BEOWULF IS A BLOODBATH. In this Anglo-Saxon epic, half rooted in Norse legend and half in sixth-century Danish history, monsters feast on sleeping warriors, and battle-tested swords melt in steaming blood and shatter against dragon scales. The hero Beowulf proves himself again and again in swordfights, hand-to-hand combat, and even underwater battles with beasts and dragons, making Beowulf one of the bloodiest books in high school English classrooms. For years, however, scholars treated the epic—probably written in the eighth century—more like a historical and linguistic source than a literary masterpiece. One of the first to argue that readers should value the gory and fantastic elements of Beowulf was the Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings. In a 1936 lecture called “The Monsters and the Critics,” he called Beowulf’s unknown author a great poet, not an overly imaginative historian. If you think you know Hrothgar from Hrunting, try this Beowulf quiz…so long as you don’t faint at the sight of blood.
1. What monster, a descendant of the biblical Cain, is the first slain by Beowulf?
2. What trophy does Beowulf take from that first fight?
3. Who must Beowulf fight in his second battle?
4. What 1971 novel tells a story parallel to Beowulf, but from a villain’s perspective?
5. What is “Hrunting”?
6. Who is the only soldier to stand by Beowulf when, as an old man, he must face an angry, fire-breathing dragon?
ANSWERS
1. Grendel.
2. Grendel’s arm, or “claw” in some versions.
3. Grendel’s mother, who takes back her son’s claw and devours a Danish soldier in revenge for Grendel’s death.
4. Grendel, by John Gardner.
5. Beowulf’s sword.
6. Wiglaf.