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BeowulfThis article describes Beowulf, the epic poem. For the high-performance design for computer clusters, see Beowulf (computing). Beowulf is a traditional heroic epic poem in Old English alliterative verse. At 3182 lines, it is far more substantial than any similar work in the language, representing about 10% of the extant corpus of Anglo-Saxon verse. The poem is untitled in the manuscript, but has been known as Beowulf since the early 19th century. It is the oldest surviving epic poem in what is identifiable as a form of the English language. (The oldest surviving text in English is Caedmon's hymn of creation.) The precise date of the manuscript is debated, but most estimates place it in the 10th century. The original composition of the poem, however, is under more debate. Some archaic forms of words that appear in the text suggest that the poem comes from the 8th century, probably the earlier half. The poem appears in what is today called the Beowulf manuscript, along with the shorter poem Judith. The text is the product of two different scribes, the second taking over roughly halfway through Beowulf. The poem is a work of fiction, but it mentions in passing some people and events that were probably real, probably dating from between AD 450 to 600 in Denmark and southern Sweden (Geats and Swedes). It is a useful source for information about Anglo-Saxon traditions such as the fight at Finnsburg, Hygelac, and Offa, king of the continental Angles. There have been efforts to align Beowulf with other Germanic legends, see Origins for Beowulf and Rolf Krake. According to this alignment Beowulf was, originally, the same character as Bodvar Bjarke, who also killed a dragon. The story came to England at a time when the Germanic peoples were still part of the same cultural sphere and spoke what really were just dialects of the same language. However, the arrival of this legend to England surprises modern Englishmen, who today are more isolated from the rest of the Germanic world. The language of this version is called Late West Saxon, a dialect of Old English but the poem shows strong hints of being originally composed in an Anglian dialect, quite possible Mercian. Old English is the ancestor language of modern English, but the language has changed so much over the years that most modern English speakers would not immediately recognise it as their own language. It is known only from a single manuscript, kept in the British Library. The Beowulf manuscript first became known to scholars as Cotton Vitellius A.XV, enumerated in the catalog of Robert Bruce Cotton's holdings in the early 18th century. The manuscript suffered some irreversible damage in a fire at the ominously-named Ashburnham House in 1731. Icelandic scholar Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin made the first transcription of the manuscript in 1818, working under a historical research commission by the Danish government. Since that time, the manuscript has suffered additional decay, and the Thorkelin transcripts remain a prized secondary source for Beowulf scholars. The story traces the life of a heroic king of the Geats called Beowulf, and his great battles with the troll-like monster Grendel, then Grendel's mother, and finally with a fire-breathing dragon in the battle which costs Beowulf his life. It is fundamentally a depiction of a pre-Christian warrior society, in which the relationship between the leader, or king, and his thanes is of paramount importance. This relationship is defined in terms of provision and service: the thanes defend the interest of the king in return for material provisions: weapons, armor, gold, silver, food, drinks. This society is also strongly defined in terms of kinship; if a relative is killed then it is the duty of surviving relatives to exact revenge upon his killer: this could be either with his own life or with weregild, a reparational payment. Moreover, this is a world governed by fate and destiny. The belief that fate controls him is a central factor in all of Beowulf's actions which occur in the poem. Scholars dispute whether Beowulf's main thematic thrust is pagan or Christian in nature. Certainly, the poem's characters are pagans, but the narrator places events in a thoroughly Christian context, casting Grendel as the kin of Cain. Some theories offer that Beowulf represents the retelling of a classic Germanic tale for a Christian audience. There have been many translations of this poem, some better than others. Irish poet Seamus Heaney produced a well-known verse translation. Beowulf themes of later writers Beowulf was an important influence on J. R. R. Tolkien, who wrote the landmark essay "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" while a professor at Oxford University and also translated the poem. The Beowulf story was retold from the monster's point of view by John Gardner in his novel Grendel. The Beowulf story, in combination with the tenth-century Arabic narrative of Aḩmad ibn Faḑlān, was used as basis for Michael Crichton's novel Eaters of the Dead. The novel itself was adapted for the film The 13th Warrior, starring Antonio Banderas as Ibn Faḑlān and Vladimir Kulich as Buliwyf (Beowulf). The Heorot