Beowulf Dragon Quotes

Yet the prince of the rings was too proud
to line up with a large army
against the sky-plague. He had scant regard
for the dragon as a threat, no dread at all
of its courage or strength, for he had kept going
often in the past, through perils and ordeals
of every sort, after he had purged
Hrothgar’s hall, triumphed in Heorot
and beaten Grendel.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 2345-2353: Beowulf has no fear of the fire-breathing dragon. Though he commands skilled soldiers, the proud king thinks he can and should take on the dragon alone. A little too courageous for a king perhaps.

Inspired again
by the thought of glory, the war-king threw
his whole strength behind a sword-stroke
and connected with the skull. And Naegling snapped.
Beowulf’s ancient iron-grey sword
let him down in the fight. It was never his fortune
to be helped in combat by the cutting edge
of weapons made in iron. When he wielded a sword,
no matter how blooded and hard-edged the blade
his hand was too strong, the stroke he dealt
(I have heard) would ruin it.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 2677-2687: In his final battle with the dragon Beowulf is able to act courageously by keeping thoughts of glory in mind.

He had shimmered forth
on the night air once, then winged back
down to his den; but death owned him now,
he would never enter his earth-gallery again.
Beside him stood pitchers and piled-up dishes,
silent flagons, precious swords
eaten through with rust, ranged as they had been
while they waited their thousand winters under ground…
They let the ground keep that ancestral treasure,
gold under gravel, gone to earth,
as useless to men now as it ever was.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 3043-3068: Narrator speaks about the dragon and his treasure, now lying rusted and corroded and useless now that the dragon is dead.

Before long
the battle-dodgers abandoned the wood,
the ones who had let down their lord earlier,
the tail-turners, ten of them together.
When he needed them most, they had made off.
now they were ashamed and came behind shields,
in their battle-outfits, to where the old man lay.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 2845-2851: As the fight with the dragon comes, the Gear warriors are as brave as they say they are. They run off, leaving Beowulf behind. The one courageous man who remains behind is Wiglaf.

The old lord gazed sadly at the gold.
‘To the everlasting Lord of All,
to the King of Glory, I give thanks
that I behold this treasure here in front of me,
that I have been allowed to leave my people
so well endowed on the day I die.’

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 2793-2798: The dying Beowulf appears conflicted about the treasure he won from the dragon. He is happy to be leaving wealth to the Geat people. But he gazes sadly on the gold, suggesting he feels doubts about whether the sacrifice of his life for it was worth it.
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