Ring Composition and the Structure of Author(s): John D. Niles Reviewed work(s): Source: PMLA, Vol. 94, No. 5 (Oct., 1979), pp. 924-935 Published by: Modern Language Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/461974 . Accessed: 10/02/2013 23:11

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This content downloaded on Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:11:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions JOHN D. NILES

Ring Composition and the Structure of Beowulf

IN ORGANIZINGthe narrativeof Beowulf, ent inflection but in an identical metrical the poet relied heavily on ring composition, position in lines 782 ("TvowetL") and 783 a chiastic design in which the last element in ("Tv4wfoo"). Then we find the phrase "the a series in some way echoes the first, the next to earth groaned beneath [them]," which occurs the last the second, and so on. Often the series both at the beginning of line 781 ("yaZa 8' centers on a single kernel, which may serve as the v7e-TTcEvaxLE") and, in a mirror image, at the end key element, so that the design as a whole may of line 784 ("'vo ... (rTEvaxLCeTOyaZa"). The be thought of as an ABC ... X. .. CBA pattern passage begins and ends with a description of capable of indefinite expansion. Ring composi- the men's physical progress over the plain. A tion has been shown to be a basic structuring de- diagram will make these relationships more clear. vice in early Greek literature, the Old Testament Jacob cycle, Old French epic poetry, and tradi- Diagram1 tional British balladry.1 For a small-scale ex- ample we can turn to the Iliad. While the -The men pass swiftly over the plain Homeric simile is regularly framed by the two -The earth groansbeneath them connectives ,, ... J,, the following simile -The name Typhoeusappears achieves a more complex symmetry: ZEUS LASHES THE EARTH IN ARIMA -The name Typhoeusappears -The earth beneaththem ?L groans o 8' a;p' trav ), T-E Tri,p X0qV 71r( ra VE/OL7TO' -The men pass swiftly over the plain. yaia 8' v7refr(evtaXtEc AtL o;, TEp7rtKEpaCv() T XWCO/lVo), OTE (a/tx Tv,(o,,L ydaaV Lia(T(Tor ABCDCBA Ev 'ApotL, o0tL b(L(Tr Ti'(,O),o E/AjEVatEV va.' The simile thus is built up into an (TTE )(, apa TO)V ,7rO 7r0o(rrL ieya V'aXtEro yata structure. It is adorned by the two verbal 8'o)Ka rpr(Trov 7reStoto. 8' EpXo,I'ro)v' tiaa 8E7K( "rhymes" "Tvw'tc . . . Tv4o)'o," and "yaZa . . . Vr *O . . .UTrvaxtgero yaia," in were rercTevdXtCe So the men went, as if the whole earth being addition to the "s . .. . s" with which and the earth beneath "rhyme" consumed by fire; groaned it and ends. them, as when Zeus the Thundererlashes the earth begins A chiastic akin to ring composition aboutTyphoeus in anger, in Arima, where Typhoeus technique of this sort has also been observed in Old En- is said to lie-so greatly did the earth groan beneath under a different name. In the feet of the men as they walked, and swiftly glish poetry, although they passed over the plain. (Iliad Ii.780-85)2 her illuminating study of the rhetorical patterns used by poets in extended verse In these lines, which describe the advance of the paragraphs, Adeline Courtney Bartlett cites a Greek host toward Troy, the poet proceeds from number of passages that are organized according the immediate narrative event (the passing of to what she calls an "envelope" pattern, a pat- the soldiers over the plain) to a legend that is tern in which the same word, phrase, or idea said to correspond to it (the legend of Zeus's both begins and ends the passage.3 A good ex- verbal punishment of the monster Typhoeus), then ample of ring composition based on a back again to the event in progress. The kernel "envelope" (although not an example cited by lines of the passage is the lashing of the earth by Zeus Bartlett) occurs early in Beowulf, in the in Arima. The next element outward is the that tell of the coming of Scyld's son, Beowulf proper name Typhoeus, which occurs in a differ- (or Beow, as he is called in the genealogies):

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-Dam eafera was after cenned of past terrors. Just as the monster Typhoeus is geong in geardum bone God sende "chained" between balanced links of transitional folce to frofre; fyren0earfeongeat verse, the Danes's previous sufferings are en- hie drugon aldorlease be aer closed safely within the envelope of God's mercy. lange hwile'hwile; him laestes Liffrea, Ring composition in archaic and oral narra- wuldresWealdend woroldare i . wudresWealdend woroare forgeaf,forgeaf,. tive is no means confined to the short Beowulf waesbreme -blaed wide poetry by sprang--- verse It be used as a of Scyldes eafera Scedelandumin. paragraph. may way organizing long passages as well, even entire To him in time a son was born, poems. In Beowulf it is a technique of major young in the land, whom God sent importance from beginning to end. The poet, in as a comfort to the people;He understoodthe fact, relied so greatly on this sort of patterning dire need that for him balance and symmetry of thought they had sufferedearlier, lacking a king must have been almost second nature. Of course, for a long time. Thereforethe Lord of life, certain instances of ring composition in the Rulerof them glory, granted worldlygrace. poem might be dismissed as obvious and practi- Beowulf was famous, his name rang widely, cally inevitable. The two sea voyages, for ex- Scyld'sson, in the lands of the North. b-924), show sym- metrical structure of a sort that could scarcely have been avoided: (A) down to This self-contained verse paragraph clearly is have been avoided: (A) journeyourney down to shore, framed by the word "son" 'eafera.' Less obvi- embarcation, (C) voyage across high seas, (B ) disembarcation, (A) journey up from ously it is built up not only as an envelope but as . ' shore.> Other instances of fairly simple ring a ring. The second? element in the ring is a shore. instances fairly simple ring .... , r c 1-1, u i? c composition are identified by Bartlett and by phrase descriptive of Scyld's son, Beowulf: first omposition are identified by Bartlett and by Constance Hieatt in their discussions of "double- he is said to be "young in the land" 'geong in envelope" and "triple-envelope" patterning in geardum' (1. 13a), then he is described as "fa- envelope" and "triple-envelope" patterning in Beowulf.' I should like to call attention to cer- mous" mou'breme' (1.(I. 18a).108a). Third is the equivalent mous".~~~~~~~~, . additional ways in which the Beowulf poet of the phrase "God sent him as a blessing1tain to the built his narrative means of chiastic people" '>one God sende . . .' (11. 13b-1.4a) and up by pat- of a kind that is neither obvious nor himels 'hi s Liffrea. .. . .' (1. 1 16b-17).-17. ThThe kernelkenl terning in- ifr* / ,1 evitable. The parts of the poem that I single out of the passage is the reference to the Danes's long that I sige ou- * . , , p . p r. 11 ^i for attention are the episodes that tell of the mid- years of misery before the coming of Scyld (11. night struggle between Beowulf and (11. 14b-16a). The structure is shown in Diagram 2. igh 702b-836),s-trg, thee bsubsequent e feudd betweenen Beo- Diagram2 wulf and Grendel's dam (11. 1251-802a), and the battle many years later between Beowulf -"To him a son" and the firedrake (11.2200-3136). A close study -Phrase describingBeowulf: "youngin the land" of these episodes shows that the Beowulf poet -God sending a blessingto the people used ring composition not only as a minor rhetor- THE DANES'S LONG YEARS OF MISFORTUNE DANESS tool but as a - GodGodHsE sending a blessingbLessiNGtotoARS the peoplepeFOical device or an occasional linking of --Phrase Phrase describing Beowulf:Beowuif: "famous""famous"means giving form to the most important -"Scyld'sson." events of his story.7

