Grendel comes to Heorot, in Old English
This is the most frightening approach in Old English poetry. Beowulf and his men are lying in the hall at night, and Grendel crosses the moor towards them. The poet keeps the camera on the monster as he gets closer, step by step.
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The text and translation
Þā cōm of mōre under mist‐hleoðum Grendel gongan, godes yrre bær.
Then from the moor under the misty slopes came Grendel walking; he bore God's anger.
Word by word
- Þā
- then
- cōm
- came
- of
- from
- mōre
- the moor
- under
- under
- mist‐hleoðum
- misty slopes
- Grendel
- Grendel
- gongan
- walking
- godes
- God's
- yrre
- anger
- bær
- bore
Mynte se mān‐scaða manna cynnes sumne besyrwan in sele þām hēan;
The evil ravager meant to ensnare one of the race of men in the high hall;
Word by word
- Mynte
- meant
- se
- the
- mān‐scaða
- evil ravager
- manna
- of men
- cynnes
- of the race
- sumne
- one
- besyrwan
- ensnare
- in
- in
- sele
- hall
- þām
- the
- hēan
- high
wōd under wolcnum, tō þæs þe hē wīn‐reced, gold‐sele gumena, gearwost wisse fǣttum fāhne.
he went under the skies until he could see most clearly the wine-hall, the gold-hall of men, gleaming with gold plates.
Word by word
- wōd
- went
- under
- under
- wolcnum
- the skies
- tō
- to
- þæs
- the point
- þe
- that
- hē
- he
- wīn‐reced
- wine-hall
- gold‐sele
- gold-hall
- gumena
- of men
- gearwost
- most clearly
- wisse
- knew
- fǣttum
- with gold plates
- fāhne
- gleaming
Ne wæs þæt forma sīð, þæt hē Hrōðgāres hām gesōhte: nǣfre hē on aldor‐dagum ǣr nē siððan heardran hæle, heal‐þegnas fand!
That was not the first time that he had sought Hrothgar's home; never in the days of his life, before or since, did he find harder luck or hall-thanes!
Word by word
- Ne
- not
- wæs
- was
- þæt
- that
- forma
- first
- sīð
- time
- þæt
- that
- hē
- he
- Hrōðgāres
- Hrothgar's
- hām
- home
- gesōhte
- sought
- nǣfre
- never
- hē
- he
- on
- in
- aldor‐dagum
- days of life
- ǣr
- before
- nē
- nor
- siððan
- since
- heardran
- harder
- hæle
- luck
- heal‐þegnas
- hall-thanes
- fand
- found
Cōm þā tō recede rinc sīðian drēamum bedǣled.
Then the warrior came journeying to the hall, deprived of joys.
Word by word
- Cōm
- came
- þā
- then
- tō
- to
- recede
- the hall
- rinc
- warrior
- sīðian
- journeying
- drēamum
- of joys
- bedǣled
- deprived
Duru sōna onarn fȳr‐bendum fæst, syððan hē hire folmum hrān;
The door, fast with fire-forged bands, gave way at once when he touched it with his hands;
Word by word
- Duru
- door
- sōna
- at once
- onarn
- gave way
- fȳr‐bendum
- with fire-forged bands
- fæst
- fast
- syððan
- when
- hē
- he
- hire
- it
- folmum
- with his hands
- hrān
- touched
onbræd þā bealo‐hȳdig, þā hē ābolgen wæs, recedes mūðan.
then, intent on evil, since he was enraged, he tore open the mouth of the hall.
Word by word
- onbræd
- tore open
- þā
- then
- bealo‐hȳdig
- intent on evil
- þā
- since
- hē
- he
- ābolgen
- enraged
- wæs
- was
- recedes
- of the hall
- mūðan
- mouth
Raðe æfter þon on fāgne flōr fēond treddode, ēode yrre‐mōd; him of ēagum stōd līge gelīcost lēoht unfǣger.
Quickly after that the fiend stepped onto the patterned floor, went angry at heart; from his eyes there shone an ugly light, most like a flame.
Word by word
- Raðe
- quickly
- æfter
- after
- þon
- that
- on
- onto
- fāgne
- patterned
- flōr
- floor
- fēond
- the fiend
- treddode
- stepped
- ēode
- went
- yrre‐mōd
- angry at heart
- him
- him
- of
- from
- ēagum
- eyes
- stōd
- shone
- līge
- to a flame
- gelīcost
- most like
- lēoht
- light
- unfǣger
- ugly
What to notice
- Þā cōm of mōre opens the passage, and Cōm þā tō recede comes back to the same verb. That repeated cōm, “came”, is what builds the dread. You can already hear the modern word in it.
- mist‐hleoðum means “misty slopes”. Compound words like this do a lot of the work in Old English poetry.
- drēamum bedǣled means “deprived of joys”. Drēam here is the joy of the hall, not a dream, and shutting Grendel out of it is the poem's idea of what he is.
- līge gelīcost means “most like a flame”. It describes the light in his eyes, one of the few things the poem ever tells us about what he looks like.
Read it yourself
Urling teaches the words in this text first, so that when you reach it you can read it in Old English. It uses short lessons, and nothing has to be memorised from a list.
Learn to read this in Old English
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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.