Beowulf Dialect Journal: #41-45

41. "The battle-famed king, bulwark of his earls, ordered a gold-chased heirloom of Hrethel's to be brought in; it was the best example of a gem-studded sword in the Geat treasury. This he laid on Beowulf's lap and then rewarded him with land as well, seven thousand hides, and a hall and a throne. Both owned land by birth in that country, ancestral grounds; but the greater right and sway were inherited by the higher born." (2190-2199)

Beowulf and King Hygelac (whose father, Hrethel, owned the sword described in the passage) are both lords – they both "owned land by birth in that country," Geatland. However, Hygelac has a slightly more higher up family, so he has the right to be king over Beowulf, even though they're about equally rich.

42. "'Order my troop to construct a barrow on a headland on the coast, after my pyre has cooled. It will loom on the horizon at Hronesness and be a reminder among my people – so that in coming times crews under sail will call it Beowulf's Barrow, as they steer ships across the wide and shrouded waters.'" (2802-2808)

The building of barrows, is a traditional way for Scandinavian and European tribes in the Middle Ages to commemorate great men and women after their deaths.

43. "'So this bad blood between us and the Swedes, this vicious feud, I am convinced, is bound to revive; they will cross our borders and attack in force when they find out that Beowulf is dead.'" (2999-3003)

Blood feuds were a traditional. Every time a man from one tribe kills a man from another tribe, it's possible that the revenge killings will eventually escalate into a full-scale war. At the end of Beowulf, a Geatish messenger predicts that, with the strong king Beowulf dead, another blood feud will break out between the Geats and their rival tribe, the Swedes.

44. "Then twelve warriors rode around the tomb, chieftain's sons, champions in battle, all of them distraught, chanting in dirges, mourning his loss as a man and a king. They extolled his heroic nature and exploits; which was the proper thing, for a man should praise a prince whom he holds dear and cherish his memory when that moment comes when he has to be conveyed from his bodily home." (3169-3177)

Beowulf's lords celebrate his life by retelling the stories of his great deeds, a traditional way of mourning and preserving the memory of a great man at the same time.

45. "The water was infested with all kinds of reptiles. There were writhing sea-dragons and monsters slouching on slopes by the cliff, serpents and wild things such as those that often surface at dawn to roam the sail-road and doom the voyage." (1425-1430)

It's interesting that the sea monsters that infest the lake where Grendel's mother lives are just thrown in for atmosphere. Beowulf doesn't really have to fight them and they don't pose a very important threat.