Part XIV
HROTHGAR spake, -- to the hall he went,stood by the steps, the steep roof saw,garnished with gold, and Grendel's hand: --"For the sight I see to the Sovran Rulerbe speedy thanks! A throng of sorrowsI have borne from Grendel; but God still workswonder on wonder, the Warden-of-Glory.It was but now that I never morefor woes that weighed on me waited helplong as I lived, when, laved in blood,stood sword-gore-stained this stateliest house, --widespread woe for wise men all,who had no hope to hinder everfoes infernal and fiendish spritesfrom havoc in hall. This hero now,by the Wielder's might, a work has donethat not all of us erst could ever doby wile and wisdom. Lo, well can she saywhoso of women this warrior boreamong sons of men, if still she liveth,that the God of the ages was good to herin the birth of her bairn. Now, Beowulf, thee,of heroes best, I shall heartily loveas mine own, my son; preserve thou everthis kinship new: thou shalt never lackwealth of the world that I wield as mine!Full oft for less have I largess showered,my precious hoard, on a punier man,less stout in struggle. Thyself hast nowfulfilled such deeds, that thy fame shall endurethrough all the ages. As ever he did,well may the Wielder reward thee still!"Beowulf spake, bairn of Ecgtheow: --"This work of war most willinglywe have fought, this fight, and fearlessly daredforce of the foe. Fain, too, were Ihadst thou but seen himself, what timethe fiend in his trappings tottered to fall!Swiftly, I thought, in strongest gripeon his bed of death to bind him down,that he in the hent of this hand of mineshould breathe his last: but he broke away.Him I might not -- the Maker willed not --hinder from flight, and firm enough holdthe life-destroyer: too sturdy was he,the ruthless, in running! For rescue, however,he left behind him his hand in pledge,arm and shoulder; nor aught of helpcould the cursed one thus procure at all.None the longer liveth he, loathsome fiend,sunk in his sins, but sorrow holds himtightly grasped in gripe of anguish,in baleful bonds, where bide he must,evil outlaw, such awful doomas the Mighty Maker shall mete him out."
More silent seemed the son of Ecglafin boastful speech of his battle-deeds,since athelings all, through the earl's great prowess,beheld that hand, on the high roof gazing,foeman's fingers, -- the forepart of eachof the sturdy nails to steel was likest, --heathen's "hand-spear," hostile warrior'sclaw uncanny. 'Twas clear, they said,that him no blade of the brave could touch,how keen soever, or cut awaythat battle-hand bloody from baneful foe.
Words in this poem 27
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- sovran a.
- A variant of Sovereign.
- fiendish a.
- Like a fiend; diabolically wicked or cruel; infernal; malignant; devilish; hellish.
- havoc n.
- Wide and general destruction; devastation; waste. [W. hafog devastation, havoc; or, if this be itself fr. E. havoc, cf. OE. havot, or AS. hafoc hawk, which is a cruel or rapacious bird, or F. hai, voux! a cry to]
- wile n.
- A trick or stratagem practiced for insnaring or deception; a sly, insidious; artifice; a beguilement; an allurement. [OE. wile, AS. wil; cf. Icel. v, væl. Cf. Guile.]
- whoso pron.
- Whosoever. Piers Plowman.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- kinship n.
- Family relationship.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- wield v. t.
- To govern; to rule; to keep, or have in charge; also, to possess. [OE. welden to govern, to have power over, to possess, AS. geweldan, gewyldan, from wealdan; akin to OS. waldan, OFries. walda, G. walten, OHG. waltan, Icel. val]
- largess n.
- Liberality; generosity; bounty. [F. largesse, fr. large. See Large, a.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- wielder n.
- One who wields or employs; a manager; a controller.
- willingly adv.
- In a willing manner; with free will; without reluctance; cheerfully.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- hent v. t.
- To seize; to lay hold on; to catch; to get. Piers Plowman. [OE. hente, henten, fr. AS. hentan, gehentan, to pursue, take, seize; cf. Icel. henda, Goth. hinpan (in compos.), and E. hunt.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- ruthless a.
- Having no ruth; cruel; pitiless.
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- cursed a.
- Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- mete v. i.
- To dream; also impersonally; as, me mette, I dreamed. [AS. m.]
- prowess n.
- Distinguished bravery; valor; especially, military bravery and skill; gallantry; intrepidity; fearlessness. Chaucer. Sir P. Sidney. [OF. proece, proesce, F. prouesse. See Prow, a.]
- forepart n.
- The part most advanced, or first in time or in place; the beginning.
- uncanny a.
- Not canny; unsafe; strange; weird; ghostly.
- baneful a.
