The Geat people built a pyre for Beowulf,
Stacked and decked it until it stood four-square,
Hung with helmets, heavy war-shields
And shining armor, just as he had ordered.
Then his warriors laid him in the middle of it,
Mourning a lord far-famed and beloved.
On a height they kindled the hugest of all
Funeral fires; fumes of wood smoke
Billowed darkly up, the blaze roared
And drowned out their weeping, wind died down
And flames wrought havoc in the hot bone-house,
Burning it to the core.
– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)
Lines 3137-3148: The final image of the epic poem, Beowulf’s funeral pyre, echoing the opening scene of Shield Sheafson’s burial at sea.