M
mead

effects of 32 as if drunk on 78 poured by the queen 103 meadbowl joy 136 crazy meadboast 160

meadhalls; see Hrothgar, hall of

entered by Grendel 12, 91 reinforced 14 one in ruins 33-34 fight in the clearing of 35-36 human behavior when one burned 36-37 and tribute 40 Scyld Shefing attacks 42 greatest of 46 site of destruction 91

meaning, meaninglessness; see nothing, space

of undifferentiated existence 19, 23 of the world 28 of human blood 81 as quality of life 109-10 related terms stupidity 5, 28, 77, 89, 100, 139 mindless(ly) 6, 7, 54, 138, 139, 156, 173 pointless 6, 28; see accident ridiculous 6, 44, 48, 55, 74, 100, 157 indifferent 14, 173 insanity 81 absurdity 82, 91, 103, 135 ultimate irrationality 131

mechanism; see accident

deadly progression of earth and stars 8; see zodiac signs as mechanical as anything else 9 cold mechanics of the stars 9; see zodiac signs dusty mechanical bits 11 blind mechanism 21 mechanical chaos 21-22 mechanical bull 27 mechanical bruteness 54 a machine 123 hunter's movement 126; see zodiac signs mindless, mechanical 139 mechanical as a goat 142; see zodiac signs mechanical, terrible 152 huge, strange machine 155 mindless mechanics 156 obeying its mechanics 165 blind, mindlesss, mechanical 173

men 8, 40

their theories; see theory first described 23-24 describing Grendel 24 on horses 24, 93 pattern makers 27 their violence 27 and animals 38 results of their drinking 32-33 at war 33-37 gone mad on art 43 Dragon comments on 64 define selves around Grendel 72-73, 91 how they enrage Grendel 77

mere 9, 16, 45, 55, 86, 87, 140
middle-earth 168
monistic 68
monster 72, 85, 123, 173

pointless, ridiculous 6 governments 120; see Red Horse bloodlust stifled 136 an old woman 149 seamonsters 162

moon/moonlight 7, 16, 34, 44, 51, 55, 126
mor(t)ality 47
mother; see Grendel's mother, woman
murder 49
mysteries 130, 172

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N
Nature 65, 94

laws of 68 Grendel cursing it 101

Nihil ex nihilo 150
nihilism 93
nonce-rules 71; see Devonian fish
nothing 21-22, 74, 123; see meaninglessness

O
Old Snaggle 64; see syllogism
order 67-68, 157
Ork [the old priest]

discusses King of Gods with Grendel 130-33 on God 131-33 on ultimate evil 132-33; see Dragon on dust dialogue with priests 133-36 responding to the Geat boasts 159

owls 10
ox 13, 37-38, 95

P
pain 20, 22
pastness of the past 146; see time
philosophical terminology

actual entity 132 anarchistic 22 a thinking animal 104 atoms 68 brute existent 73 cause 63 complexity 69-71 concresence 132 exist 28, 158 Expression defined 68, 69 fate 162 free will 63 freedom 15,119, 157 God ; see God importance 68 "Know thyself" 74 knowledge, knowing 63, 75; see Dragon language 8, 15, 42; see talking/telling, poetry, words logic 24; see syllogism mechanism meaninglessness monistic 68 Nihil ex nihilo 150 nihilism 93 objectness 28 order 67-68, 157 pastness of the past 146; see time process 68, 74 rationalism 135 reality 9, 88 reason 67, 100 sine qua non 64 syllogism 64; see Dragon, the theory 157; see dogmatism, men thereness 68 time and space 42, 63, 65-66, 93-94, 137 truth 43-44, 45, 52, 55, 88, 90, 108 157, 173; see art, illusion, lies words 168, 169; see language, talking/telling

pigs

wild 8, 29 domestic 13, 26, 31, 35, 64

playing; see games
poetic 101
poetry 44, 87-88, 167; see art
praying 13, 39, 72, 127, 149, 165
priest, the young 135-36, 138
priests 72, 127-29, 159, 165; see Ork, gods

dialogue with Ork 133-36 at Shaper's funeral 149

puppy 16
pyre; see funeral pyre

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Q
queen; see Wealtheow

not yet killed 93 the idea of 108

R
rabbits 8, 59-60
ram 5-6, 165; see zodiac signs
rationalism 135
rats 9, 24, 32, 45, 86
ravens 36
reality 9, 88
reason 67, 100

bloodless rationalism 135 goat and reason 139

Red Horse; see Hrothulf, will to power

old peasant 116, 157 described 117 on violence 117 on revolution and the state 117-18 on systems 120 on religion 128

relativity 66; see Time and Space
religion 10, 125, 127-29; see dogmatism, God, gods, praying, priests, Ork
reputation 83; see glory
revenge 35, 148, 157
Revolution 117
riddle 127
roads 13, 39-40
roosters 12

