5 Terrifying Monsters From Old English Poetry

Written between the 5th and 11th centuries, Old English poetry features a distinct, alliterative structure and was intended to be read aloud. These poems often reflect the social attitudes of Anglo-Saxon society, and they survive in manuscripts and on stone structures. Many Old English poems contain heroic stories about quests, adventures, and battles with monsters. From devious whales to swamp creatures with claws, Old English monsters are fascinating villains.

In 1072, a rich anthology of medieval poetry was donated to Exeter Cathedral. This manuscript is now known as the Exeter Book, one of the best-preserved manuscripts written in Old English. The manuscript contains a range of poems, illustrations, and riddles—including an unusual description of a whale. Believed to have been written by a poet called Cynewulf in the 10th century, The Whale is one of the more fantastical poems in the Exeter Book.

Cynewulf tells the story of a monstrous sea creature, an animal that disguises itself as an island and waits for sailors to moor themselves to its back before dragging them down to a watery death. Part whale, part turtle, the creature also entices fish into its jaws by emitting a sweet odor from its mouth. Throughout the poem, the poet even compares the creature to Satan—a villain who entices and punishes those who seek pleasure.

Like many medieval poems, The Whale draws upon a pre-existing myth. The legend of the monster is thought to have originated in the Physiologus, a 3rd-century Greek text that describes a range of unusual creatures. Nonetheless, stories and illustrations of the whale can be found in an array of medieval texts. Known as the lyngbakr in Old Norse and the aspidochelone in Greek, the whale was said to have existed in the Greenland Sea in the 13th century and even Alexander the Great is rumored to have encountered the monster while on an expedition to India.

Some scholars have also likened the whale to the “Sarathan,” a large crab that features briefly in a handful of medieval Arabic stories. Like the whale, the Sarathan disguises itself as an island before drowning unsuspecting travelers.

Enjoy a short passage from a modern English translation of The Whale:

“Under the salty waves he plunges down,Straight to the bottom deep he drags his prey;He, guest of ocean, in his watery hauntsDrowns ships and men, and fast imprisons themWithin the halls of death.”

Translated by James Hall Pitman.

The whale isn’t the only unusual monster in the Exeter Book. The manuscript is filled to the brim with riddles about medieval objects and animals, and the 32nd riddle describes a rather monstrous creature indeed. With one foot and a large mouth, the answer to the riddle is difficult to decipher. Have a read of this modern English translation of Riddle 32:

“At times I saw strange contraption move about,grind against the grit, go screaming.The strange creature did not have sight nor hands,shoulders nor arms; on one foot mustthe cunning contraption move, powerfully journey,going over fields. It had many ribs;its mouth was in the middle. Useful to mankind,it bears an abundance of food, works for the people,carries sustenance within, and yields to mentreasure every year that those men enjoy,rich and poor. Tell, if you know,wise and prudent in words, what that creature may be.”

(Translation from the University of Birmingham’s Riddle Ages blog)

Can you guess the answer? Scroll to the bottom of this article to find out.

3.  Grendel

Some of the more famous Old English monsters can be found in Beowulf, the oldest surviving piece of English literature. Composed sometime between the 7th and 10th centuries, the poem is a story about the life and adventures of Beowulf, a Scandinavian hero. While scholars have debated the historical existence of Beowulf, the monsters he supposedly battles are fantastical, bizarre, and indisputably fictional.

At the beginning of the poem, Beowulf hears that a monster called Grendel is terrorizing a magnificent mead hall in Denmark, attacking and eating warriors while they sleep. In the Medieval Era, monstrous creatures were thought to be descendants of Cain (Adam and Eve’s murderous son) and Grendel is no exception. He is described as a “devil from hell” and an evil outcast, emerging from the mist-covered moors with eyes that glow like fire.

The poem depicts Grendel as a giant with unnatural strength, however, his physical appearance is largely left to the reader’s imagination. Modern film adaptations of Beowulf are often experimental with Grendel’s appearance. The film Beowulf & Grendel (2005) portrays him as a troll-like Neanderthal, while Robert Zemecki’s version of Beowulf (2007) presents Grendel as an inhuman, diseased monster. Other adaptations such as Grendel Grendel Grendel (1981) are more forgiving, depicting him as a bumbling orange and green creature.

