Editing Beowulf (section)

=== Digressions ===
The poem contains many apparent digressions from the main story. These were found troublesome by early ''Beowulf'' scholars such as [[Frederick Klaeber]], who wrote that they "interrupt the story",<ref name="Brady 1955"/> [[W. W. Lawrence]], who stated that they "clog the action and distract attention from it",<ref name="Brady 1955"/> and [[W. P. Ker]] who found some "irrelevant ... possibly ... interpolations".<ref name="Brady 1955">{{cite journal |last=Brady |first=Caroline |author-link=Caroline Brady (philologist) |title=Adrien Bonjour, ''The Digressions in Beowulf'' |journal=Modern Language Notes |date=November 1955 |volume=70 |issue=7 |pages=521–524 |doi=10.2307/3039650 |jstor=3039650}}</ref> More recent scholars from Adrien Bonjour onwards note that the digressions can all be explained as introductions or comparisons with elements of the main story;<ref name="Bonjour 1950">{{cite book |last=Bonjour |first=Adrien |title=The Digressions in ''Beowulf'' |date=1950 |publisher=Basil Blackwell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sfhDAAAAYAAJ |pages=xv and whole book}}</ref><ref name="Urbanowicz 2013"/> for instance, Beowulf's swimming home across the sea from Frisia carrying thirty sets of armour<ref>''Beowulf'', 2354–2396</ref> emphasises his heroic strength.<ref name="Urbanowicz 2013"/> The digressions can be divided into four groups, namely the Scyld narrative at the start;<ref>''Beowulf'', 4–52</ref> many descriptions of the Geats, including the [[Swedish–Geatish wars]],<ref>''Beowulf'', 2428–2508</ref> the "Lay of the Last Survivor"<ref>''Beowulf'', 2247–2266</ref> in the style of another Old English poem, "[[The Wanderer (Old English poem)|The Wanderer]]", and Beowulf's dealings with the Geats such as his verbal contest with Unferth and his swimming duel with Breca,<ref>''Beowulf'', 499–606</ref> and the tale of [[Sigmund|Sigemund]] and the dragon;<ref>''Beowulf'', 874–896</ref> history and legend, including [[the fight at Finnsburg]]<ref>''Beowulf'', 1069–1159</ref> and the tale of Freawaru and Ingeld;<ref>''Beowulf'', 2032–2066</ref> and biblical tales such as the [[creation myth]] and [[Cain]] as ancestor of all monsters.<ref>''Beowulf'', 90–114</ref><ref name="Urbanowicz 2013">{{cite journal |last=Urbanowicz |first=Michal |title=The Functions of Digressions in Beowulf |journal=Acta Neophilologica |date=2013 |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=213–223 |url=http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-a14c96fe-49ff-4c91-ba2d-a60f6bb58427/c/213-223_Urbanowicz.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-a14c96fe-49ff-4c91-ba2d-a60f6bb58427/c/213-223_Urbanowicz.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |issn=1509-1619}}</ref> The digressions provide a powerful [[Impression of depth in The Lord of the Rings|impression of historical depth, imitated by Tolkien]] in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', a work that [[Beowulf in Middle-earth|embodies many other elements]] from the poem.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=[[The Road to Middle-Earth]] |date=2005 |edition=Third |orig-year=1982 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |isbn=978-0261102750 |page=259}}</ref>