A Comparison of the Sword in Beowulf and in Other Anglo-Saxon Poems :: comparison compare contrast essays

The Sword in Beowulf and in Other Anglo-Saxon Poems Is the sword mentioned only(prenominal) in Beowulf or is it a common element in all Anglo-Saxon poetry? Is the sword described the same way as in Beowulf? In Beowulf and Archaeology Catherine M. Hills states The most important weapon referred to in Beowulf is the sword (305). In the poem lines 1557 ff. tell the poets description of the sword Beowulf finds in the untainted Then he saw among the armor a victory-bright blade made by the giants, an uncracking edge, an honor for its be atomic number 18r, the best of weapons, but longer and heavier than any other human being could have ever carried in the play of war-strokes, ornamented, burnished, the work of giants. Attention is now focused on the sword-hilt he grabbed the belted hilt (1563). In the next line is mentioned hringmael or ring ornamented/ring-patterned as refering to the sword Beowulf found. This might refer to ring swords found in Kentish graves of the sixth blow and Scandinavian graves of the seventh century (Cramp 125-6). Line 1616 uses broden-mael, wavy-ornamented/wavy-patterned in reference to the sword which has melted because of the monsters blood. Whether the translator sees these adjectives as referring to the hilt or to the blade does not matter, archaeologically speaking, because circular and interlacing patterns are found on both blades and hilts throughout the Anglo-Saxon period. These wavey or ring patterns occur from the twistng or weaving of the bands of hard and soft iron. Lines 1687 ff. describes the Grendel sword hilt Hrothgar spoke, examined the hilt, great jimmy of old. There was engraved the origin of past strife, when the flood drowned, the pouring ocean killed the race of giants. Terribly they suffered, were a people strange to eternal God their net payment the ruler sent them by the rushing waters. On its bright gold facings there were also runes set down in order, engraved, inlaid, w hich told for whom the sword was first off worked, its hair-keen edges, twisted gold scrolled in the hilt, the woven snake-blade. Regarding the runes on the sword hilt, G. Stephens in his Handbook of Runic Monuments maintains that the only Anglo-Saxon runic inscription on a sword hilt is on the Gilton sword, and that it is unintelligible (Cramp 128).