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The Promise-Oath that Grendel's Mother Made

“You should have seen the world before it died,”
said Grendel’s mother to her dying son,
“before our kind succumbed to genocide,
when all our folk delighted in the sun.”

“Then came the fearful, hungry, violent men
in scores and hundredfold, in roiling waves
of noxious fumes and never-ceasing din,
which drove us from the light into our caves.”

“If we were seen, they killed us in their dread,
so strong we were in form compared to them.”
“Now sleep, my son; I too shall soon be dead."

"But not alone,” she swore with purpose grim.

“They’ll say that we were monsters when we’re gone,
and truly so, when comes again the dawn.”


Author notes

In the Anglo-Saxon epic poem, Beowulf, the hero mortally wounded the monstrous Grendel who returned to the cave of his mother to die. She took her revenge on Beowulf’s men before he followed her back to her cave and killed her in a climactic struggle. The epic narrative presents one perspective of the events. This sonnet provides another.
 
Most modern English translations of Beowulf depict Grendel's mother as a monster. However, by reconsidering one or two words in the original she becomes a warrior-heroine with a warrior's iron grip instead of a monster with terrible claws.

The couplet of the sonnet is imagined as her statement of how she and Grendel will be portrayed in history, which she follows with her vow to lend some truth to that portrayal before the dawn comes again. Those familiar with the epic narrative know the terrible revenge she took in the night as Beowulf's men lay passed out from their celebration of the defeat and mortal-wounding of her son.

The epic poem mentions no specific event which set Grendel on his murderous rampage. He seems to have been driven into a psychotic rage with seeing and hearing the good life lived by the Danes while he and his mother were forced to live in caves in the most desolate regions and only come out at night.

Grendel's mother was right. Beowulf does refer to Grendel, his mother and all like them as fantastic, evil demigods forever at war with God and the forces of good. However, history is written by the victors and only recalled as long as there are survivors. If the true monsters won, how would they have portrayed the vanquished? The last of Grendel's kind might well have had good reason to say, "You should have seen the world before it died."

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Comments

1 - 6 of 6

  • Lyndon gold member
    May 27

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    Yes, 58 years ago I struggled through Beowulf.

    And your sonnet treats an important strand of the epic. It tells us of the human condition even though you are dealing with monsters because, unavoidably, the two are "human" onsters!
    The depth of revenge is palpable.
    Thank you poet, for this work.
    Lyndon of the Winklings.

  • Topnotchsy
    May 4

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    This is great!! Modern literature has nothing on Beowulf, and the perspective offered gives insight into the psychology of all people.


  • Fritz O skennick gold member
    December 7, 2008

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    So cool...

    I watched that mo-cap CGI Beowolf movie recently & know exactly where this would have fitted in the story...
    Well crafted, it has the tender feeling & softness of the moment throughout yet is bold in its pronounciation & emotional depth...
    Love it...
    Keep up the good work...
    Well done!!!


    • Peripatetic gold member
      December 7, 2008

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      For film versions, I would point you to the 2005 Icelandic live action feature, "Beowulf & Grendel" from director Sturla Gunnarsson. It features Gerard Butler as Beowulf and Stellan Skarsgård as King Hrothgar whose actions born of prejudice and ignorance are seen as the catalyst of the tragic events which follow. Even though Grendel's mother is portrayed as a sort of fantastic mer-woman, the basic humanity, however Neandertal-like, of mother and son comes through in this version. This film would inject some reality into the romance of the epic poem, unlike the CGI animated "Beowulf" with idealized box office actors. That 2007 cartoon makes the story even more fantastic than does the poem.
      My view of "Beowulf" has long been influenced by the idea that Grendel was the last of the Neandertals in Denmark at the time of the story, which also seems to be the view of "Beowulf & Grendel". That concept is the inspiration for my poem.


  • Have left the stage gold member
    November 30, 2008

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    this has a an olde feel about it, therefore a more 2,2,2,2, tempo is needed which is what you use. although I am still trying to understand the couplet, but good job.


  • dustytiger
    November 27, 2008

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    wow, this is amazing, you have blown my mind with what you have come up with, what wonderful write about the end of the world

1 - 6 of 6