How can I write a poem like Beowulf?

Amelia · Nov 28, 2009

In my university composition class, we were assigned a project on the epic Beowulf, analyzing any aspect of that society in any way we wish. I chose to write about the qualities that the society prized, as inferred from the battle between Beowulf and Grendel at the start of the poem. I thought I would try to do this outside of the traditional paper format, and instead write a series of poems about Beowulf using the Anglo-Saxon verse form.

But I'm not very familiar with this form.

I sort of got the "feel" of the poem, and wrote a few of mine based solely on gut instinct, but I know they're lacking. I would like to know what specific qualities Beowulf has that can't be missed. Is there some scheme that this type of poem follows?

I found this bit from a book (at the bottom of the page) and wondered if anyone here knew any more. Thanks!

Judg · Nov 28, 2009

I'd advise you not to try. You're making it much more difficult for yourself, and the chances are good that it will irritate your prof more than impress him/her. In any event, don't proceed without an okay from the prof. Preferably an enthusiastic okay.

Deleted member 42 · Nov 28, 2009

1. I'd strongly urge you not to do this.

2. If you ARE going to to do this, get explicit approval from the prof. I'd have a cow if a student of mine did this.

3. If you *must* do this, I'd suggest looking at the intro to your text of Beowulf. I bet there's something there about the Old English Alliterative Long Line; that's what the metrical form of the line is.

4. Look up litotes and Beowulf.

5. Look up kennings and Beowulf.

Amelia · Nov 28, 2009

I didn't mention this in my post, but I did get an enthusiastic okay from my professor; I did say that this was a project, and that we were given the option to analyze in any way we wish. Most of my classmates opted out, and decided to write papers instead. I apologize for the confusion this may have caused.

I ran my pieces by my professor and she commented that I had gotten some of the feel, but the meter was off and the poems missed the mark. Thank you, Medievalist, for the key words; that should narrow down my search and give me something meaningful.

Just as a side note, I'm really interested in doing this, even though it's difficult, which is why I wanted more information

Judg · Nov 28, 2009

If the prof is on board, it's a different matter. Unfortunately, my acquaintance with Beowulf was passing and a long time ago, but you can't get better help than Medievalist anyway.

Have you read Tolkien's famous essay? He totally changed the critical interpretation of Beowulf.

Ken · Nov 28, 2009

... don't have anything to offer, myself, other than to say that it sounds like a cool, and challenging, undertaking! G'luck.

Deleted member 42 · Nov 28, 2009

Emily said:
Just as a side note, I'm really interested in doing this, even though it's difficult, which is why I wanted more information

OK then. If you want to use Old English poetic meter, the best explanation of the way the meter works is in an edition by Howell D. Chickering; I bet your library has it. Chickering makes something rather complicated make sense.

Listen to a sample in Old English "Beowulf in the Original".

The guy who figured out how Old English poetics worked was samed Sievers; the process of looking at a line (a line is really two half-lines, with a pause or a caesura in the middle; the patten of alliteration links the two half-lines).

What you might want to do instead, is use Old English poetic style; that is the kennings and litotes, and boasts and metaphors, which might give you more poetic scope.

If you go with the meter, you'll have better luck with avoiding multisyllabic words that English borrowed, and using the more basic, and more likely to work, older one and two syllable words. Short of looking up each word, as a rule of thumb, a simple word is likely to be OE.

Sievers, by the way, had the strong belief that the various meters (the patterns of alliteration in the different kinds of lines) all had specific "moods" -- i.e. one he labeled "D2" was "martial" in mood, based on the kinds of lines that used a meter. I don't think I've ever seen anyone go with that concept, despite metered translations by people like Seamus Heaney.

Amelia · Nov 28, 2009

Thank you very much, Medievalist. My rough drafts weren't in any type of meter, but I did use some of the poetic style, although I didn't know their names. Do you think it would be a better idea to use the poetic style instead of the meter? More worthwhile or time better spent?

The Chickering book is at the library, but is checked out at the moment. I have to say, listening to Beowulf in Old English was pretty cool

Thanks for the link to that resource.

I haven't read Tolkien's essay on Beowulf, but if I have time I will try to. One of the poems I planned on writing was a telling of the battle from Grendel's point of view.

Deleted member 42 · Nov 28, 2009

Emily said:
Do you think it would be a better idea to use the poetic style instead of the meter? More worthwhile or time better spent?

I do. I think you can make it more yours, frankly, if you don't have to worry about the meter. There's no rhyme; just the beat and the alliteration, and while it's lovely, it's not simple.

MacAllister · Nov 28, 2009

Heh. Winston Churchill sort of cribbed from that Anglo-Saxon war-poem model a good deal, when he was speech writing:

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind.

We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering.

You ask, what is our policy?

I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us;

to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.

You ask, what is our aim?

I can answer in one word: It is victory,

victory at all costs,
victory in spite of all terror,
victory, however long and hard the road may be;
for without victory, there is no survival.

Let that be realised;

no survival for the British Empire,
no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for,
no survival for the urge and impulse of the ages,
that mankind will move forward towards its goal.

But I take up my task with buoyancy and hope.
I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men.
At this time I feel entitled to claim the aid of all, and I say,
"come then, let us go forward together with our united strength."

Amelia · Nov 29, 2009

I'm revising my drafts at the moment, and I'm sticking with poetic style over meter. I might post them for critique if I can get them to say what I want them to.

Thanks again for this info; I kept looking things up but never got quite what I wanted, or anything as straightforward as this

How can I write a poem like Beowulf?

Amelia

lost in transliteration

Judg

DISENCHANTED coming soon

Deleted member 42

Amelia

lost in transliteration

Judg

DISENCHANTED coming soon

Ken

Deleted member 42

Amelia

lost in transliteration

Deleted member 42

MacAllister

'Twas but a dream of thee

Amelia

lost in transliteration