It’s _Beowulf_ day in my Early Medieval Europe class, which I absolutely never get sick of — the bloody wrestling match of Beowulf and Grendel, the heartbreaking moment when Beowulf puts on his armor for the last time knowing that the dragon will kill him, the poet’s anxiety about blood feuds wrecking societies while nonetheless wholesale embracing the warrior honor culture that promotes the bloodshed — it’s all fantastic stuff.
One of the aspects I also love about the poem is the way the author uses “kennings”: extended similes that describe a concept in super creative comparative ways. For instance, after Beowulf hacks off the head of the monster Grendel with a magical sword made by giants, the weapon dissolves when it cuts into the beast’s blood, the way sharpened ice melts:
“Meanwhile, the sword began to wilt into gory icicles, to slather and thaw. It was a wonderful thing, the way it all melted as ice melts when the Father eases the fetters off the frost and unravels the water-ropes”.
This is a 10th-century sword found in Britain, made of iron, with silver and copper additions. Weighing about three pounds, it is also about three feet long, and it has the inscription “+LEUTLRIT” on the blade. A couple other continental swords from this period also have this name inscribed.
Sources: British Museum object number 1848, 1021.1. Seamus Heaney translation of lines 1606 ff
