, in the bosom of the ship, in glory. By 101 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:30.600 the mast. There were many precious things and treasures brought from regions far away. 102 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:33.759 Nor have I heard that men ever in more seemly wise a rate of 103 00:07:33.800 --> 00:07:38.600 boat, with weapons of war and a harness of battle on his lap lay 104 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:42.759 treasures heaped that now must go with him far into the dominion of the sea 105 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:46.439 with lesser gifts. No wit did they adorn him with treasures of that people, 106 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:50.519 than did those that in the beginning set him forth alone over the waves, 107 00:07:50.680 --> 00:07:55.279 a little child. Moreover, high above his head, they set a 108 00:07:55.279 --> 00:07:58.920 golden standard and gave him to the ocean. Let this sea bear him. 109 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:03.279 Sad was heart and mourning in their soul. None can report with truth, 110 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:09.120 nor lords in their halls, nor mighty man beneath the sky, who received 111 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:13.040 that load. As Shield came to the land, so he departed. Yet 112 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:18.079 he was now laden with the treasure and wealth of his glory, sent back 113 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:20.639 as tribute to the sea, back to those who first delivered him to that 114 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:26.120 shore. On the scene, Tolkien writes, Shield went back to the mysterious 115 00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:30.120 land whence he had come. He came out of the unknown beyond the great 116 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:33.799 Sea, and returned to it. A miraculous intrusion into history, which nonetheless 117 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:39.720 left real historical effects. A new Denmark, and the heirs of Shield in 118 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:45.320 Shedland. We see in the sequence tragedy, yet gratitude in great glory. 119 00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:48.519 This is not a culture that fears death, but one that embraces its reality 120 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:52.960 with nobility. Yes, they mourn, but as those who recognize what it 121 00:08:54.039 --> 00:08:56.960 is to be mortal and to owe their being to a greater reality. These 122 00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:03.440 are people who recognize their finitude in a way that we very often don't. 123 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:07.080 It is simply part of their culture to have this relationship to mortality, at 124 00:09:07.159 --> 00:09:13.360 least those who are grasping a virtue. Talking continues in the last lines, 125 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:18.720 men give no certain account of the havens where that ship was unlaidd. We 126 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:22.639 catch an echo of the mood of pagan times in which ship burial was practiced, 127 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:26.799 a mood in which what we should call the ritual of departure over the 128 00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:31.200 sea whose further shore was unknown, and an actual belief in a magical land 129 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:35.759 or other world located over the sea can hardly be distinguished. And for neither 130 00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:41.440 of these elements or motives is conscious symbolism or real belief a true description. 131 00:09:41.960 --> 00:09:46.279 It was filled with doubt and darkness. And so this is a pagan culture 132 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:50.960 that has this idea of a reward for the virtuous, this idea that there 133 00:09:52.039 --> 00:09:56.799 is something more on the edges of sense perception. But they don't entirely know 134 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:01.720 what that is. And so Seld sent back to wherever he came from. 135 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:05.720 Yet they recognize that is a place. However, it's not a place that 136 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:11.000 they can really understand or you know, throw down into clear doctrine. And 137 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:16.320 so this is a time of shadow. It's a time of unknown yet also 138 00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:22.039 expectation. So next we're told briefly that following his father's legacy, BeO ruled 139 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:26.360 long and well, renowned among peoples. To him was born half Dana, 140 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:31.440 the High, who also ruled well for many years, protecting and leading his 141 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:35.159 people to Hafdana was born Hirogar Growthgar, and how God the good. The 142 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:39.919 story continues with Rothgar, who received such fortune and war and glory in battle 143 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:45.399 that his kindred hearkened to him, and he developed an array of strong warriors 144 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:48.360 in great wealth. And with this wealth in glory he made the great mead 145 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:54.679 Hall hero Ult, which became known far and wide. But shortly thereafter the 146 00:10:54.720 --> 00:11:03.840 time of darkness began. Thank you for listening to Mythic Mind. If you'd 147 00:11:03.879 --> 00:11:07.120 like to support the show and the various other things that I'm doing, please 148 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:11.799 consider becoming a member of the Mythic Mindfellowship at Patreon dot com slash Mythic Mind. 149 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:16.120 Also, i'd really appreciate it if you shared the show around and left 150 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:20.279 me five star reviews and some positive comments on Apple Podcasts and wherever else you 151 00:11:20.279 --> 00:11:22.759 can do that. I'll hopefully be able to continue a regular schedule moving forward, 152 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:26.519 but learn not to make strong promises about such things. However, the 153 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:30.399 more support I received, the easier will be for me to stay on track. 154 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:33.919 All right, that's it for now, and I wish you many meaningful 155 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:33.799 roads ahead.