The Ruined Landscapes of Beowulf: Apocalypse and Hope

Abstract:

A wide variety of scholars have examined the settings of the Old English epic Beowulf, interpreting the text in a myriad of ways and providing valuable information on sources and analogues. This article seeks to build upon and add to this body of scholarship by applying landscape history and a variety of archaeological evidence to the poem in order to develop a further understanding of the landscape settings of Beowulf as literary representations of real topographical features of early medieval England. Attention is paid to the mere and lair of the Grendle-kin, the barrow of the dragon, and Beowulf’s own final resting place. Analysis of these landscapes, grounded in the historical topography of England, enhances an interpretation of the text as a statement on humanity’s relationship with the past and hope for the future.