英国文学作品《贝奥武夫》简介

beowulf简介

《贝奥武夫》是迄今为止最古老的英国民族史诗，与法国的《罗兰之歌》、德国的《尼伯龙根指环》并称为欧洲文学的三大英雄史诗。其但作者已无从考证。《贝奥武夫》现存手稿仅有一部，收藏在大英博物馆，其编号为Cotton Vitellius A.xv，现存的手稿属于10至11世纪。现存手稿分为两部分，总共3182行。第一部分以神话中的英雄、主人公贝奥武夫先后战胜巨怪格兰代尔和母怪的英雄事迹为主线索，描写主人公年轻时代斩妖除魔的光辉业绩。第二部分记述英雄晚年时不畏火龙、英勇奋战的壮举

故事情节

开篇

故事以丹麦国王赫洛斯伽（Hrothgar）建立一座名叫“鹿宫”（Heorot）的豪华宫殿以供他及部下娱乐（诗篇1—100行）。一个名叫格兰代尔（Grendel）的妖怪在夜晚频频闯入宫中，并在一个夜晚吃掉了30名睡在那里的勇士，以至于一到夜晚怪物便袭击宫殿，从此宫殿空无一人，被荒废长达12年之久（诗篇101—193行）。格兰代尔闯入鹿宫的消息最终传到了瑞典南部，叶亚特（Geat）部落国王许基拉克（Hygelac）有一个名为贝奥武夫（Beowulf），他是一位见义勇为、救人危难、力臂超群的勇士。贝奥武夫听到这个消息，带着他的14名随从乘船来到丹麦，以帮助赫洛斯伽。他们到达丹麦海岸，在向导的指引下来到赫洛斯伽的鹿宫（诗篇194—319行）。期间，这位丹麦国王讲述他与贝奥武夫的父亲Ecgtheow的友情，贝奥武夫陈述了他来此的目的。随后，来访者们受到国王的盛情款待（诗篇320—497行）。英雄的一名名叫翁非斯（Unferth；意为“好斗者”）的手下却很不友好，根据道听图说污蔑我们的英雄在一次游泳比赛中输给了布雷卡（Breca），贝奥武夫用铁的事实驳斥了翁非斯，并谴责他胆小怯懦，不敢与格兰代尔交手（诗篇498—606行）。随后，赫洛斯伽的王后Wealhtheow斟满贝奥武夫的酒杯，我们的英雄表示了他要么征服怪物，要么被怪物杀死的决心。很快，天色暗了下来，国王和他的随从离开了宫殿，剩下贝奥武夫和他的武士保卫宫殿（诗篇607—665行）。

英雄的第一次冒险经历

贝奥武夫与他的随从准备入睡前，我们的英雄脱去身上的盔甲，声称在这场与妖怪的决斗中不使用他的利剑。很快，妖怪格兰代尔闯进宫殿，并很快地吃掉了一名勇士，直奔贝奥武夫。我们的英雄空手与妖怪展开了激烈的搏斗，宫殿内响起了他们搏斗之间所产生的巨大声响。最终，贝奥武夫用他那力大惊人的力臂把格兰代尔的右臂从肩头硬是活生生地撕扯了下来，格兰代尔受到了致命的创伤，逃走了（诗篇665行—833行）。胜利者向众人展示了格兰代尔的手臂，丹麦人相互述说着英雄的丰功伟绩，以表达他们对贝奥武夫的钦佩与赞赏。国王赫洛斯伽奖赏贝奥武夫富有的宝藏（诗篇834—1062行）。在宴会期间，赫洛斯伽的一位行吟诗人歌唱了弗里西亚人国王芬恩（Finn）由于背信弃义引起血亲报仇而造成多人死亡的悲惨故事（诗篇1063—1159行），王后随后现身，并赠送贝奥武夫一条价值连城的项链（诗篇1160—1323行）夜晚，一名名叫Aeschere的勇士留守宫殿，然而，妖怪格兰代尔的母亲来到宫殿，并抓走了国王的议长Aeschere（诗篇1233—1306行）。国王告诉贝奥武夫这件极其不幸的事情，并详细地向他介绍了妖怪洞穴的情况，我们的英雄许诺，将为Aeschere报仇雪恨（诗篇1306—1396行）。