As in the example from the Iliad, the poet uses ring composition as a means of traveling from I. The Fight with Grendel the immediate reality (the Danes under Scyld's son, Beowulf) to an "other," legendary reality, All the preliminary action of the poem (11. which is used as a point of comparison (the 1-702a) leads up to a single event: the hero's Danes in their previous years of misery), then hand-to-hand struggle against the manlike mon- back again to the present. Ring composition ster Grendel. Before the fight begins, Grendel enables the poet to ease into and out of a picture stands for a moment at the door of and

This content downloaded on Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:11:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 926 Ring Composition and the Structure of Beowulf laughs to see his sleeping prey ("then his heart II. The Fight with Grendel's Dam laughed" 'ba his mod ahlog' [1. 730b]). When the fight is over, it is Beowulf who stands at the Longer and more complex than the preceding doors exulting ("he rejoiced in the night's passage is the account of the events that occur work" 'nihtweorce gefeh' [I. 827b]). The act from sunset of the second day until sunset of the that initiates the fight-Grendel's devouring of third day of the hero's stay in Denmark. The the young warrior Handscioh, even to his feet episode centers on the critical fight between and hands (11. 739-45a)-is balanced later by Beowulf and Grendel's dam on the floor of the Beowulf's similar act of brute physical assimila- mysterious pool that serves as home for the tion in wrenching Grendel's arm from his body. monsters. When the monster first grapples with Beowulf, To begin the day , Beowulf, and the poet notes the deadly effect of Beowulf's grip their companions emerge from their bedcham- on Grendel's hand ("his fingers cracked" 'fingras bers and learn of the attack made by Grendel's burston' [1. 760b]) and indicates that the dam during the night. In a long speech that is "wished to flee" 'wolde . . . fleon' (1. 755b). To- admired as one of the beauties of the poem (11. ward the end of the fight the poet reverts to a 1321-82), Hrothgar recounts the death of his similar bone-crushing image ("his joints burst" chief thane, ,Eschere, and describes the mon- 'burston banlocan' [1. 818a]) and indicates that sters' pool. In a short reply Beowulf expresses Grendel "had to flee" 'scolde . . . fleon' (11. his determination to avenge AEschere's death 819b-20a). At the climax the poet twice calls (11. 1383-96). Toward the end of the day these attention to the uproar in the hall and to the fear two speeches are answered by another pair, a that grips the listening Danes (11.767-70, 782b- brief address in which Beowulf reports on his 88a). All the details of the fight radiate about a success (11. 1651-76) and Hrothgar's famous single kernel, the moment of extreme violence homiletic speech on the subject of pride (11. when Heorot itself seems about to fall (11. 771- 1700-84). In like manner, the journey of 82a). Hrothgar, Beowulf, and their men to the pool (11. 1399-421) is later balanced by the briefly described return of Beowulf and his Diagram 3 triumphant men to Heorot (11. 1632-50). On the journey the narrow trail taken the men is de- Grendelapproaching out, by scribed as an "unknown 'uncu6 -Preliminaries Grendel rejoicing path" gelad' (1. Grendeldevouring Handscioh 1410b); on the return trip, the same route has -Grendel'swish to flee; "fingerscracked" become "known ways" 'cute strete' (1. 1634a). rUproarin hall; Danes strickenwith terror Each journey culminates in the image of a sev- HEOROT IN DANGER OF FALLING ered head-first ,Eschere's (11. 1417b-21), Uproar in hall; Danes stricken with terror then Grendel's (11. 1647-50).` When the -"Joints burst"; Grendel forced to flee Danes and first come to the banks of the Grendel back toward fens slinking pool, they gaze with horror on the blood welling .-Aftermath { Beowulf rejoicing there, the blood of Eschere (11. 1422-23a). Beowulf left with Grendel's arm. After Beowulf has emerged from the mere, the poet again calls attention to the blood staining Formless as the episode might seem at first, the water, now the blood of the monsters (11. thanks in part to a repetitive, stop-and-go narra- 1630b-31). Other details echo back and forth tive movement, which has been described rather in similar fashion: the ceremonious arming of generously as "lack of steady advance" (Klaeber, Beowulf in his helm and byrnie (11. 1441b-54) p. lvii), the narrative coheres. Important events and the swift removal of his helm and byrnie align themselves into contrastive pairs that cen- after his return (11. 1629-30a); the hero's sol- ter about the moment of awesome fury when the emn farewell before the fight and his comrades' mead-hall begins to splinter around the two joyous greeting afterward; his descent through antagonists, whose struggle is still unresolved. serpent-infested waters and his later ascent

