A Comparison of the Sea in Beowulf and The Seafarer Essay -- compariso

The Sea in Beowulf and The Seafarer      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The characters in the Old English poem Beowulf certainly delighted in the seas. This essay seeks to compare their attitude toward the sea with that expressed in another Old English poem, The Seafarer.    In Beowulf there is one reference after another to the sea. When Scyld died, â€Å"his people caried him to the sea, which was his last request,† where he drifted out into the beyond on a â€Å"death ship.† In the Geat land Beowulf, a â€Å"crafty sailor,† and his men â€Å"shoved the well-braced ship out on the journey they’d dreamed of,† to rescue the Danes from Grendel. â€Å"From far over the sea’s expanse,† the Geats came, â€Å"brave men who come over the sea swells.† In his welcoming speech Hrothgar recalls that the hero’s father â€Å"sought us Danes over the rolling waves,† and his warrior Unferth remembers that the hero â€Å"struggled with Brecca [youthful companion] in the broad sea in a swimming contest †¦ risked his life in the deep water †¦ hugged the sea, gliding through the boiling waves †¦ toiled seven nights in the sea.† A Dane â€Å"was tending to every courtesy† for Beowulf, for â€Å"such in those days could a seafarer expect.† King Hrothgar and Queen Welhtheow gave rich gifts â€Å"to those on the mead-bench who made the sea-journey.† In the Finnburh Episode, Hengest had to spend the winter months with Finn because â€Å"he could not steer his ring-prowed ship on the cold sea.†Ã‚   â€Å"Guthlaf and Oslaf spoke of their grief after the sea-journey.† The Danes carried Hildeburh, the queen of Danish ancestry, â€Å"over the sea.† â€Å"The surging waters† received Beowulf as he swam in pursuit of Grendel’s mother. During the battle Hrothgar and his retinue stared down at the â€Å"turbulent water.† Finally Beowulf returned, â€Å"protector... ... A man may bury his brother with the dead and strew his grave with the golden things he would have him take, tresures of all kinds, but gold hoarded when he here lived cannot allay the anger or God towards a soul sin-freighted.      The Seafarer concludes with a rather lengthy prose exhortation to his heareres to fix their hopes on heaven.    The characters in the Old English poem Beowulf certainly delighted in the seas. From this essay it can be appreciated that their attitude toward the sea is quite comparable with that expressed in another Old English poem, The Seafarer.       BIBLIOGRAPHY    Chickering, Howell D.. Beowulf A dual-Language Edition. New York: Anchor Books, 1977.    TheSeafarer. In The Earliest English Poems, translated by Michael Alexander. New York: Penguin Books, 1991.