S
scale 67; see Time and Space, zodiac signs
Scanian lands 97
scorpion 113; see Hrothulf, zodiac signs
Scyld Shefing 13, 42, 44, 146
Scyldings 77, 82, 86, 94, 96, 97, 101, 105, 106, 109, 140, 158
Shaper, old; see harper; [scop], lies, truth

admired by Grendel 12 blind 13 his craft 34 figurative names harpstring scratchers 42 old heart-string scratcher 46 memory scraper 46 blind selector 49 his function and effect 42-43 attachment to Hart 46-47 effect on Grendel, thanes, and world 48-53 his secret lady 49, 142, 144 sings of Cain and Abel 51, 108 may improve men's minds 53 his lure and lies 54-55 Dragon's critique of 62, 65 on God 76-77 conjuring tricks 80 sings songs 95, 105, 112 linked to queen's effect on Hrothgar 100, 102-03 his sickness 129, 139 his death 142-145 Grendel's regrets about 146 his funeral 147-49

Shaper, young 143, 165

sings of Finn, Hoc, Hildeburh, Hnaef, and Hengest 147 sings "Frost shall freeze..." 165

Shaper's theorum 113
shark-toothed 15, 52
sin 13
sine qua non 64
sky 7, 14, 18, 34, 132, 137, 153

fist-shaking at 5 personified as indifferent 6

Snaggle, Old 64; see syllogism
snakes 22, 30, 31, 50, 54, 78, 97, 136; see venom, watersnakes, firesnakes

serpent to the core; see Dragon, the

song 42, 49, 76-77, 91, 171

at a funeral 14 Pity Poor Hrothgar 92 Hygmod's 107 priests' 128 Young Hengest still 148 Frost shall freeze 165 The wall will fall 172

sorrow 105
space; see Time and Space

hurtling coldly out 18 universe leaping forward 19 blasted outward 80

sparrows 24
Speardanes; see Danes
spider 71, 103, 137
spiderwebs 64
spring, springtime 6-9, 31, 44
stags 11, 19; see Hart
stars 9, 11, 37, 44, 102, 126, 130, 173; see zodiac signs
state and violence; see Red Horse
strangers

beware of 74 arrival of 151-52

summer 31, 37, 76, 112
sun

spins mindlessly 7 blinds Grendel 14 and sky 19 like a crab 46; see zodiac signs sign of God's victory 51 set by a god 55 black 61, 137 in Hrothulf poem 114-15 walks mindlessly 138 climbing mechanical 142 hurts Grendel 156

syllogism 64; see Dragon, the

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T
talking/telling; see language, poetry, Shaper, words

"talking, talking" 8, 15, 80 Grendel trying to tell his mother 28-29  human talking 31-32, 34, 36 Grendel speaking to Unferth 83

tedium 138, 157
thanes

reacting to Grendel 12 their stories of Grendel 30 scattered bones of 46 hearing the harper 48 Hrothgar's 76, 106, 159-60 pompous fools 80 attack Grendel 81 Unferth's fellows 87 rewarded by the System 118; see Red Horse without lords 147

theology 159
theory; see dogmatism, men

Hrothgar's 13, 37 Dragon comments on 13, 64-65, lunatic 14, 172 humans cracked with 55 in drunken arguments 102-03 another wrecked by Grendel 110 all order as theoretical 157 Beowulf's lunatic theory of matter and mind 172

thereness 68
thinking; see Dragon, the

thinking animal 27,104; see Unferth, men Grendel's mother 11

time

slowed down 20 time's flow illusory 102 within hunter and hart 126 ultimate evil 132; see Ork the past as an allusion of language 146 grows 165 is the mind 170

time and space; see philosophical terminology
toads 31
torus 93 [a mathematical figure used to describe the queen]; see Cut A
treasure-hoard 121-22

the Dragon's 57, 60

tribute 39, 99

gathering 37 givers 94

truce 98
truth; see philosophical terminology, art, illusion, lies
twelve 5, 12, 92; see zodiac signs
twins 33, 44; see zodiac signs