This content downloaded on Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:11:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions John D. Niles 927 through the same waters, now miraculously "all style is the way in which thesis is answered by cleansed" 'eal gefaelsod' (1. 1620b). From first to antithesis. The horror of the second night in last, events on the third day in Denmark succeed Heorot is answered by the calm of the third; one another, not haphazardly, but in the order solemn farewells are answered by joyful greet- imposed by a sustained narrative intelligence. ings; the once infested waters become miracu- lously cleansed. Rarely in Beowulf is an event repeated in the same terms and with the same Diagram 4 emotional coloring. More often, one event is balanced another that resembles it in certain -Night: attack by Grendel'sdam by but differs in others. Between the mid- -Dawn: men leavingtheir chambers respects attack of Grendel's dam and Beowulf's S Hrothgarto Beowulf night Speeches Beowulfto Hrothgar triumphant return from the pool, events seem -Departurefrom Heorot in a troop clouded. Fear of the unknown hangs over all, landscape: "unknownpath" making even familiar paths look weird and un- -Journeyto poodetail: /Eschere'shead known. After the fight, events seem to take place -Pool with welling /Eschere'sblood in the clear light of the sun. -Arming of Beowulf -Farewell to Hrothgar -Descent throughinfested waters III. The Fight with FIGHT IN DEPTHS OF POOL Less elegant in its patterning, though in some -Ascent throughcleansed waters ways still more interesting, is the third great epi- -Greeting by Geats sode, the story of the aged Beowulf's fight -Disarmingof Beowulf against the firedrake. Apart from certain transi- -Pool welling with Grendel'sblood tional lines that summarize some of the chief landscape:"known ways" events of the preceding years (11. 2200-10a, -Journeyfrom pool detail: Grendel'shead 2354b-96), this story occupies the whole of -Arrival at Heorot in a troop Part ii of the poem up to the final fit (11. 2200- C Beowulfto Hrothgar 3182). structural scheme that -Speeches to Beowulf Although any Hrothgar claims to account for all the events in this -Sunset:men returningto chambers neatly of the would be an -Night: uneventful. part poem oversimplification, the episode does not lack form. In this section- the loftiest and most magnificent of the poem- Certain correspondences noted in the preced- speeches, journeys, allusions to Swedish-Geatish ing diagram are admittedly of little consequence. hostilities, and references to the splendor of the If, for example, the hero survives his descent dragon's hoard are ranged in complementary through the waters of the pool, he may be ex- pairs about the scene of the hero's final combat pected to swim back up; if he journeys overland and death (see Diagram 5 on p. 928). from Heorot to the pool, he may be expected to Although the fight itself and its immediate return. All the same, the consistency and the aftermath (11. 2550-845a) are recounted in detail with which events after the fight resonate linear fashion, this kernel episode too reveals the with earlier events appear to be special charac- Beowulf poet's tendency toward stylization and teristics of the Beowulf poet's style. Little pat- patterning. Three times the dragon attacks be- terning of this sort is to be observed, for in- fore Beowulf and his young kinsman cut stance, in the corresponding episode of Grettir's him down (see 11.2569, 2669-70, 2688); three Saga (Chs. lxv-lxvi), in which the story is times the wounded king speaks before he dies nearly linear in its development. In Beowulf, few (11. 2724-51, 2792b-808, 2813-16). Fram- narrative events stand alone; most seem linked ing this central episode like a pair of trumpet to other events in a complex network of inter- calls are two speeches that express in brief the relationships. Equally characteristic of the poet's code of conduct on which both Beowulf and

This content downloaded on Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:11:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 928 Ring Composition and the Structure of Beowulf Diagram 5 Geatish hostility, which threatens to erupt again into war. The first of these Beowulf addresses to -Riflingof barrowby unnamedGeat the Geats (11. 2425-509); the second, the F descriptionof contents "messenger's prophecy," is spoken by an un- -Thehoard- "lay of the last survivor" named Geat who is given the gloomy task of Dragon'snight attack;Beowulf's response the news of the to his thirteenGeats bearing fight countrymen -Journeyto barrowby The of which Beowulf: Swedish-Geatishhos- (11. 2900-3027). dangers war, -Long speech by had seemed now are both real and (11.2425-509) hypothetical, tility and the them with -Shortheroic speech of Beowulf (11.2510-37) immediate, messenger depicts -Beowulf's approachto the barrow grim precision:

SLAYING OF DRAGON; BEOWULF'S DEATH ForLconsceall gar wesan monig morgenceald mundum bewunden, -Geats' approachto the barrow haefenon handa, nalles hearpansweg -Short heroic speech of Wiglaf (11.2862-91) wigend weccean, ac se wonna hrefn "Messenger'sprophecy": Swedish-Geatishhos- fus ofer faegum fela reordian, tility (11.2900-3027) earne secgan, hu him aetaete speow, -Journeyto barrowby main body of Geats lenden he wi6 wulf waelreafode. descriptionof contents -The hoard speech of Wiglaf, a last survivor Thereforemany a cold morning the spear shall be hefted up -Riflingof barrowby eight Geats. high in the hand. No sound of the harp will wake the warriors,but the darkraven have based their actions. In the first of Wiglaf will cry out eagerlyover doomed men, and kins- these, Beowulf addresses his comrades will call to the eagle how he fared at the feast men for the last time and affirms in emphatic when he and the wolf rifledthe slain. words his intention to live and die by the heroic (11.3021b-27) ideal:

Ic mid elne sceall As in the account of the second great fight, pairs of frame the of but gold gegangan, o06e gu5 nimeS, journeys period combat, feorhbealufrecne frean eowerne! here the movement is all toward the scene of carnage and none of it away. First Beowulf sets out for the barrow with twelve chosen With my daring I shall dragon's win the gold, or cruel and deadly Geats (11. 2401-13a); later he leaves his com- battle will take your lord! (11.2535b-37) panions and approaches the barrow alone (11. 2538-41). After the fight, first a small band of Geats draws near the where is The second speech is Wiglaf's. In equally em- spot Wiglaf trying to revive Beowulf with water 2845b- phatic words, it concludes with a reproach to the vainly (11. same comrades and kinsmen, men who in the 52a); later the main body of Geats approaches to on the dead and the dead meantime have been found conspicuously lack- gaze dragon king ing in the stuff of heroism: (11.3030b-46). In the episode of the dragon fight, as in other Dea) bi 6 sella parts of the poem, ends and beginnings are inter- eorla gehwylcum fonne edwitlif! twined. The initial account of the dragon's hoard (11. 2231b-70a) finds a counterpart in the later Death is better description that introduces the theme of a charm for any man than a life of shame! or curse laid on the treasure (11. 3047-57). In (11.2890b-91) each passage the poet dwells with evident delight on the splendor of the hoard: the rings and cups Framing these two speeches, in turn, are two plated with gold, the swords, the helms, the longer ones alluding to long-standing Swedish- byrnies. After the later description, the rifling of

