Reading Notes: Beowulf, Part A

From the first part of the Beowulf unit, I chose the story called "Beowulf Lands in Daneland." This title caught my attention as I have recently been watching a show on Netflix where the characters in that show go to Daneland. In the story from the unit, Beowulf and his companions are crossing the sea to get to their destination of Daneland. There are many terrors in the sea that they must pass through on the way there. When they finally got to the beach of Daneland, they were approached by someone guarding the beach. The guardian of the beach asked them who they are and where they came from before allowing them passage in the land. When being investigated by the guardian of the beach, the group told him that they were there to help the king of Daneland. In this same exchange, the guardian told them of Grendel who came to raid the land. With this, they were able to proceed.

The tale of this part of Beowulf’s story was very descriptive in a lot of ways. The main way that stood out to me was all of the detailed visual descriptions. These descriptions created a useful setting for me, so I could understand what the group was going through during their travels. The details about the monsters in the sea stood out to me initially when I was reading through the story. Mentions of “slimy coils,” “shaggy manes,” and “horny claws” definitely painted a picture of the horrors this group was experiencing during their long nights on the sea. Luckily, this group was able to make it safely across the sea without any harm done to them. I would like to be able to write stories where the words create feelings in the readers. I do not want to just tell them how the characters reacted to something I am describing; I want them to feel what the character does.

Bibliography

Beowulf Lands in Daneland, The Story of Beowulf by Strafford Riggs with illustrations by Henry
Pitz (1933)

Image Information: Beowulf sailing to Daneland, Wikimedia