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U
Unferth, son of Ecglaf

confronts Grendel 82-83 like an outraged priest 82 attacked with apples 85 poor Jangler 85 a new kind of Scylding 86 at the cave 86-87 his pretensions 87 on heroism 89 his bitterness 90, 96-97 ugly as a spider 103 brother-killer 104, 162 a thinking animal 104 slapped aside 109 ignores religion 128 at Shaper's funeral 149 taunting Beowulf 160-61

universe

leaping forward 19 created blink by blink 22 refuses conformity 67 in general 69 expanding 70 silent 71 slowed down 130 not-my-mother 158 chewed down to words 168; see language

V
vassals' army 95-96
vengeance 15 [allusion to Romans 12.19]
venom 35, 52, 64; see snakes
violence 117-18, 157

definition of state 119; see Red Horse for its own sake 120

virgin 77, 85, 100, 128; see harvest virgin; zodiac signs
void 61; see nothing
vultures 13, 23

W
waiting at night 129, 165
wall/walls 9, 28, 29, 141

world's weird wall 7 words 8 cliffwall 9, 39, 45, 55, 56, 102, 105, 139, 149 wall-hung beds 12, 136 and Grendel's mother 17, 23, 28 meadhall walls 31, 34, 136, 167, 171 of Dragon's cave 57 Queen's head against wall 109 coffin walls of the world 123 rocky sea-wall 152 reaming out walls 156 "sing walls"171 Grendel's song of walls 172

warfalcons 32; see falcons
"Warovvish" 145, see language, Grendel's mother's
wars 34-37, 39, 44, 150; see Grendel
watchdogs 33, 41
watchmen 141
watersnakes, baby 7
Wealtheow 12, 164; see Hrothgar

observed by Grendel 93-94 a treasure 99 meets Hrothgar 101 bowl-bearer 102, 163 self-sacrificing 102, 103; see Grendel's mother effect on men 102-103 effect on Unferth 104 sleeping with Hrothgar 104-05, 108, 122 gem-woman 105 observed by Grendel in hall 107 attacked by Grendel 109-10 welcomes Hrothulf 112 speaks to Beowulf 163

web of words 8, 15; see language
weird 7
whale 152, 161
whalecocks 9
wheelwright 141
whispering; see language

Grendel 168, 169, 174 Beowulf 169-72

will to power 115, 128
winged creatures 126
wings 12, 96, 126, 169; see birds
winter 31, 92, 101, 105, 115, 125, 137, 148, 160
wolf/wolves 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 32, 40, 95, 125, 136
woman/women; see Grendel's mother, Wealtheow

Old, in epigraph old, taste of 7 keening after attack 13 and men at a funeral 14 cooking 32 female getting hurt 33 praise of 49 Shaper's secret lady 49, 142, 144 old womanish [of the Dragon] 60 Unferth as sickly old 90 Wealtheow in a silver robe100 a mother's love 103 girl who brings food 141 old, telling lies 141-42 putting gold coins on Shaper's eyes 145 old, as wild as the wind 149

words 168, 169; see language, talking/telling

compared to spinning/pale skin 8, 15, 29 of men 23 for raging 52, 54 Grendel aswirl in 72 filling world with 80 omnipotence of 146 Beowulf's 162-63

world, divided 158

X

Y

Z
zodiac signs; see twelve

Aries (Ram) 5-6, 165 Taurus (Bull) 19-22, 23, 78 Gemini (Twins) 33, 44 Cancer (Crab) 8, 46, 48 Leo (Lion) 123 Virgo (Virgin) 77, 85, 100, 128; see harvest virgin Libra (Balance) 91, 92, 109, 110 Scorpius (Scorpion) 113; see Hrothulf Sagittarius (Archer) 125 (arrow), 126-27 (bowmen) Capricornus (Goat) 139-140, 149, 165 Aquarius (Water-Bearer) 151, 169, 170 (water), 156 (underground river; see cave), 160 (swimming; see Breca) Pisces (Fish) 29, 72, 149, 154, 170

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