This content downloaded on Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:11:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions John D. Niles 929 the barrow's treasures by eight chosen Geats (11. the whole-enveloping it in the wraps of eter- 3120-36) answers to the event that set this epi- nity, as it were-are passages of opening and sode in motion, the rifling of the barrow by an closing that look deep into the past, in the story unknown fugitive. Even the "lay of the last sur- of Scyld, and far into the future, in the dark vivor" (11. 2247-66), the celebrated digression forebodings of the "messenger's prophecy" and in which the last survivor of an ancient tribe is in the building of a barrow for the dead king, to depicted in the act of bequeathing his tribe's stand ever after as a reminder to his people (1. treasures to the earth, has an analogue, Wiglaf's 2804). In the grand design as well as in its solemn address to his fellow Geats as they stand parts, events answer to one another. The poem over their dead king (11. 2864-91). This is the ends where it begins, with a eulogy for a dead last speech in the poem, and it is heavy with the king. And before and after these eulogies? Sto- melancholy tone that has been sounded through- ries of the kings' funerals. In a way too consis- out this episode. Its speaker has more than a tent to be the result of chance, events in the little in common with the speaker of the earlier poem's gradual unfolding find a reply in events "lay."9 Wiglaf, too, is a last survivor, as Beo- from the poem's gradual close. While these wulf makes clear in his final speech: "You are events are like one another in some ways, they the last of our tribe, the Waegmundings"'lu eart are antithetical in others. Scyld is an ideal king, endelaf usses cynnes, / Waegmundinga' (11. for example, but preeminently a king of war and 2813-14a). He too has lived to see the death of conquest. Beowulf, an equally ideal king, is re- his former lord. He stands gazing on the same nowned for his keeping of the peace: of all treasure that the last survivor had held so lov- worldly kings he is "mildest of men" 'manna ingly, and he buries it "as useless to men as it mildust' and "most gracious to his people" had been before" (1. 3168). The last survivor 'leodum liHost' (11. 3181-82). The fight with witnessed the breakup of a kingdom. Wiglaf Grendel is the young Beowulf's first great test, a fears the same fate for the Geats. Between the test that he meets with extraordinary courage speech of the last survivor and Wiglaf's conclud- and strength. The moment the hero puts his ing speech, between the first rifling of the trea- hands on Grendel, the joyful outcome of the sure and the last, there is little advance in tone. fight is no longer in doubt. The fight with the The same sense of impending doom hangs over dragon is the aged Beowulf's last test, one that all, and in the scene of Beowulf's death this he meets with almost superhuman fortitude. In doom becomes reality. this fight, the narrator's frequent and all too clear asides In the main, we may conclude, Beowulf con- (11. 2341b-44, 2419b-24, 2511a, and on the aud- sists of three major episodes of different length 2589-91a, 2725b-28) impress ience the dark end that is near. and complexity, each one of which shows ring drawing 6 summarizes the chief corre- patterning. The question remains, How are these Diagram that knit the Most three episodes articulated into a single coherent spondences poem together. of them are obvious. Others, less obvious, story of epic length? appear with equal force when we reflect on them. If the reader does not become lost in the many Hrothgar's command to build Heorot, for ex- byways of the narrative, its large-scale sym- ample (11. 67b-76a), has a parallel in Beo- metry of design will be evident: (A) intro- wulf's request to have his barrow built (11. duction, (B) fight with Grendel, (C) celebra- 2802-08). Each edifice, adorned with gold in tions, (D) fight with Grendel's dam, (C) cele- magnificent quantities, is to "stand high" 'hlifade' brations, with close. The (B) fight dragon, (A) (1. 81b) 'hlifian' (1. 2805a) over the surround- three that constitute the main great fights body ing countryside, a monument to future genera- of the are two substantial poem separated by tions of the glory of the past. Each is given a interludes in which the hero's are cele- triumphs special name: "Heorot," "Biowulfes beorh," brated with and gifts, feasting, songs and and each has its own special light: Heorot speeches alluding to legendary heroes: Sigemund "shone" 'lixte' (1. 311a), and the barrow will be and Fitela, , , Ingeld, "bright" 'beorhtne' (1. 2803a). In fire the hall is Offa (11. 837-1250, 1651-2176). Surrounding to meet its end (11. 82b-83a); in fire the dead

This content downloaded on Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:11:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 930 Ring Composition and the Structure of Beowulf king is layed in the barrow (11. 3137-55). these correspondences, both great and small, Heorot echoes with the song of creation (11. converge on a single narrative event of great in- 90b-98), and over the barrow is heard the tensity: the hero's struggle against Grendel's lamentation of the Geats (11.3148b-55a). dam in the depths of the monsters' pool. The choice of this event as the structural center of Diagram 6 the epic is not casual. It is at this point in the narrative that the young hero Beowulf has his A. Panegyricfor Scyld closest brush with death; he is in fact given up B. Scyld'sfuneral for dead by the Danes, who think that the blood -Prologue < C. of Danes before History Hrothgar welling to the surface of the pool is his. Insofar D. orderto build Heorot Hrothgar's as Beowulf is marked out as "a mythical figure of death and resurrection," as Albert B. Lord has Grendel's attack unexpectednight maintained,"l it is here that he can be said to Sea voyage to Denmark suffer symbolic death. Thereafter the hero re- -FirstFirst fight.fight r Hrothgar turns to his native land to take his rightful place hosts. reetingby Unferth in society as a mature and respected adult. Wealhtheow Readers of the Odyssey will note a curious and Fight with Grendel (see Diagram 3) appropriate parallel between the ring structures of these two poems. As both Germain and Whit- -Interlude(Great banquet, nightfall) man have observed,12 the adventure that forms Grendel'sdam's unexpected night the kernel of the story of Odysseus' wanderings attack (Bks. ix-xII) is the Nekyia, the tale of the Second fightj with Fight Grendel's Dam (see hero's journey to the land of the dead. The cor- 4) Diagram responding event of the Aeneid will leap to mind at once: Book vi, Aeneas' descent to the under- - Banquet,nightfall world to consult the shades of the dead. Like Farewellto hosts Homer and the Beowulf had the -Interlude Sea voyage home Vergil, poet narrative to his around Receptionin Geatland genius develop story its point of greatest mystery. In doing so, he called Dragon'sunexpected night attack to mind the greatest story of Christendom as -Third fight - Fight with Dragon (see Diagram 5) well. By repeatedly associating Grendel and his dam with the creatures of hell,13 he presents

