Foreshadowing the End in Beowulf. Issue 8 (17th November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sebo, Erin
• Is Part Of: English studies. Volume 99:Issue 8(2018)
• Page Start: 836
• Page End: 847
• Publication Date: 2018-11-17
• Subjects: English philology -- Periodicals; English literature -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Philologie anglaise -- Périodiques; Littérature anglaise -- Étude et enseignement -- Périodiques; 420
• DOI: 10.1080/0013838X.2018.1516016
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-838X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In this article, I will reconsider the function and meaning of three connected instances of the word fyren, 879a, 915b, and 1744b. Each occurs in a passage in which a character offers Beowulf advice by comparing him to either Sigemund or Heremod. In each case, the passage establishes a highly complex network of allusions which illuminates Beowulf's present and his future. In each, I argue, it is possible to read fyren as a pun which foreshadows his fiery end. Intriguingly, the advice offered to Beowulf proves irrelevant, as the foreshadowing indicates. So, why is so much space dedicated to it? I suggest the answer to the question has a profound bearing on how we read the significance of the poem's tragic ending.