THE STORY OF BEOWULF
PRINTED BY
HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD.,
LONDON AND AYLESBURY,
ENGLAND.
To
THE MEMORY OF
MY FATHER
NOTE AS TO USE OF APPENDIX
I have relegated to the Appendix all notes of anyconsiderable length. The reader is advised to consult the Appendiceswherever directed in the footnotes. He will then have a much clearerconception of the principal characters and events of the poem.[7]
INTRODUCTION
‘Beowulf’ may rightly be pronouncedthe great national epic of the Anglo-Saxon race. Not that it exalts therace so much as that it presents the spirit of the Anglo-Saxon peoples,the ideals and aims, the manners and customs, of our ancestors, andthat it does so in setting before us a great national hero. Beowulfhimself was not an Anglo-Saxon. He was a Geat-Dane; but he belonged tothat confraternity of nations that composed the Teutonic people. Helived in [...