{ D. Beowulf'sorder to build his barrow Beowulf's descent in terms that call to mind C. History of Geats after Beowulf Christ's legendary harrowing of hell, as re- -Epilogue ("messenger'sprophecy") counted in the apocryphal Gospel of Nico- B. Beowulf'sfuneral demus.'4 Such echoes may have been uninten- A. Eulogy for Beowulf. tional, of course. There is no way of knowing if the narrator was consciously alluding to To a remarkable extent, the structure of Christ's descent into hell, although he evidently Beowulf may be described in terms of a series of drew on traditional Christian conceptions of major and minor pairs. The two great parts of hell, such as those underlying the description in the poem, the parts that together make up the seventeenth Blickling homily.15 Vergilian in- Tolkien's "balance" and "opposition of ends and fluence in the poem is problematical,16 and di- beginnings,"'0 are the largest pair. Another rect Homeric influence can be ruled out. In de- contrasting pair consists of the Grendel fight and veloping a narrative that has points in common the dragon fight. Somewhat smaller in magnitude with certain critical parts of the Odyssey, the are the sea voyages to and from Denmark. Aeneid, and the Christ story, the author may Smallest of all are minute echoes of diction, such have been unconsciously drawing on the same as "known ways" 'cute strate' (1. 1634a) and age-old folk traditions (or the same psychic "unknown path" 'uncu5 gelad' (1. 1410b), ech- depths) that inspired Homer, Vergil, and the oes that ring too clear to be fortuitous. Many of early disseminators of the Christ myth. All that

This content downloaded on Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:11:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions John D. Niles 931 we can say with confidence is that to an audi- tions. To the question of whether or not Ho- ence familiar with these mythically cognate mer's audience could possibly have caught the materials, such associations between Beowulf signs of such "fearful symmetry" in the Iliad, and other legendary heroes are an appropriate Cedric Whitman replies as follows: means of enriching the poem. Thanks largely to The human mind is a and one which the way in which it centers on a complex of strangeorgan, events that resonate with famous stories perceives many things without conscious or articu- deeply late of and to them with of the is transformed from what it knowledge them, responds past, Beowulf emotions and An have been-a tale necessarily appropriatelyvague. might fairly straightforward audience hence might feel more symmetry than it of the deeds of a man-into a work of good could possibly analyze or describe. (p. 256) superb psychological and mythic suggestiveness. Far from having been an unskilled compiler An audience of Anglo-Saxons listening to a re- of separate tales, the Beowulf poet appears to cital of Beowulf might well have had certain have been endowed with a keen (although al- definite, though unarticulated, expectations ways flexible) sense of narrative form. His epic about the proper way of conducting such an epic develops in a leisurely manner, as events in the song. Among these may have been the expecta- poem's gradual beginning eventually find their tion that in a well-wrought tale no one narrative equivalents in the poem's gradual close, so that event would stand alone; no event would be the work as a whole has the solidity and grace of thought of as random or isolated, without an- a well-planned piece of architecture. Beowulf is tecedents or consequences. The story of the no mere collection of "fabulous exploits redolent coming of Scyld, for example, might have set up of folk-tale fancy" (Klaeber, p. xii). It is no certain expectations that would not have been sightless narration, nor is it a clumsy joining of satisfied until the singer came to tell of the pass- two tales.17 It is a finely wrought epic poem. Its ing away of Beowulf. The story of the young chief materials may be highly disparate, but in hero's rout of Grendel, a monstrous creature his ordering of these materials the poet shows whose eyes blaze like fire, who has been ravag- his mastery of the art of relating a long, cohesive ing a king's hall in midnight attacks, and who verse narrative. reminds one of the walking dead, might likewise Several important questions remain.18 What have set up expectations that would not have aesthetic effect would the patterning in the struc- been satisfied until the poet sang of the hero's ture of Beowulf have had on an audience of last fight against the dragon, a more terrible Anglo-Saxons listening to the poem? And what creature still, whose mouth breathes fire, who is the aesthetic effect of such patterning on a has razed a royal hall in a midnight attack, and person reading the poem today? who comes with the inexorability of death itself. Assuming that the poem was composed for The probability that such expectations would oral presentation,'" one might think that an have been unconscious makes them no less audience of Anglo-Saxon monks or thanes could real.20 hardly have been cognizant of the poem's close- To the modern reader-able as he is to review knit design. If the poem was recited during a the text in detail, comparing event with event, single evening, how could listeners have held the speech with speech, and word with word-the Scyld episode in mind until the poet reached poem has a readily apparent symmetry of design Beowulf's funeral? How or why would they be that exerts a clear aesthetic effect. In Beowulf, it thinking of Grendel at the time of the dragon's would appear, human success and human failure attack? If the performance was drawn out over are conceived of as an inseparable pair. As in several sittings, the audience's perception of pat- other poems of the Anglo-Saxon corpus,21 joy terning would be yet more faint. All the same, does not occur apart from sorrow, creation apart one suspects that the patterned structure of from dissolution, human success apart from Beowulf would not have been wholly without human failure. The founding of the aesthetic effect. No concern is purely structural; dynasty is answered in time by the tribal dissolu- one cannot conceive of structural phenomena in tion facing the Geats. AEschere'shead demands literature that are devoid of aesthetic implica- Grendel's. Heorot gives way to flames, and in its