Beowulf confronts the monster in the mead hall at night. Grendel feasts on one of the sleeping warriors in the hall, but as he reaches for his next victim, Beowulf seizes the creature’s hand with incredible strength. The bones in Grendel’s fingers crackle and snap. After a violent wrestle, Beowulf tears off Grendel’s arm and the monster slinks back to his home to die.

Academics have suggested that the fight between Beowulf and Grendel symbolizes the struggle between order and chaos. Although Beowulf lives in a pagan society, the poem implies that he fights with God’s favor. Some scholars view the battle with Grendel as a representation of the emerging triumph of Christianity over paganism in early Scandinavian society.

The only Old English monster more mysterious than Grendel is… Grendel’s mother. Keen to avenge her son’s death, Grendel’s mother begins slaughtering warriors in the night. She remains nameless and her physical appearance is only loosely described, but like her son, Grendel’s mother is said to be “devil-shaped” with claws. She lives in an underwater cave lit by a fiery glow.

While the poem does not specify whether Grendel’s mother has a tail, many film adaptations re-imagine her as a mermaid or sea creature. In the 2007 film adaptation of Beowulf, Angelina Jolie portrays her as a shape-shifting seductress with a gold tail, presenting her as an evil temptress rather than a physically repulsive monster. Other adaptations such as Beowulf & Grendel (2005) depict her as a grieving hag with a mixture of human skin and scales.

Regardless of her appearance, Beowulf finds Grendel’s mother to be a difficult monster to defeat. In the Old English poem, it takes Beowulf over a day to swim down to her lair and his sword cannot even pierce her skin. Through a stroke of good luck, his chainmail repels her knife point, and he sees an ancient, powerful sword in the corner of the cave. The weapon is heavy and forged by giants but, ever the hero, Beowulf manages to wield the sword and pierce Grendel’s mother’s neck.

As both a woman and a monster, Grendel’s mother is thought to be Beowulf’s most interesting adversary. While Grendel is presented as a straightforward villain, his mother’s maternal vengeance makes her a more unusual, complex monster.

After the defeat of Grendel’s mother, Beowulf returns home to be crowned King of the Geats (a Northern Germanic tribe). His rule is peaceful until, 50 years later, an escaped slave wanders into a dragon’s lair and steals a piece of its treasure. The dragon is a greedy, powerful beast and it retaliates by flying over Beowulf’s land, burning houses and crops with its fiery breath. Even Beowulf’s own hall is blackened and burnt.

Like many dragons in Germanic folklore, the monster lives in a hidden underground barrow and sleeps atop a glamorous hoard of treasure. The Beowulf poet undoubtedly took inspiration from traditional Germanic dragons—greedy, venomous snakes and “wyrms” (serpents). However, these dragons were often unable to fly or breathe fire, and scholars have suggested that Beowulf is one of the first poems to combine elements from Old Norse and European dragon myths.

The Beowulf dragon has proven to be an influential monster, forming the basis for modern-day depictions of dragons in fantasy novels and films. It even inspired J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and his character Smaug is thought to be a re-imagining of the Beowulf dragon.

In the original poem, Beowulf travels to the dragon’s lair with his fellow warriors. After a violent struggle in the barrow, all except one of Beowulf’s companions flee him and he suffers a venomous bite to the neck. In desperation, he plunges his knife into the dragon’s stomach and deals a fatal blow. As the dragon’s venom seeps into Beowulf’s blood, his last companion brings him an armful of treasure to gaze upon as he dies.

Have a read of this short translation from Rutgers University-Camden’s Old English Poetry Project. This passage describes the dragon’s attack on Beowulf’s land.

“Then the alien spirit began to spew flaming breath,burning the bright halls. A burning light stood tall,a horror to all humans. The hated wind-flier wishedto leave nothing alive there. The wyrm’s warfarewas plain to see, the cruelly-hostile malice,from near and far — how the battle-harmerhated and harassed the Geatish people.It rushed back to its hoard, its secret halljust before daytime.”

Riddle 32: Acceptable answers include wheelbarrow, ship, wagon, and millstone!