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The
boast of an Anglo-Saxon warrior was not considered
an instance of conceit but was instead a method of
inspiring heroic deeds.
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Your
boast should appear similar to Beowulf’s boast and
must
be a minimum of 20 lines long.
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Boasts should be typed.
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Your
boast must
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Begin with a statement of who you are.
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Explain what you intend to do or what you
have done.
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Explain why you are qualified.
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Explain your previous accomplishments.
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Explain how you intend to accomplish your
deed.
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Include two original kennings of at least
three words each.
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Include at least two lines of heavy alliteration.
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Include caesura in at least four lines.
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Boasts may be serious, satirical, ironic, and/or
humorous.
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You
may use “artistic license” to add interest to
their boasts.
Beowulf's boast before fighting Grendel (Heaney
translation)
“Greetings to Hrothgar.
I am Hygelac’s kinsman,
one of his hall-troop.
When I was younger,
I had great triumphs.
Then news of Grendel,
hard to ignore,
reached me at home:
sailors brought
stories of the plight you suffer
in this legendary
hall, how it lies deserted,
empty and useless once
the evening light
hides itself under
heaven’s dome.
So every elder and
experienced councilman
among my people
supported my resolve
to come here to you,
King Hrothgar,
because all knew of my
awesome strength.
They had seen me
boltered in the blood of enemies
when I battled and
bound five beasts,
raided a troll-nest
and in the night-sea
slaughtered
sea-brutes. I have suffered extremes
and avenged the Geats
(their enemies brought it
upon themselves, I
devastated them).
Now I mean to be a
match for Grendel,
settle the outcome in
single combat.
And so, my request, O
king of Bright-Danes,
dear prince of the
Shieldings, friend of the people
and their ring of
defence, my one request
is that you won’t
refuse me, who have come this far,
the privilege of
purifying Herot,
with my own men to
help me, and nobody else.
I have heard moreover
that the monster scorns
in his reckless way to
use weapons;
therefore, to heighten
Hygleac’s fame
and gladden his heart,
I hereby renounce
sword and shelter of
the broad shield,
the heavy war-board:
hand-to-hand
is how it will be, a
life-and-death
fight with the fiend.
Whichever one death fells
must deem it a just
judgement by God.
If Grendel wins, it
will be a gruesome day;
he will glut himself
on the Geats in the war-hall,
swoop without fear on
that flower of manhood
as on others before.
Then my face won’t be there
to be covered in
death: he will carry my away
as he goes to ground,
gorged and bloodied;
he will run gloating
with my raw corpse
and feed on it alone,
in a cruel frenzy,
fouling his moor-nest.
No need then
to lament for long or
lay out my body:
if the battle takes
me, send back
this breast-webbing
that Weland fashioned
and Hrethel gave me,
to Lord Hygelac.
Fate goes ever as fate
must.” |