This content downloaded on Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:11:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 932 Ring Composition and the Structure of Beowulf place stands a barrow. In Beowulf, as Joan solution, may strike some readers as fatalistic, Blomfield has pointed out so ably, there is no and it may well be; but if so, the poem's fatalism simplistic development of either character or stems from a realistic understanding of the limits plot. In a tale such as this "the concluding af- that bound earthly success. The Beowulf poet fairs must be implicit in the beginning," as one seems to have lived enough of life to appreciate is made to see "the ever-present identity of seed the awful ease with which time and an indiffer- in fruit and fruit in seed."22 John Leyerle has ent fate blot out even 'the most glorious of put the matter more pessimistically: human achievements. Possibly the realistic fa- talism of Beowulf may be the melancholy of a The sudden reversals inherent in the structure . . . poet who was looking back on a former heroic to the whole a sense of transience about give poem age whose virtues he admired intensely. Possibly the world and all that is in it. ... With each re- -more plausibly, it seems to me-such fatalism versal the elegiac texture is tightened, reminding is an innate of the heroic view of life. What- one of and even part impermanence change, extending ever the the has to to the greatest of heroes, Beowulf. ... A bright explanation, poem power move, and that is its reason for and golden age of a magnanimous man vanishes, being.23 even as it seems hardly to have begun. (pp. 14-15) University of California The dominant mood created by this recurrent Berkeley play of joy against sorrow, creation against dis-

Notes

1 See W. A. A. van Otterlo, Untersuchungen iiber :; Bartlett, The Larger Rhetorical Patterns in Anglo- Begriff, Anwendung und Entstehung der griechischen Saxon Poetry, Columbia University Studies in English Ringkomnposition, Mededelingen der Nederlandsche and Comparative Literature, No. 122 (New York: Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afdeling Letterkunde, Columbia Univ. Press, 1935), pp. 9-29. Bartlett cites NS 7, No. 3 (Amsterdam: Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers the following lines from Beowulf as exhibiting enve- Maatschappij,1944); "Eine merkwiirdigeKompositions- lope patterning of a simple or complex sort: 11. 115-25, form der alteren griechischen Literatur," Mnemosyne, 129-93, 237-57, 491a-646a, 767-70, 837-924, 1063- 3rd ser.. 12 (1944), 192-207; and De Ringcomzpositie 162a, 1323b-29, 1384b-89, 1425-41a, 1441b-72, 1591- als Opbouwprincipe in de epische Gedichten van Ho- 622, 2247-66, and (depending on the emendation mierus, Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandsche "noefne" for "naes he" in 1. 3074b) 3051-75. On enve- Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afdeling Letterkunde, lope patterning, see also Constance B. Hieatt, "Envelope NS 51, No. 1 (Amsterdam: Noord-Hollandsche Uit- Patterns and the Structure of Beowulf," English Studies gevers Maatschappij, 1948). Cedric Whitman develops in Canada, 1 (1975), 249-65. In developing Bartlett's and refines Otterlo's methods of structural analysis in mode of analysis, Hieatt pays close attention to the his book Homer and the Heroic Tradition (Cambridge: echoing of isolated words. She thus disregards Bartlett's Harvard Univ. Press, 1958), pp. 87-101, 249-84, 287- warning that "the mere repetition of a phrase or phrases 90, and the chart at the end of the book, as does Julie within the space of ten or twenty or a hundred lines Haig Gaisser in "A Structural Analysis of the Digres- does not suffice to establish the presence of what is here sions in the Iliad and the Odyssey," Harvard Studies ini called the Envelope pattern. The group of verses must Classical Philology, 73 (1969), 1-44. See also my note be a real group to the mind of the reader as well as to "On the Design of the Hymn to Delian Apollo," forth- his ear and eye" (Bartlett, p. 9). And again: "It must coming in Classical Journal, 75 (1979-80). For examples not be forgotten that perfect verbal agreement without of the extension of similar methods of analysis to litera- content unity does not constitute an Envelope pattern. tures other than early Greek, see Michael Fishbane, Repetition alone is, as group pattern, almost meaning- "Composition and Structure in the Jacob Cycle (Gen. less" (Bartlett, p. 24). On mere verbal echo in Beowulf, 25:19-35:22)," Jou rnal of Jewish Studies, 36 (1975), see J. O. Beaty, "The Echo-Word in Beowulf with a 19-32; John D. Niles, "Ring-Composition in La C/han- Note on the Finnsburg Fragment," PMLA, 49 (1934), son de Roland and La Chan(un de Willamie," Olifant, 365-73. Another recent study of structural patterning in 1 (Dec. 1973), 4-12; and David Buchan, The Ballad Beowulf is David R. Howlett, "Form and Genre in and the Folk (London: Routledge, 1972), pp. 87-144, Beowulf," Studia Neophilologica, 46 (1974), 309-25 230. (esp. pp. 318-25). Howlett attempts to identify a num- 2 D. B. Monro, ed., The Iliad, 5th ed. (Oxford: Ox- ber of examples of thematic envelopment in Beowulf. ford Univ. Press, 1963). The translation is my own. In his close attention to the line numeration of the text