- Having poisonous qualities; deadly; destructive; injurious; noxious; pernicious.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Part XIV is in the public domain. This text is taken from Beowulf, Project Gutenberg ebook #981, the Francis B. Gummere translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Anonymous, Part XIV, in Beowulf (1910), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #981, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/beowulf/part-xiv.html, id L14202.
Form and metre
Part XIV is 66 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 72%). 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 47% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 --------------------------A-B-A-B---------------------- went · saw · hand · ruler · sorrows · works · glory · more · help · blood · house · all · ever · sprites · now · done · do · say · bore · liveth · her · thee · love · ever · lack · mine · showeredA · man · nowB · endure · didA · still · ecgtheowB · willingly · dared · i · time · fall · gripe · down · mine · away · not · hold · he · however · pledge · help · all · fiend · him · anguish · must · doom · out
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| HROTHGAR spake, -- to the hall he went, | 8 | ········ |
| stood by the steps, the steep roof saw, | 8 | ········ |
| garnished with gold, and Grendel's hand: -- | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| "For the sight I see to the Sovran Ruler | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| be speedy thanks! A throng of sorrows | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| I have borne from Grendel; but God still works | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| wonder on wonder, the Warden-of-Glory. | 11 | /˘·/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| It was but now that I never more | 9 | ······/˘· |
| for woes that weighed on me waited help | 9 | ······/˘· |
| long as I lived, when, laved in blood, | 8 | ········ |
| stood sword-gore-stained this stateliest house, -- | 9 | ········· |
| widespread woe for wise men all, | 7 | //····· |
| who had no hope to hinder ever | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| foes infernal and fiendish sprites | 8 | ·˘/˘·/˘· |
| from havoc in hall. This hero now, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| by the Wielder's might, a work has done | 9 | ········· |
| that not all of us erst could ever do | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| by wile and wisdom. Lo, well can she say | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| whoso of women this warrior bore | 10 | /˘·/˘·/˘˘· |
| among sons of men, if still she liveth, | 10 | ·········· |
| that the God of the ages was good to her | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| in the birth of her bairn. Now, Beowulf, thee, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| of heroes best, I shall heartily love | 10 | ·/˘···/˘˘· |
| as mine own, my son; preserve thou ever | 10 | ·····˘/·/˘ |
| this kinship new: thou shalt never lack | 9 | ·/····/˘· |
| wealth of the world that I wield as mine! | 9 | ········· |
| Full oft for less have I largess showered, | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| my precious hoard, on a punier man, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| less stout in struggle. Thyself hast now | 9 | ···/˘˘/·· |
| fulfilled such deeds, that thy fame shall endure | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| through all the ages. As ever he did, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| well may the Wielder reward thee still!" | 9 | ···/˘˘/·· |
| Beowulf spake, bairn of Ecgtheow: -- | 8 | /˘······ |
| "This work of war most willingly | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| we have fought, this fight, and fearlessly dared | 10 | ·········· |
| force of the foe. Fain, too, were I | 8 | ········ |
| hadst thou but seen himself, what time | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| the fiend in his trappings tottered to fall! | 10 | ····/˘/˘·· |
| Swiftly, I thought, in strongest gripe | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| on his bed of death to bind him down, | 9 | ········· |
| that he in the hent of this hand of mine | 10 | ·········· |
| should breathe his last: but he broke away. | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Him I might not -- the Maker willed not -- | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| hinder from flight, and firm enough hold | 9 | /˘····˘/· |
| the life-destroyer: too sturdy was he, | 10 | ··˘/˘·/˘·· |
| the ruthless, in running! For rescue, however, | 12 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| he left behind him his hand in pledge, | 9 | ········· |
| arm and shoulder; nor aught of help | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| could the cursed one thus procure at all. | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| None the longer liveth he, loathsome fiend, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| sunk in his sins, but sorrow holds him | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| tightly grasped in gripe of anguish, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| in baleful bonds, where bide he must, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| evil outlaw, such awful doom | 8 | /˘/··/˘· |
| as the Mighty Maker shall mete him out." | 10 | ··/˘/˘···· |
| More silent seemed the son of Ecglaf | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| in boastful speech of his battle-deeds, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| since athelings all, through the earl's great prowess, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| beheld that hand, on the high roof gazing, | 10 | ˘/······/˘ |
| foeman's fingers, -- the forepart of each | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| of the sturdy nails to steel was likest, -- | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| heathen's "hand-spear," hostile warrior's | 9 | /˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| claw uncanny. 'Twas clear, they said, | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| that him no blade of the brave could touch, | 9 | ········· |
| how keen soever, or cut away | 9 | ··˘/˘··˘/ |
| that battle-hand bloody from baneful foe. | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.