Seamus Heaney, Beowulf

HEANEY’S BEOWULF

It was the end of their voyage and the Geats vaulted
over the side, out on to the sand,
and moored their ship. There was a clash of mail
and a thresh of gear. They thanked God
for that easy crossing on a calm sea (224-228)

this corpse-maker mongering death (276)

If Grendel wins, it will be a gruesome day;
he will glut himself on the Geats in the war-hall (443-4)

he will run gloating with my raw corpse
and feed on it alone, in a cruel frenzy
fouling his moor-nest… (448-50)

Time and again, foul things attacked me (559)

In off the moors, down through the mist-bands (710)

…Whoever remains
for long here in this earthly life
will enjoy and endure more than enough (1059-61)

Then winter was gone, earth lap grew lovely (1137)

Grendel’s head was hauled by the hair,
dragged across the floor where the people were drinking,
a horror for both queen and company to behold.
They stared in awe. It was an astonishing sight. (1647-1650)

A Geat woman too sang out in grief;
with hair bound up, she unburdened herself
of her worst fears, a wild litany
of nightmare and lament: her nation invaded,
enemies on the rampage, bodies in piles,
slavery and abasement. Heaven swallowed the smoke. (3150-3155)