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and to the division of the text into numbered fits, he Nist shows how certain themes (such as "Grendel appears to be influenced by the numerological analyses motifs" or "details of Beowulf's life") recur in a com- of Thomas E. Hart, "Ellen: Some Tectonic Relation- plex and apparently meaningful sequence, which he ships in Beowulf and Their Formal Resemblance to calls "spiral" design. Carrigan analyzes the poem into Anglo-Saxon Art," Papers on Language and Literature, a discrete number of fit groupings and shows how they 6 (1970), 263-90, and "Tectonic Design, Formulaic balance one another thematically. In addition, he shows Craft, and Literary Execution: The Episodes of Finn that one such grouping (covering the events of the and Ingeld in Beowulf," AtmstertdamzerBeitriige zur dragon fight) has a similar balanced structure on a alteren Germnanistik, 2 (1972), 1-61. Space does not smaller scale. Leyerle points out how certain individual permit a review of the dangers attendant on the nu- themes (e.g., the Frisian raid, monsters, or women as merological analyses of medieval texts, but it should be the bond of kinship) interweave with one another in a borne in mind that, unlike the fit divisions, the line manner that he finds analogous to the interlace design numeration of Beowulf is a modem invention. In the characteristic of much Anglo-Saxon art. Of the three manuscript, as in all Old English poetic manuscripts, studies Leyerle's seems to me the most rewarding, and the lines are written not separately but continuously, yet both his and Nist's methods of analysis are open to like prose. In view of the lacunae in the text, further- the objection that the recurrence of certain themes in more, the modern lineation of the poem seems rather Beowulf is in itself of little significance. In such a long problematical. A more recent and more successful at- and complex work, some themes are bound to recur. tempt to find structural symmetry in an Old English What one wants to know is, Is there a meaningful pat- poem is Earl Anderson, "Cynewulf's Elenie: Manu- tern to this recurrence? Leyerle would say yes, but he script Divisions and Structural Symmetry," Modern does not identify this pattern except in general terms. Philology, 72 (1974), 111-22. One further article on My essay might be regarded as an attempt to supple- this subject appeared after the present paper was com- ment Leyerle's case for the interlaced structure of Beo- pleted, and I can do little more than call attention to it wulf by reference to the specific structure of the hero's here: H. Ward Tonsfeldt, "Ring Structure in Beowulf," three great fights. From this point of view, ring com- Neophilologus, 61 (1977), 443-52. Although his meth- position (like parallel composition) might be looked ods of analysis are similar to my own and to those of on as one special type of interlace design. Hieatt and Howlett, Tonsfeldt does not cite either of S On the interplay between AEschere's head and Gren- their studies or my "Ring Structure in Beowulf and del's, see Hieatt, p. 257, writing in response to Stanley in Oral Poetry," the chapter of my doctoral dissertation B. Greenfield, The Interpretation of Old English Poems on which this article is based (see "Aspects of the Oral (London: Routledge, 1972), pp. 58-59. ) Art of Beowulf: A Comparative Investigation," Diss. See, in addition, Christopher Knipp, "Beowulf Univ. of California, Berkeley, 1972, Ch. v, pp. 154-90). 2210b-2323: Repetition in the Description of the After analyzing the ring structure of 11. 129b-49a, 237- Dragon's Hoard," Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 73 70, 1017-168, 1885b-924, 2355-72, and 2426-512a, (1972), 783, and Carrigan, p. 44. In Fig. 2 of a plate Tonsfeldt concludes that "the poet does not use ring appended to the end of his essay, Carrigan diagrams his structure consistently enough or determinately enough conception of the design of the dragon fight (11. 2221- to justify any very extensive claims" (p. 452). 3182), with particular reference to speeches before and 4 All references to the text of Beowulf are to Freder- after the fight, to the roles of Wiglaf and of the last ick Klaeber, ed., Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg, survivor, and to allusions to Beowulf's peaceful reign; 3rd ed., with 1st and 2nd supps. (Lexington, Mass.: see also Carrigan, pp. 30-49. On how the "lay of the Heath, 1950). Diacritical marks are omitted, and all last survivor" helps to prepare the way for the domi- translations are my own. nant mood of the end of the poem, see also Adrien : For a discussion of the symmetry of the two sea Bonjour, The Digressions in Beowulf, Medium AEvum voyages see my "Aspects of the Oral Art of Beowulf." Monographs, No. 5 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1950), pp. pp. 59-60 and 167-70; Lee Carter Ramsey, "The Sea- 68-69. Voyages in Beowulf." Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 1' J. R. R. Tolkien, "Beowulf: The Monsters and 72 (1971), 51-59: and Tonsfeldt, p. 445. the Critics," Proceedings of the British Academy, 22 ; Bartlett. pp. 19-22; Hieatt, pp. 250-51, 254-56, (1936), 245-95; rpt. in The Beowulf Poet: A Collection 258-59, and the diagram on p. 260; and Howlett, dia- of Critical Essays, ed. Donald K. Fry (Englewood gram on p. 324. Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1968), pp. 34-35. 7 It may be useful to relate my concerns in this essay 11 Lord, The Singer of Tales (Cambridge: Harvard to those of John Nist. "The Structure of Beowulf," Univ. Press. 1960), p. 201. Papers of the Michigan Acadenmy of Science, Alrts, and 12 Gabriel Germain, Genese de l'Odyssee (Paris: Letters, 43 (1958), 307-14; Thomas E. Carrigan, Presses Universitaires de France, 1954), p. 333; Whit- "Structure and Thematic Development in Beowulf." man, p. 288. Proceedirngs of the Royal Irish Academyi, 66 (1967), 13 Grendel, for example, is introduced as a "fiend in Sec. C. pp. 1-51: and John Leyerle, "The Interlace hell" 'feond on helle' (1. 10b) and is elsewhere called Structiure of Beowulf," University of Toronito Quar)terly, by names that seem modeled on Latin terms denoting 37 (1967), 1-17. All three authors find evidence of de- the Christian devil-"helle haefta" (captivus inferni), tailed structural parallelism and balance in the poem. "ealdgewinna" (hostis antiquus), and "feond mancynnes"

