l. 28. faroð = shore, strand, edge. Add these to the meanings in the Gloss.
l. 31. The object of âhte is probably geweald, to be supplied from wordum weóld of [l. 30].—H.-So.
R., Kl., and B. all hold conflicting views of this passage: Beit. xii. 80, ix. 188; Zachers Zeitschr. iii. 382, etc. Kl. suggests lændagas for lange.
l. 32. "hringed-stefna is sometimes translated 'with curved prow,' but it means, I think, that in the prow were fastened rings through which the cables were passed that tied it to the shore."—Br., p. 26. Cf. [ll. 1132], [1898]. Hring-horni was the mythic ship of the Edda. See Toller-Bosworth for three different views; and cf. wunden-stefna ([l. 220]), hring-naca ([l. 1863]).
ll. 34-52. Cf. the burial of Haki on a funeral-pyre ship, Inglinga Saga; the burial of Balder, Sinfiötli, Arthur, etc.
l. 35. "And this [their joy in the sea] is all the plainer from the number of names given to the ship-names which speak their pride and affection. It is the Ætheling's vessel, the Floater, the Wave-swimmer, the Ring-sterned, the Keel, the Well-bound wood, the Sea-wood, the Sea-ganger, the Sea-broad ship, the Wide-bosomed, the Prow-curved, the Wood of the curved neck, the Foam-throated floater that flew like a bird."—Br., p. 168.
l. 49. "We know from Scandinavian graves ... that the illustrious dead were buried ... in ships, with their bows to sea-ward; that they were however not sent to sea, but were either burnt in that position, or mounded over with earth."—E. See Du Chaillu, The Viking Age, xix.
l. 51. (1) sele-rædende (K., S., C.); (2) sêle-rædenne (H.); (3) sele-rædende (H.-So.). Cf. [l. 1347]; and see Ha.
l. 51. E. compares with this canto Tennyson's "Passing of Arthur" and the legendary burial-journey of St. James of Campostella, an. 800.
l. 53. The poem proper begins with this, "There was once upon a time," the first 52 lines being a prelude. Eleven of the "fitts," or cantos, begin with the monosyllable þâ, four with the verb gewîtan, nine with the formula Hrôðgâr (Beówulf, Unferð) maðelode, twenty-four with monosyllables in general (him, swâ, sê, hwät, þâ, hêht, wäs, mäg, cwôm, stræt).