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Wednesday
My cousin Phoebe Conant sent me the following Beowulf quiz from the University of Chicago alumni magazine. Since we give pride of place to the Anglo-Saxon epic in this blog—even though it functions as a metonym for literature in general—I thought I’d pass it along. Although I’ve read the poem dozens of times, I did not achieve a perfect score:
Beowulf character or Ikea product?
1. Beanstan
2. Eanmund
3. Gradvis
4. Breca
5. Froda
6. Starreklinte
7. Bergtunga
8. Nereby
9. Ingeld
10. Korvmoj
11. Ecglaf
12. Elan
13. Malm
14. Scyld
15. Ingabritta
16. Skurar
17. Fitela
18. Balungen
19. Merewing
20. Flisat
Answers
The fun part of the quiz is that some of the Ikea products do indeed sound like Beowulf characters. The quiz offers extra points for identifying the particular Ikea products, and I’m proud to say that I failed that part utterly. I’m less proud of having missed three Beowulf characters although (in my defense) Beanstan, Elan, and Merewing don’t show up in either the Seamus Heaney or the Burton Raffel translations of Beowulf. Beanstan is the father of Breca, whom Beowulf bests in a swimming contest; according to Wikipedia Elan is (thanks to a corrupted document) an incomplete name for Yrsa, Hrothgar’s sister; and Merewing is a different spelling of Merovingian, another name for the Franks. Wiglaf predicts that the Merovingians will be invading Geatland now that Beowulf is dead.
Here are the answers (B for Beowulf, I for Ikea)
1-B; 2-B; 3-I(design line: planters, vases, mister); 4-B; 5-B; 6-I (rug); 7-I (cutting board); 8-I (wall shelf set); 9-B; 10-I (veggie dog); 11-B; 12-B; 13-I (design line: furniture); 14-B; 15-I (throw blanket); 16-I (candle holder); 17-B; 18-I (bathroom accessories); 19-B; 20-I (playroom items)