The Coastguardsman

• A variation of the “View from the Wall” scene, a common scene in Indo-European epic poetry
• Some early scholars saw an echo of Lejre, Denmark,  in the description of the landscape, but the imagery is more appropriate to England

Beowulf’s Sapientia

Him se yldesta           andswarode,
to him the eldest         answered,

werodes wisa,            wordhord onleac:
the men's leader       [his] word-horde unlocked:  (ll. 258-9)

  Beowulf has the twin characteristics of the hero, sapientia et fortitudo, cleverness and courage, but is the audience to understand the features as pagan Germanic or as Christian?  (Patristic writers borrowed the terms from the Classical world and applied them to Christ and, by extension, the good Christian.)  As one scholar, R. E. Kaske, has put it, "the poet has used this old ideal as an area of synthesis between Christianity and Germanic paganism."

  Beowulf’s Identity

      We synt gumcynnes        Geata leode
We are of the lineage      of the Geatish people

ond Higelaces                   heorðgeneatas.
and Hygelac's                hearth-companions

Wæs min fæder                folcum gecyþed
  My father was              to [your] folk known.  (ll. 260-3)

Beowulf identifies his men and himself in terms of lineage.

Beowulf’s Boast

• The boast is a formal declaration