英雄的第二次冒险经历

贝奥武夫和他的随从跟踪水怪（即格兰代尔得母亲）来到一个水塘，英雄随即跳入水中，潜入水底，到达一个地下洞穴，这正是怪物格兰代尔和她母亲的居住地。他随即与格兰代尔的母亲展开了漫长而激烈的决斗，并最终用悬挂在洞穴中古代巨人打造的魔剑杀手了水怪。贝奥武夫割下她与死在洞穴角落里的格兰代尔头颅，带着他的战利品回到了塘岸。他的随从们

仍正在岸边等待着，对英雄的生还已经绝望（诗篇1397—1631行）。胜利者凯旋而归，并受到赫洛斯伽的盛情接待，他要为英雄论功行赏（诗篇1632—1784行）。第二天，贝奥武夫向国王赫洛斯伽道别，赫洛斯伽赠与他更多的礼物。访问者们回到了他们的家乡（诗篇1785—1921行）。其后，诗歌赞美了许基拉克的年轻妻子Hygd的美德，并向读者介绍了许基拉克和贝奥武夫的见面，后者讲述了赫洛斯伽和他的女儿Feawaru及女婿Ingeld之间的关系，随后，叔叔许基拉克和侄子贝奥武夫交换了礼物（诗篇1922—2199行）。随着时间的流逝，老国王许基拉克去世了，他的儿子继承了王位，但很快死于与瑞典人的战斗中。贝奥武夫被推选为叶亚特国王，开始了他长达50年的国王统治（诗篇2200—2210行）。

Sir Patrick Spens

Poem Summary

Line 1

The ballad begins by introducing the main characters. Here, we meet the kin g, who is in Dumferling, Scotland. The king “sits,” in that he “reigns” and his throne is a “seat” of his power. He also “sits” in the sense of being stationary. He does not move, though his actions will make others move.

Line 2

The wine that the king drin ks is “blood red,” suggesting his power over life and death, as well as the ease with which he controls other people’s lives. He sends men to their deaths as casually as one might drink a glass of wine.

Lines 3-4

“Oh where will I get a good sailor, to sail this ship of mine?” the king asks. Soon, the king will choose Sir Patrick Spens. Although being selected by the king is an honor, it also means that Spens must undertake an impossible journey. As a sailor, Spens is a “good,” skillful sailor and because he is brave, he is a good man as well; but this cannot save him from his fate. No matter how skillful a sailor he is, no human can withstand the fury of nature. And no matter how loyal and true he is, like all people, Spens must die.

Lines 5-6

An “elder” kni ght speaks up. The fact that the knight is an elder suggests that he is respected, a senior advisor to the king. The knight also has power in court because he sits at the king’s side i.e., at his

right knee. As we will see, because the knight speaks “up,” Spens and his ship are sent down “fifty fadom deip.”

Lines 7-8

The elder knight praises Sir Patrick Spens as the world’s best sailor. Notice the sibilance in lines 7 and 8; the repetition of “s” sounds imitates the sound of waves crashing on the shore.

Lines 9-10

The king writes a broad letter of command, ordering Spens to sail the royal ship. It is signed with the king’s hand, the royal signature, and must be obeyed.

Lines 11-12

The letter is sent to Spens as he walks along the beach. Notice that the word “who” seems to be omitted from line 12; it is not stated, but implied (The line might read “who was walking on the sand”). This kind of omission is called an ellipsis. Just as the “who” is absent from the line, so Spens will be absent from the earth when the letter sends him to his death.

Lines 13-14

Spens reads the first line of the letter and laughs. Perhaps it praises his skill as a sailor, or perhaps it identifies his assignment, the impossible journey, and Spens laughs because he thinks it is a joke. In a sense, it is a joke, played on him not by the king or the knight, but by fate.

Lines 15-16

Spens reads further and realizes that the king is serious about sending him on a dangerous voyage. His fate is sealed, but his tear-blinded eye is ironic. Irony is wit or mockery that usually means the opposite of what is said. Destiny or fate are traditionally represented as “blind” —think of Oedipus, Homer, and Milton, whose blindness is seen as a sign that they “see” a higher truth. Like them, Spens can “see” his fate, his inevitable death after the impossible voyage, though tears “blind” him.

