Don’t Know Much About BEOWULF? Nobody Does! Feat. Princess Weekes | It's Lit

Let’s face it. Between English classes, Lit classes, World Culture classes, and History classes, there’s no escaping The Epic Poem. THE ODYSSEY, THE ILIAD, THE AENEID, THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH, BEOWULF. At some point, we’re going to have to confront the lyrical beauty of big strong men in big strong armor fighting big strong monsters, saving their kingdoms, and loving on their ladies. Or loving their male best friend —but that’s another poem.

Today we’re going to take a look at one particular Epic Poem and follow its long, winding journey from way, way, way long ago allllll the way to the present day, and we’ll interrogate its relevance to our lives in the here and now. Come now, Geats and Danes, to the violent, bloody, mythic, mysterious world of BEOWULF.

Hosted by Lindsay Ellis and Princess Weekes, It’s Lit! is a show about our favorite books, genres and why we love to read. It’s Lit has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.

Hosted by: Princess Weekes
Written by: David McCracken
Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Producer: Stephanie Noone
Editor: Nic Bass
Writing Consultants: Maia Krause, PhD
Assistant Director of Programming (PBS): Gabrielle Ewing
Executives in Charge (PBS): Brandon Arolfo, Adam Dylewski

Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios.

Follow us on Twitter:

Follow us on IG:

[peonylarkspur]

Damn, I wish Princess had mentioned that Headley’s own translation of Beowulf translates “hwæt” as “bro”

[thisisheidib]

Dude was partying so hard, he got naked, fought a guy, and enjoyed it so much he fought the guy's mom too. That's the kind of stuff poems ought to be written about.

[jessicaclakley]

“In true Beowulf style we can’t even agree on the amount of translations”

My mythology professor is laughing to the bank on that one

[dustind]

"Loving on their male best friend"
*Gilgamesh has entered the chat*
*Achilles has entered the chat*
"But that's a different poem"
*Sad reacts*

[friend_trilobot]

Fun fact: Hrothgar is the ancestral version of the name Roger, and I can't stop laughing every time i think about it 😂

[RetrBunn]

_"I am Ripper... Tearer... Slasher... Gouger. I am the Teeth in the Darkness, the Talons in the Night. Mine is Strength... and Lust... and Power! I AM BEOWULF!"_
– Beowulf

[Bethelaine]

We don’t have many Bards today, but at one time they were a valued source of information and entertainment at on time. They were trained to repeat the stories carefully. Many people knew the stories and would have been unhappy with a bad rendering. It’s unfair to compare oral traditions to the game of telephone. Of course there may have been changes but the story was probably basically the same. Bring more mead.

[donkongo]

THE PRINCESS CONTINUES HER BENEVOLENT REIGN OF MAKING ALL LITERATURE ACCESSIBLE AND FUN, HWÆT!

[EdslilNeko]

I find it funny that people question whether Beowulf was an oral tradition before because of its "complexity", like... Wasn't the Iliad also an oral tradition before it was written down? And that's way longer and more complex than Beowulf. Or even stuff we know for sure is rooted in oral tradition like The Epic of Mwindo, or pretty much any of the First Nations mythological stories I learned as a kid. My point being that complex and detailed stories have always been in oral tradition, so it seems kind of silly to argue that Beowulf couldn't have been a story spread by word of mouth to begin with before it was written down.

[tessat]

When I was in high school, an historical interpreter came and recited his interpretation of the epic poem, "Beowabbit." He told us that the work was incomplete because parts of the text had been obscured by food stains and inky cat prints. There were lots of inside-English Lit in-jokes.

[Schlarhre]

I think a legendary hero would feel honored to know that their story was told to countless masses by a Princess. Also, I reccomend people checking out the 13th Warrior. It's a great re-telling of this saga

[DirtyDancer_]

Was I the only loser who loved the Odyssey, Iliad, Macbeth, and Beowulf when I was in school? Hell, I remember enjoying the Odyssey even before I started school because of a Wishbone episode.

[CaretakerBob]

Beowulf is, at its heart, a horror story. It endures because it is scary. Beowulf girds himself for a nocturnal battle with an ogre, mutilates it, and the next morning goes to track its bloody trail back to its lair. There, he finds the monster dead... only to encounter its even bigger, scarier, angrier mom. That's the definition of horror. HP Lovecraft (who knew a thing or two about scary stories) raved over Beowulf.

[bjornh]

You’re right about how many interpretations of Beowulf there are... I have a college obsessed with the poem. He leads guided tours here in Sweden to places that MAY be the ones the text refers to.

[Just_Some_Guy_with_a_Mustache]

Confirmed: Beowulf is my favorite anime.

[torbjornlekberg]

Skanland? You mean Scania, or Skåne as we call it here.

Geats/Götar means 'the Goth'. Altho they are not the same goths as those who took Rome, it is not far off, as they had a rather interesting cultural connection.


I dont quite buy that the linguistic complexity of Beowulf would be so much of an issue that the it cant have been passed on orally. Even scientists have a tendency to underestimate people of the past. Remember that a skald would memorize it, word for word, in a systematic way. For example, the Prose Edda spends plenty of space showing how a norse poem is supposed to be constructed, and it is highly complex stuff. This in a culture where writing was rare, generally very short and exclusively for the upper class. The oral tradition was significant.
And this would not make Beowulf unique. While attributed and likely written down by Homer, we can be quite confident that the Iliad and Odyssey were also old traditional word of mouth poems, long before then. The epic of Gilgamesh was probably in a similar situation.

[jeswicas]

Princess is such a charismatic and engaging host, if she ever did classes I would love to join!

[allisonhomiak]

I'm glad someone else appreciates Seamus Heaney's translation of "Hwæt!" as "Ok, like, so..."

[mypal]

I often wonder if word of mouth can change a story like Beowulf from it's original text. Beowulf is still badass in story form!

[jessicajayes]

By the way, Grendel's mother: the original Karen!