Death, Death, and more Death

Haile Bowers
Sep 7, 2018 · 2 min read

“Beowulf”. Trans. Seamus Heaney. Bilingual Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001. 2210–3010. Print.

In the last lines of “Beowulf” translated by Seamus Heaney, Beowulf lives to fight his third most dangerous battle. Within lines 2210–3010, the narrator, through repetition, symbolism, tone and word choice, tries to convey that war and revenge leads only to death. Several times, readers see the word revenge, avenge, retaliate, and strike. Line 2336 explains, “so the war-king planned and plotted his revenge.” Lines 2391–2392 read, “In day to come, he contrived to avenge the fall of his prince.” Then on the side note of page 203, “Swedes will soon retaliate”. These few lines are only a few examples of the attacks that set up the whole plot of the poem. With every attack, Kings, warriors, demons, and civilians were killed or hurt.

As readers move towards the introduction of the dragon, it can be understood that figuratively, the demon represent death. In lines 2397–2400, Heaney describes, “ and so the son of Ecgtheow had survived every extreme, excelling himself in daring and in danger, until the day arrived when he came face to face with dragon.” Already, we can see that passive language that is foreshadowing Beowulf’s (son of Ecgtheow) death. Heaney uses the words “face to face”, which can also be a parallel or connection to the cliché, “he was coming face to face with death”.

Not only do we see that specific word choice and dark tone there, but also several other places throughout the falling action/resolution. Lines 2249–2251 read, “My own people have been ruined in war; one by one they went down to death.” Two things stand out in these short lines. The fact that the warriors were facing death due to war, but also the specific words. “down to death”. It sets a morbid tone and creates a question of whether the soldiers are literally falling down because of being killed, or if they are going to hell. Since Heaney is a Christian writer, we can presume that he is trying to compare the fallen warriors to the demons that are from Cain’s Clan in hell. Readers can see it again when Heaney describes the hurt and almost dead Beowulf. Heaney uses descriptive language like “life-blood,” “deadly poison,” “surges of nausea” (Lines 2693–2717.) He chooses these words to not only to create a morbid tone, but to show that death was inevitable, even to the strongest of warriors.

Haile Bowers

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English Sec. Ed. Major, Writer, romantic🌻