How does Beowulf work as a poem? In this course, we aim to find out, learning Beowulf through close study of its manuscript context and of its literary and historical milieux. Topics emphasized include the poem’s genre; its sources, analogues, and afterlives; its place in theories of oral performance; its aesthetics; and its troubled relationship to the culture(s) that wrote it and to the modern cultural investment in it. Tune up your harp, sharpen your wits, and get set to explore a startling and crucial text.
