The ending of Beowulf in Old English
Beowulf is dead, killed by the dragon he came to fight. His people have burned him and raised a great mound on the headland. In these last lines twelve warriors ride around it, mourning him, and the poem ends with what they say about him.
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The text and translation
Þā ymbe hlǣw riodan hilde-dēore, æðelinga bearn ealra twelfa, woldon ceare cwīðan, kyning mǣnan, word-gyd wrecan and ymb wer sprecan,
Then twelve warriors brave in battle, sons of princes, rode around the barrow; they wished to lament their sorrow, mourn their king, recite a dirge and speak of the man;
Word by word
- Þā
- then
- ymbe
- around
- hlǣw
- the barrow
- riodan
- rode
- hilde-dēore
- brave in battle
- æðelinga
- of princes
- bearn
- sons
- ealra
- in all
- twelfa
- twelve
- woldon
- wished
- ceare
- their sorrow
- cwīðan
- lament
- kyning
- the king
- mǣnan
- mourn
- word-gyd
- dirge
- wrecan
- recite
- and
- and
- ymb
- about
- wer
- the man
- sprecan
- speak
eahtodan eorl-scipe and his ellen-weorc duguðum dēmdon, swā hit ge-dēfe bið, þæt mon his wine-dryhten wordum herge, ferhðum frēoge, þonne hē forð scile of līc-haman lǣne weorðan.
they praised his nobility and judged his deeds of valour with their strength, as it is fitting that a man should praise his friend-lord with words, cherish him in his heart, when he must go forth from his transient body.
Word by word
- eahtodan
- praised
- eorl-scipe
- nobility
- and
- and
- his
- his
- ellen-weorc
- deeds of valour
- duguðum
- with their strength
- dēmdon
- judged
- swā
- as
- hit
- it
- ge-dēfe
- fitting
- bið
- is
- þæt
- that
- mon
- a man
- his
- his
- wine-dryhten
- friend-lord
- wordum
- with words
- herge
- praise
- ferhðum
- in his heart
- frēoge
- cherish
- þonne
- when
- hē
- he
- forð
- forth
- scile
- must
- of
- from
- līc-haman
- body
- lǣne
- transient
- weorðan
- go
Swā begnornodon Gēata lēode hlāfordes hryre, heorð-genēatas, cwǣdon þæt hē wǣre woruld-cyning mannum mildust and mon-þwǣrust, lēodum līðost and lof-geornost.
So the men of the Geats, his hearth-companions, mourned the fall of their lord; they said that he was, of all the kings of the world, the mildest to men and the kindest, most gracious to his people and most eager for fame.
Word by word
- Swā
- so
- begnornodon
- mourned
- Gēata
- of the Geats
- lēode
- men
- hlāfordes
- of their lord
- hryre
- the fall
- heorð-genēatas
- hearth-companions
- cwǣdon
- said
- þæt
- that
- hē
- he
- wǣre
- was
- woruld-cyning
- of the kings of the world
- mannum
- to men
- mildust
- mildest
- and
- and
- mon-þwǣrust
- kindest
- lēodum
- to his people
- līðost
- most gracious
- and
- and
- lof-geornost
- most eager for fame
What to notice
- æðelinga bearn ealra twelfa means “sons of princes, twelve in all”. Bearn is still “bairn” in Scots and northern English.
- wine-dryhten means “friend-lord”, a single word for a bond the whole poem is built on.
- mannum mildust begins the closing praise: “the mildest to men”. Notice the alliteration of the two m-words, which is how this poetry is held together.
- lof-geornost is the poem's last word: “most eager for fame”. Readers still argue over it, because in a Christian poem about a pagan hero, it may be the highest praise or a quiet warning.
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Sources
Beowulf, ed. J. A. Harrison and R. Sharp (1883; public domain), via English Wikisource; standard line numbers.
Text licence: Public domain.
Language pack licence: Texts public domain / CC BY-SA 4.0; annotation CC BY-SA 4.0.
Texts: Caedmon's Hymn, Beowulf lines 1-11, Cnut's proclamation of 1020, The Battle of Maldon lines 312-313, The Wanderer lines 1-7 and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 793 (all public domain); the Lord's Prayer in Early West Saxon as standardised in Wikipedia's 'Old English' article (CC BY-SA 4.0). Wulf and Eadwacer: W. J. Sedgefield, An Anglo-Saxon Verse-Book (1922), pp. 39-40, public domain; transcribed against the printed pages. Tagging and glosses: AI (Claude; Codex for Wulf and Eadwacer), checked against Wiktionary; not yet reviewed by a person. Additional passages carry their own source credits.
The introduction and notes on this page were written by Claude (AI). Word glosses are AI-assisted, and so is the English unless the source above names another translator.