Conclusions Drawn from Cluster Analysis

Abstract

Cluster analysis indicates the presence of different discourses within Beowulf. Segments C (Breca/Unferth), A (Proem) and F (Finnsburg) are very likely to have been influenced by sources different from those of the majority of the poem. Segments D (Grendel Fight), G (Grendel’s mother), L (Geatish history) and P (Geatish/Swedish Wars) are also likely to have been influenced by sources, with the sources of L and P being like (or even the same as) those of A and F. Segment J (bridge or recapitulation) may have a source as well, although that source may be the earlier part of Beowulf itself. Smaller sub-sections of the poem—among them, the Offa and Thryth digression and the story of Freawaru and the Heathobards—appear to have at least weak affinity with the robust pairing of A and F. The particularly strong effects of “Joy in the Hall” (lines 607–661), “The Father’s Lament” (2444–2462a), “The Lay of the Last Survivor” (2247–2270b), and Wiglaf’s criticism of the cowardly retainers (2860–2891) on dendrogram geometries suggest that there is something unusual about these segments. Material in lines 1–1887 tends to cluster together, as does that of lines 2200–3182, but there are connections and links across those broad divisions.