Beowulf, the only Anglo-Saxon epic preserved entire, was composed in
southwest Sweden probably before the eighth century, and taken to England,
where it was worked over and Christianized by the Northumbrian poets.
It is variously attributed to the fifth, seventh, and eighth centuries;
but the seventh is most probably correct, since the Higelac of the poem
has been identified with Chocilaicus of the "Gesta Regum Francorum," a
Danish king who invaded Gaul in the days of Theuderic, son of Clovis, and
died near the close of the sixth century.
The only manuscript of the poem in existence is thought to be of the tenth
century. It is preserved in the British Museum. Since 1837 much interest
has been manifested in the poem, and many editions of it have been given
to the public.
Beowulf contains three thousand one hundred and eighty-four lines. It is
written in alliterative verse. The lines are written in pairs, and each
perfect line contains three alliterating words,--two in the first part,
and one in the second.
The unknown writer of Beowulf cannot be praised for his skill in
composition; the verse is rude, as was the language in which it was
written. But it is of the greatest interest to us because of the pictures
it gives of the everyday lives of the people whose heroic deeds it
relates,--the drinking in the mead-halls, the relation of the king to his
warriors, the description of the armor, the ships, and the halls. The
heroes are true Anglo-Saxon types,--bold, fearless, ready to go to the
assistance of any one in trouble, no matter how great the risk to
themselves; and as ready to drink mead and boast of their valor after the
peril is over. In spite of the attempt to Christianize the poem, it is
purely pagan; the most careless reader can discover the priestly
interpolations. And it has the greater value to us because it refused to
be moulded by priestly hands, but remained the rude but heroic monument of
our Saxon ancestors.