Beowulf Grendel Quotes

‘If Grendel wins, it will be a gruesome day;
he will glut himself on the Geats in the war-hall,
swoop without fear on that flower of manhood
as on others before. Then my face won’t be there
to be covered in death: he will carry me away
as he goes to ground, gorged and bloodied;
he will run gloating with my raw corpse
and feed on it alone, in a cruel frenzy,
fouling his moor-nest.’

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 442-450: Beowulf imagines the gruesome consequences for him and his corpse if Grendel defeats him.

‘I have heard moreover that the monster scorns
in his reckless way to use weapons;
therefore to heighten Hygelac’s fame
and gladden his heart, I hereby renounce
sword and the shelter of the broad shield,
the heavy war-board: hand-to-hand
is how it will be, a life-and-death
fight with the fiend. Whichever one death fells
must deem it a just judgment by God.’

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 433-440: Beowulf announces that he will fight Grendel without weapons, in hand-to-hand combat, gaining more glory for Geatish king Hygelac.

So every elder and experienced councilman
among my people supported my resolve
to come here to you, King Hrothgar,
because all knew of my awesome strength.
They had seen me boltered in the blood of enemies
when I battled and bound five beasts,
raided a troll-next and in the night-sea
slaughtered sea-brutes. I have suffered extremes
and avenged the Geats (their enemies brought it
upon themselves, I devastated them).
Now I mean to be a match for Grendel,
settle the outcome in single combat.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 415-426: Beowulf describes who he is to King Hrothgar by recounting his deeds.

Grendel was the name of this grim demon
Haunting the marches, marauding round the heath
And the desolate fens; he had dwelt for a time
In misery among the banished monsters,
Cain’s clan, whom the creator had outlawed
And condemned as outcasts. For the killing of Abel
The Eternal Lord exacted a price:
Cain got no good from committing that murder
Because the Almighty made him anathema
And out of the curse of his exile there sprang
Ogres and elves and evil phantoms
And the giants too, who strove with God
Time and again until He gave them their reward.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 102-114: The demon Grendel, who represents the ultimate evil in medieval Scandanavian culture, is the descendant of Cain, the man who killed his brother.

Then a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark,
nursed a hard grievance. It harrowed him
to hear the din of the loud banquet
every day in the hall, the harp being struck
and the clear song of a skilled poet
telling with mastery of man’s beginnings,
how the Almighty had made the earth
a gleaming plain girdled with waters;
in His splendour He set the sun and the moon
to be earth’s lamplight, lanterns for men,
and filled the broad lap of the world
with branches and leaves; and quickened life
in every other thing that moved.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 86-98: The threat to Heorot comes in the form of the demon Grendel maddened by the bard’s recitation of the story of creation in the hall.

‘I had a fixed purpose when I put to sea.
As I sat in the boat with my band of men,
I meant to perform to the uttermost
what your people wanted or perish in the attempt,
in the fiend’s clutches. And I shall fulfill that purpose,
prove myself with a proud deed
or meet my death here in the mead-hall.’

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 632-638: Beowulf has clarity of mission, is intensely focused and has commitment to the utmost. He tells Wealtheow he came with the purpose of fighting the evil demon Grendel. In this battle between he is prepared to fight to the death.

Time and again, foul things attacked me,
Lurking and stalking, but I lashed out,
Gave as good as I got with my sword.
My flesh was not for feasting on,
There would be no monsters gnawing and gloating
Over their banquet at the bottom of the sea.
Instead, in the morning, mangled and sleeping
The sleep of the sword, they slopped and floated
Like the ocean’s leavings.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 559-567: Beowulf’s swimming contest with Breca, in which he has to battle sea-monsters.

The story goes
that as the pair struggled, mead-benches were smashed
and sprung off the floor, gold fittings and all.
Before then, no Shielding elder would believe
there was any power or person on earth
capable of wrecking their horn-rigged hall
unless the burning embrace of a fire
engulf it in flame.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 774-781: Beowulf’s wrestling contest with Grendel wreaks more destruction than anyone had ever thought possible. Beowulf is depicted with almost superhuman strength.

And now the timbers trembled and sang,
a hall-session that harrowed every Dane
inside the stockade: stumbling in fury,
the two contenders crashed through the building.
The hall clattered and hammered, but somehow
survived the onslaught and kept standing:
it was handsomely structured, a sturdy frame
braced with the best of blacksmith’s work
inside and out.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 766-774: For all the details on the two fighters Beowulf and Grendel, the poet reminds us that what is at stake is the symbol of cosmic order.

Venturing closer,
His talon was raised to attack Beowulf
where he lay on the bed; he was bearing in
with open claw when the alert hero’s
comeback and armlock forestalled him utterly.
The captain of evil discovered himself
in a handgrip harder than anything
he had ever encountered in any man
on the face of the earth. Every bone in his body
Quailed and coiled, but he could not escape.
He was desperate to flee to his den and hide
With the devil’s litter, for in all his days
He had never been clamped or cornered like this.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 744-756: When Grendel wrestles Beowulf he discovers him to be a skilled wrestler of great strength.

Then his rage boiled over, he ripped open
the mouth of the building, maddening for blood,
pacing the length of the patterned floor
with his loathsome tread, while a baleful light,
flame more than light, flared from his eyes.
He saw many men in the mansion, sleeping,
a ranked company of kinsmen and warriors
quartered together. And his glee was demonic,
picturing the mayhem: before morning
he would rip life from limb and devour them,
feed on their flesh.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 723-733: Grendel is depicted as the embodiment of evil, destruction and malice, coming to destroy Hrothgar’s hall and all those within it.

He has done his worst but the wound will end him.
He is hasped and hooped and hirpling with pain,
limping and looped in it. Like a man outlawed
for wickedness, he must await
the mighty judgement of God in majesty.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 974-978: This describe Beowulf after he had killed Grendel. After his long fight with the demon, he is in pain and agony, but was still able to fight off the beast. And in the contest between good and evil, Grendel is shown to be an insignificant demon from hell, compared to the power and goodness of God.

‘First and foremost, let the Almighty Father
be thanked for this sight. I suffered a long
harrowing by Grendel. But the Heavenly Shepherd
can work His wonders always and everywhere…
I adopt you in my heart as a dear son.
Nourish and maintain this new connection,
you noblest of men; there’ll be nothing you’ll want for,
no worldly goods that won’t be yours.
I have often honored smaller achievements,
recognized warriors not nearly as worthy,
lavished rewards on the less deserving.
But you have made yourself immortal
by your glorious action.’

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 927-954: Hrothgar is speaking about Beowulf and his actions of killing Grendel. He praises Beowulf for his deeds, saying they have ensured his name will live forever.

‘She has taken up the feud
Because of last night, when you killed Grendel,
Wrestled and racked him in ruinous combat
Since for too long he had terrorized us
With his depredations. He died in battle,
Paid with his life; and now this powerful
Other one arrives, this force for evil
Driven to avenge her kinsman’s death.
Or so it seems to thanes in their grief,
In the anguish every thane endures
At the loss of a ring-giver, now that the hand
That bestowed so richly has been stilled in death.’

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 1333-1344: Hrothgar says that Grendel’s mother has set out to avenge her son’s death by killing someone from the tribe that killed him.
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