Beowulf: A Tale of Blood, Heat, and Ashes

Raven, N. & Howe, J. (2007). Beowulf: A tale of blood, heat, and ashes. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

 Yes.  I’ve read Beowulf.  Who hasn’t read Beowulf?  I even teach Beowulf, but I don’t teach this version.  The story was certainly familiar but the retelling of this classic tale of heroes and monsters was not.  I know we’re supposed to be picking books that we haven’t read before, but I also understand the purpose of this course being to find new ways of incorporating children’s and young adult literature into our instruction. Figuring out how to teach Beowulf and have my students not hate it is a constant concern.  Because it’s so old, my students tend to have a hard time getting into Beowulf, so I’m always on the lookout for ways to make it relevant to them.  I think I may have found it.  Nicky Raven’s retelling of the epic is, I think, pretty gosh darn true to the Beowulf poet’s original intent.  The characters are the same, for the most part, and the plot follows the same events from the attacks of the monster Grendel through the battle with the dragon and on through to the end.  One aspect that was particularly pleasing about this newer adaptation is Raven’s use of literary devices that are commonly found in Anglo-Saxon literature such as kennings (two-word metaphorical descriptions that take the place of a noun, like whale road for ocean or ring-bearer for king) and alliteration.  As is fitting for traditional literature, Raven maintains the clues to important characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon warrior culture within his retelling. 

If you’re not familiar with the plot, it’s actually very simple.  Beowulf is a big, strong hulk of a man (a Geat) who is pretty much indestructible.  His father’s buddy Hrothgar is having a little trouble with a cranky monster named Grendel, so Beowulf sets sail for Heorot in Denmark (Hrothgar’s crib) to rid him of this Grendel character. He succeeds in ripping off the monster’s left arm in the fray, and he (Grendel) slinks armless back to his dark, dank, cold swamp home.  Uh oh…now Grendel’s mama is cranky that someone ripped her baby’s arm off!  She comes after Heorot in revenge.  So, what does Beowulf do?  He goes to fight her on her turf, wins, and returns home to Geatland.  Fifty years pass.  Beowulf becomes king of Geatland.  Then a thief steals a dragon’s special cup, so he (the dragon) gets cranky and attacks Geatland.  Here we go again!  But now (monkey wrench) Beowulf is OLD!  He decides to fight the dragon anyway.  Problem is, even though he takes a bunch of guys with him, they all run away like scared little girls. (Please excuse the sexism…it’s fitting for a discussion of Anglo-Saxon literature.)  All except one that is…Wiglaf sticks around and fights the dragon with Beowulf.  That’s good old-fashioned loyalty for you.  Unfortunately, the end of this battle isn’t the same as the other two…and, as always, you’ll have to actually read it to find out the details of how things turn out for Beowulf and his lone supporter Wiglaf.

This is the plot of the epic that was passed down in the oral tradition until it was eventually written down by the anonymous Beowulf poet.  From here on out, I’ll just call that version “the original.”  Nicky Raven’s retelling is very similar but not a match.  One aspect of the newer version that might make it easier for my students to relate to is that the story is told in a third-person-sympathetic-omniscient point-of-view, primarily from Wiglaf’s perspective.  Rather than having an anonymous narrator, the reader is given a consistent frame of reference from which to digest the action.  Also, Raven also includes text told from various other characters’ perspectives as well.  We are able to read Grendel’s thoughts and that of his mother just as we are able to understand the action from Wiglaf’s side.  Raven uses this device to add some dramatic irony, since when we are reading the text from Grendel’s point-of-view we don’t know what’s happening with Beowulf and his crew and vice versa. 

Because we are reading the story primarily from Wiglaf’s point-of-view, Raven does have to shift the timeframe for the final battle with the dragon to thirty years after his battles with Grendel and his mother as opposed to the fifty years that passed in the original.  It doesn’t really change much except that twenty years is a long time when you’re talking about the ability of a man to fight a deadly monster without the help of modern medicine!  Beowulf might only be 50 or so in Raven’s retelling when he’s probably pushing 75 or so in the original…quite a difference in fighting ability, I would imagine. 

John Howe’s illustrations would also make reading this text more enjoyable for my students.  His rich watercolor, ink, and colored pencil creations capture the movement and intensity of the epic.  I often ask my students to draw Grendel or his mother the way they picture them as they read.  Howe translates the strong imagery of the text into the lush illustrations which would help the students envision the action unfolding before them. 

Because I could never let the original go, I might incorporate Nicky Raven’s book as a supplement to our study of Beowulf.  Therefore, my BIG QUESTIONS would be: How does Nicky Raven make use of Anglo-Saxon literary elements in his retelling of Beowulf?  What similarities to the original can you find?  Differences?  Which do you like better?  Explain why you think so.