The date of "Beowulf," debated for almost a century, is a small question with large consequences. Does the poem provide us with an accurate if idealized view of early Germanic culture? Or is it rather a creature of nostalgia and imagination, born of the desire of a later age to create for itself a glorious past? If we cannot decide when, between the 5th and 11th centuries, the poem was composed, we cannot distinguish what elements in "Beowulf" belong properly to the history of material culture, to the history of myth and legend, to political history, or to the development of the English literary imagination.
This book represents both individual and concerted attempts to deal with this important question, and presents one of the most important inconclusions in the study of Old English. The contributors raise so many doubts, turn up so much new and disturbing information, dismantle so many long-accepted scholarly constructs that "Beowulf" studies will never be the same: henceforth every discussion of the poem and its period will begin with reference to this volume.
Author(s): Colin Chase (ed.)
Series: Toronto Old English Series, 6
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Year: 1997
Language: English
Pages: 238
EDITOR'S PREFACE vii
ABBREVIATIONS viii
THE DATING OF "BEOWULF" 1
Opinions on the Date of "Beowulf," 1815-1980 / COLIN CHASE 3
The Eleventh-Century Origin of "Beowulf" and the "Beowulf" Manuscript / KEVIN S. KIERNAN 9
The Nowell Codex and the Poem of "Beowulf" / LEONARD E. BOYLE 23
A Reconsideration of the Language of "Beowulf" / ANGUS CAMERON, ASHLEY CRANDELL AMOS, and GREGORY WAITE, with the assistance of SHARON BUTLER and ANTONETTE DIPAOLO HEALEY 33
Metrical Style as Evidence for the Date of "Beowulf" / THOMAS CABLE 77
'Hetware' and 'Hugas': Datable Anachronisms in "Beowulf" / WALTER GOFFART 83
"Beowulf," the Danish Invasions, and Royal Genealogy / ALEXANDER CALLANDER MURRAY 101
The Audience of "Beowulf" and the Vikings / R. I. PAGE 113
Skaldic Verse and the Date of "Beowulf" / ROBERTA FRANK 123
Variation in "Beowulf" and the Poetic "Edda": A Chronological Experiment / RORY MCTURK 141
Saints' Lives, Royal Lives, and the Date of "Beowulf" / COLIN CHASE 161
Style as the Criterion for Dating the Composition of "Beowulf" / PETER CLEMOES 173
On the Date of Composition of "Beowulf" / JOHN C. POPE 187
The Date of "Beowulf": Some Doubts and No Conclusions / E. G. STANLEY 197
AFTERWORD: The Uses of Uncertainty: On the Dating of "Beowulf" / NICHOLAS HOWE 213
INDEX 221