Lines 17-18

Spens asks who has done this ill deed to him and the reader begins to suspect the motives of the elder knight. Does he have some secret motive for sending Spens to certain death? We are not told, but wonder about the court, where things are not always what they seem, where illusion can be confused with reality. But the courtly world’s deception does not allow it to escape from life’s only certainty: death. Cons ider the inversion from “done deed” to “deed done” in lines 17 and 18. Just as Spens’s reaction while reading the letter went from laughter to tears, so the poem’s word order changes to show how his world has been turned upside down.

Lines 19-20

Spens knows that the weather at this time of year is treacherous.

Lines 21-22

Although the assignment is dangerous, the men must hurry. They follow Spens’s orders as he follows the king’s. Notice how the repetition of “m” and “s” in lines 21 and 22 emphasize the iro ny. While the men make “haste,” they are anything but “merry.” The sailors know they are sailing off to die, and while the ship may be “good,” no ship can withstand the violence of natural elements.

Lines 23-28

In lines 23 through 28, a sailor speaks up, hoping his master will say it is not so, that they are not really going to sail. The sailor is apprehensive because he has seen the new moon in the old moon’s arms, that is, the dark shape of the new moon and only the hint of a crescent of the old moon. This is an evil omen that predicts bad weather, and the sailor fears, correctly, the ship and crew will come to harm. This is the poem’s most famous image and is used by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” In lines 27 and 28, note th e repetition of “ei,” “e,” and “r” sounds, which call to mind the ocean’s waves moving up and down, tossing a ship at sea.

Lines 29-30

The ship has now sailed, but the nobles are “loath” to “wet” their shoes. This is ironic, because soon not only their shoes, but their entire bodies will be wet, and they will be drowned. The reader compares the nobles, who fear wetting their shoes, with Spens, who knows they are all doomed to drown in the storm. The nobles’ concerns are petty in comparison with Spens, who is a brave soldier fatalistically following orders. Though

they are noble because of their family titles, Spens is noble because of his actions.

Lines 31-32

The shipwreck is a “play,” like a trick of fate or an event in the sense of a sports figure who make s a play. Play also suggests a child’s game, for the sailors are like toys in the hands of nature. The fact that we see the nobles’ hats and not the nobles themselves is synecdoc he, the substitution of the part for the whole. The hats themselves can be seen as a sign of worldly vanity, and it is ironic that the hats swim, but the nobles themselves cannot; they drown.

Lines 33-36

The ladies stand waiting for Spens and their men to return. They stand, while the king sits, and by the poem’s end, the men lay. Their fans are a sign of vanity, but fans are also used to control the weather by making one more comfortable when it is too hot. At sea, however, the weather cannot be controlled, and the storm kills their men. Recall that the king signs the letter with his hand, which leads to the deaths of Spens and the nobles, that the ladies wait with fans in their hands for men who will never return. This repetition of “hand” links cause and effect, the king, who caused the men to go to sea, and the effect, the men’s demise and their women’s sorrowful waiting.

Lines 37-38

Again, gold is a gold traditional symbol of worldliness, and while the gold combs will remain shiny, the women’s hair will turn grey with time. Their attention to gold is misplaced, for like their men, they too will pass away.

Line 39

The women wait for their “own dear lords,” but their men belong no longer to them but to death.

Line 40

The women will never see their men again, though ironically, the reader sees them lying on the ocean floor. The women hope to see their men alive, but the reader sees the men’s dead bodies.

Lines 41-44

Half the way over to Aberdour, the ship is wrecked in the storm. Now the “good” Spens, like th e good ship, is fifty fathoms beneath the sea. The poem’s ending is ironic when we consider the ways the positions of the body have indicated social status (for example, remember the knight who sat at the king’s right knee). At the end, while the lords may outrank Spens socially (note that some versions of the poem have Spens not a “Sir,” but merely a Captain), their cowardice and concern for worldly things —their failure to comprehend their situation and act accordingly — sets Spens above the lords in the end. Significantly, they lie at his feet, not he at theirs.