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(hostis humani generis). During his struggle with Beo- Birthday, ed. A. Brown and P. Foote (London: wulf, Grendel wishes to flee "to seek out the throng of Methuen, 1963), pp. 127-40. That the action of Beo- devils" 'secan deofla gedreag' (1. 756a), as if his pool wulf is based on two kinds of tale (the "bear's son" were to be identified with the Christian underworld. type and the dragon-slayer type) is beyond dispute: see For a further discussion of the poet's association of Gwyn Jones, Kings, Beasts and Heroes (London: Ox- Grendel with the Archfiend, see , "The ford Univ. Press, 1972), pp. 6-19. Few modern scholars Great Feud: Scriptural History and Strife in Beowulf," follow Magoun, however, in seeing the extant text of PMLA, 93 (1978), 975-77. Beowulf as the work of two or three authors. 14 For a tenth-century Latin version, see H. C. Kim, i1 Certain questions must remain beyond the scope ed., The Gospel of Nicodemtus: Gesta Salvatoris (To- of the present inquiry. The question of the relation of ronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1973). the extant text of Beowulf to oral tradition, for ex- There is also an Old English version dating from the ample, is too complex and problematical to be entered tenth or eleventh century: The Gospel of Nicodeimus, into here. Clearly, patterning of any sort would be ed. S. J. Crawford (Edinburgh: Hutchen, 1927). The mnemonically useful to an oral poet or to a performer theme of the descensus, which was probably widely of oral poems, just as it is useful to any stage performer known in Anglo-Saxon England by the early eighth (whether singer, storyteller, actor, musician, or night- century, recurs frequently in Old English devotional club entertainer) who does not rely on a fixed text as literature, notably in the poem known as "The Descent the basis for his performance. Ring composition could into Hell," which is included on fols. 119b-21b of the serve as one elementary type of mnemonic patterning: Exeter Book (see George Philip Krapp and Elliott Van as Whitman observes, "the oral poet, having mentioned Kirk Dobbie, eds., The Exeter Book [New York: Co- A, B, and C, picks them up later on in the order C, B, lumbia Univ. Press, 1936], pp. Ixi-lxiii, 219-23, 356- and A, since it is natural to reconstruct a train of 59). We need not conclude, however, that Grendel's thought backwards" (p. 98). Whitman's conclusion mere is to be regarded as a symbolic representation of that the complex ring structure of the Iliad marks the hell or that Beowulf's descent into the waters is to be poem as a work of oral literature, however, does not read as a thinly veiled allusion to Christ's harrowing of necessarily follow. Such an argument is based on a hell and to the related liturgy of baptism, as is argued priori reasoning rather than on a careful examination independently by Allen Cabaniss in "Beowulf and the of indubitably oral texts, for oral texts recorded in the Liturgy," Journal of English and Gelrmanic Philology, field have not been shown to exhibit complex ring 54 (1955), 195-201, and by Maurice B. McNamee, structures of the same kind. Perhaps these structures S.J., in "Beowulf-An Allegory of Salvation?" Journal exist, but the necessary fieldwork and analysis have not of English and Germanic Philology, 59 (1960), 190- been done. Of the works referred to in n. 1 of this 207. Such parallels as exist between the two stories fall paper, for example, none (not even Buchan's ballad short of the sort of precision that one would expect if texts) could be proved to be exact records of oral tra- Beowulf were a conscious allegory. dition unmediated by literary hands, although all ap- '> See Klaeber, n. to 1. 1357, for the relevant passage, pear to have a close relation to oral tradition. Until which is based on a Latin Visio Paitli. such fieldwork and analysis are done, the presence of 16 Scholars who have supposed Vergilian influence in various sorts of ring composition in Beowulf may Beowulf have tended to concentrate their attention on plausibly be taken as evidence that, like the Iliad and Aeneid vi.237-42 and Beowulf, 11. 1357b-76a (the de- the Song of Roland, the poem shows traits that would scription of Grendel's mere); again see Klaeber, n. to be useful to an oral poet or performer, but further con- 1. 1357. Alan Renoir compares the artistry of the two clusions seem premature. Moreover, even polished lit- passages without making any commitment about erary works (such as Tom Jones and Paradise Lost) whether or not the Beowulf poet knew Vergil ("The may show complex ring patterning, as R. G. Peterson Terror of the Dark Waters: A Note on Virgilian and reminds us with appropriate bibliographical citations Beowulfian Techniques," in Larry D. Benson, ed., The in his outstanding essay "Critical Calculations: Mea- Learned and the Lewed: Studies in Chaucer and Medie- sure and Symmetry in Literature," PMLA, 91 (1976), val Literature, Harvard English Studies, No. 5 [Cam- 367-75. A person who wished to make a case for the bridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1974], pp. 147-60). For specifically oral character of the ring patterning of Beo- a review of earlier scholarship and a sensitive attempt to wulf would have to distinguish between the sort of find new evidence for Vergilian influence, see Theodore patterning in this poem and the sort in, for example, M. Andersson, "The Virgilian Heritage in Beowulf," Tom Jones. Ch. iv of his Early Epic Scenery: Homer, Virgil, and 1()That the poem was intended to be performed aloud the Medieval Legacy (Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, (as opposed to being created aloud) is beyond doubt. 1976), pp. 145-59. See Dorothy Whitelock, The Audience of Beowulf 17 For a recent revival of the analytical heresy con- (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1951), passim, and cerning the structure of Beowulf, see Francis P. Ma- Kenneth Sisam, The Structure of Beowulf (Oxford: goun, Jr., "Beowulf A: A Folk-Variant," Arv, 14 Oxford Univ. Press, 1965), pp. 1, 8-10, et passim; (1958), 95-101, and "Beowulf B: A Folk-Poem on and note further Ruth Crosby, "Oral Delivery in the Beowulf's Death," in Early English and Norse Studies Middle Ages," Speculum, 11 (1936), 88-110. Presented to Hugh Smlith in Honotur of His Sixtieth 20 In fact one need not assume that such expectations

This content downloaded on Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:11:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions John D. Niles 935 were unconscious, although I do not wish to press the Darkness; Joy and Sorrow in Beowulf," Review of point here. An audience that had heard the same story English Studies, NS 8 (1957), 1-11, and Jerome Man- not once but often, with variations, might have become del, "Contrast in Old English Poetry," Chaucer Re- sufficiently discerning to appreciate subtle instances of view, 6 (1971), 1-13. thematic echo. The Beowulf poet, moveover, took pains 22 Joan Blomfield, "The Style and Structure of Beo- to point out how the parts of his story interrelate, as wulf," Review of English Studies, 14 (1938), 397. in 11.2349b-54a, an allusion to the Grendel fight, and 23 I should like to thank John Leyerle, Dean of the in 1. 2521b, a direct reminiscence of the Grendel fight School of Graduate Studies at the University of To- at the moment before Beowulf sets out to challenge the ronto, for having read this paper sympathetically and dragon. for having made a number of suggestions for its im- 21 See Herbert G. Wright, "Good and Evil; Light and provement.

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