Blogging Beowulf: Fit XX, Lines 1321-1382  This is another short
fit, only some 60-odd lines, but it has some goodies in it.
Hrothgar laments the death of his chief thane, named Æschere. He
skillfully lays the blame for the death at Beowulf’s
doorstep—Æschere’s death is retaliation for his killing of
Grendel—and says he will greatly reward Beowulf if he kills
Grendel’s mother.  Hrothgar uses the words idese onlīcnæs,
likeness of woman, in line 1351a to describe Grendel’s mother.
The word ides is generally reserved for noble women and is a
term of respect, similar to our use of lady today. The vowel
alliterates with the other stressed vowel sounds in the line, so
that may be reason for using this odd-choice of a word for a
monster, but one can readily imagine that the line could also
have been reconstructed to use a more generic term, like wif
using a different alliteration scheme.  Then in the second half
of the fit is what may be my favorite passage of the poem so
far. It’s a description of the territory aro