ABSTRACT

This work Om Bjovulfs-drapen, Copenhagen 1875, by the otherwise unknown (to Beowulfians) Ludvig Schrøder, has received little attention since it was first printed (but see Bjork 1997:123-6). It was originally delivered in Askov in August 1875, as a series of lectures at one of the ‘folkehøjskoler’ or ‘folk high schools’ founded by Grundtvig (for whose significance see Introduction, p. 60) and was clearly intended for a non-scholarly audience. It consists in large part of quotations from Grundtvig’s 1820 translation of Beowulf, with linking commentary, and indeed shows no sign of any use of the original text. However, Schrøder did one thing for which he should be given all due credit: he was the first modern reader of the poem to lay stress on the scene in Heorot in which Unferth is juxtaposed with Hrothgar and Hrothulf, and Wealhtheow addresses her husband, a scene whose implications have formed the basis for almost all twentieth-century criticism. The point was made later by Sarrazin and Olrik (see items 114 and 116 below), and picked up (not without initial resistance, see item 122 below) largely from the latter. Schrøder, though, deserves long-belated credit for his insight-perhaps to be shared with Grundtvig’s suggestive if less-than-literal translation. Pp. 56-9.