Its narrator notes that many desperate altar-offerings had to be intended for Hell, because the offerers hadn't yet heard of the Christian God.
An extended simile late in this work describes a father passing by an empty house and lamenting after he sees his son hang on the gallows. The reigning scholarly edition of this text was annotated by University of Minnesota scholar Friedrich Klaeber. Its narrator notes that many desperate altar-offerings had to be intended for Hell, because the offerers hadn't yet heard of the Christian God. At least three funerals, including at the (*) beginning and end, give structure to this poem, the longest surviving production of a scop. This poem includes a time skip of "fifty winters" after a skeptic questions the protagonist's swimming prowess and a sword is melted by a descendant of Cain in an underwater lair near Heorot. For 10 points, name this poem in which the title Geatish warrior defends a mead-hall by slaying Grendel, an Old English epic.
An extended simile late in this work describes a father passing by an empty house and lamenting after he sees his son hang on the gallows.
Beowulf