The Story of Sigemund: Beowulf and Poetic Tension Felix Morrison College

While Beowulf is structured around its three key confrontations between man and monster - Grendel, Grendel’s mother and the Dragon respectively - the plot is punctuated by a series of digressions that recount other heroic, or culturally significant, stories. This section takes place almost immediately following the conclusion of Grendel’s death, and tells the dragon-slaying tale of Sigemund - a figure originating within Norse mythology. Despite its digressional nature, through alluding to previous events and arguably foreshadowing future plot points the section is a thematically cohesive interlude that reflects upon the overall narrative. Indeed, the way in which stories are composed is itself self-consciously depicted, as the poet constructs a meta-poem of sorts - articulating the story through the medium of a fictional scop. The scop’s narration is steeped within the language of the heroic code, and parallels are drawn between Sigemund and Beowulf. Nevertheless, the apparent heroic glorification of Sigemund is problematized within the text. Despite the parallels made to the eponymous hero, Sigemund’s adventures are continuously described in phrases that echo previous descriptions of the monstrous Grendel. Moreover, the Dragon...