Swords, Shields, and Bards: Beowulf and the Warrior’s Code

1. England in the Dark and Middle Ages

1. Dark, Middle, or Medieval?
2. The End of the Roman Empire
3. Germanic Tribes and the Origins of the English Language
4. Vikings and Invaders
5. The Last of the Saxons

2. The Language and the Text

1. Alliterative Verse: Stressed Meter
2. The Return of the Bard: The Scop
3. Caedmon (658-680?) and Christianity

3. Hrothgar’s Hall and Beowulf’s Arrival in Heorot

1. The History of Heorot
2. Grendel’s Reign of Terror
3. Beowulf’s Arrival
4. Hrothgar’s Hall
5. Kinship and Ring-giving

4. The Battle with Grendel

1. Hand-To-Hand Combat (p. 49)
2. The Monster’s Hide
3. Sigemund’s Story
4. The Fight in Finn’s Hall

5. The Battle with Grendel’s Mother

1. Aeschere’s Death and the Heoric Code
2. The Monster’s Lair
3. The Melting Sword
4. The Monster’s Head

6. The Battle with the Dragon

1. Fifty Years of Rule
2. "Somebody Now Forgotten" (153)
3. Beowulf’s Hall Burned
4. Stories of Feuds with the Swedes
5. A Final Boast, and a Final Battle

7. The Funeral

1. Wiglaf’s Speech
2. More Blood Feuds
3. The End of an Era