series of science-fiction novels, by Steven Barnes, Jerry Pournelle, and Larry Niven, is named after the stronghold of King Hrothgar, and partly parallels Beowulf. Excerpt Here is a small sample including the first naming in the poem of Beowulf himself. After each line is the translation by Francis Gummere to modern English (though the translation is still hard to follow). Gummere's translation is now also out of copyright, and can be had at Project Gutenberg (direct link). Line CountOriginalTranslation [332] oretmecgas æfter æþelum frægn: asked of the heroes their home and kin [333] "Hwanon ferigeað ge fætte scyldas, "Whence, now, bear ye burnished shields, [334] græge syrcan ond grimhelmas, harness gray and helmets grim, [335] heresceafta heap? Ic eom Hroðgares spears in multitude? Messenger, I, Hrothgar's [336] ar ond ombiht. Ne seah ic elþeodige herald! Heroes so many ne'er met I [337] þus manige men modiglicran, as strangers of mood so strong. [338] Wen ic þæt ge for wlenco, nalles for wræcsiðum, 'Tis plain that for prowess, not plunged into exile, [339] ac for higeþrymmum Hroðgar sohton." for high-hearted valor, Hrothgar ye seek!" [340] Him þa ellenrof andswarode, Him the sturdy-in-war bespake with words, [341] wlanc Wedera leod, word æfter spræc, proud earl of the Weders answer made, [342] heard under helme: "We synt Higelaces hardy 'neath helmet: -- "Hygelac's, we, [343] beodgeneatas; Beowulf is min nama. fellows at board; I am Beowulf named. [344] Wille ic asecgan sunu Healfdenes, I am seeking to say to the son of Healfdene [345] mærum þeodne, min ærende, this mission of mine, to thy master-lord, [346] aldre þinum, gif he us geunnan wile the doughty prince, if he deign at all [347] þæt we hine swa godne gretan moton." grace that we greet him, the good one, now." [348] Wulfgar maþelode (þæt wæs Wendla leod; Wulfgar spake, the Wendles' chieftain, [349] his modsefa manegum gecyðed, whose might of mind to many was known, [350] wig ond wisdom): "Ic þæs wine Deniga, his courage and counsel: "The king of Danes, [351] frean Scildinga, frinan wille, the Scyldings' friend, I fain will tell, [352] beaga bryttan, swa þu bena eart, the Breaker-of-Rings, as the boon thou askest, [353] þeoden mærne, ymb þinne sið, the famed prince, of thy faring hither, [354] ond þe þa ondsware ædre gecyðan and, swiftly after, such answer bring [355] ðe me se goda agifan þenceð." as the doughty monarch may deign to give." External links
This article is adapted from from Wikipedia All Wikipedia article text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney Beowulf : A New Telling by Robert Nye Beowulf the Warrior by Ian Serraillier Beowulf by Burton Raffel Beowulf : A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney Beowulf by Howell D. Chickering Professional Linux Programming by Neil Matthew and Richard Stones Beowulf by Seamus Heaney Beowulf Cluster Computing with Linux, Second Edition by William Gropp Beowulf: An Edition With Relevant Shorter Texts by Bruce Mitchell Beowolf: A Verse Translation (Penguin Classics) by Michael Alexander How to Build a Beowulf: A Guide to the Implementation and Application of PC Clusters (Scientific and Engineering Computation) by Thomas Sterling Beowulf by R. K. Gordon Shared Data Clusters: Scaleable, Manageable, and Highly Available Systems (VERITAS Series) by Dilip M. Ranade Beowulf Cluster Computing with Linux (Scientific and Engineering Computation) by Thomas Sterling Recent Beowulf_ related patents From USPTO: 6677377: Structure based discovery of inhibitors of matriptase for the treatment of cancer and other conditions 6658395: Enhancing knowledge discovery from multiple data sets using multiple support vector machines 6625543: Output based azimuth moveout re-gridding of seismic data 6614893: Parallel computer network and method for telecommunications network simulation to route calls and continuously estimate call billing in real time 6571226: Method and apparatus for automated design of chemical synthesis routes 6564194: Method and apparatus for automatic synthesis controllers 6532453: Genetic programming problem solver with automatically defined stores loops and recursions 6510406: Inverse inference engine for high performance web search 6493635: Remote access and automated dialog building for seismic processing 6427141: Enhancing knowledge discovery using multiple support vector machines 6424959: Method and apparatus for automatic synthesis, placement and routing of complex structures 6343313: Computer conferencing system with real-time multipoint, multi-speed, multi-stream scalability 6324586: System for synchronizing multiple computers with a common timing reference 6157921: Enhancing knowledge discovery using support vector machines in a distributed network environment 6128608: Enhancing knowledge discovery using multiple support vector machines 5944779: Cluster of workstations for solving compute-intensive applications by exchanging interim computation results using a two phase communication protocol 5385572: Trocar for endoscopic surgery 5296655: Control system for multiple input scales 5257668: Mounting and removal system for load cells of industrial weight scales 5113350: Computerized system for display and storage of materials batching information |