Beowulf is indeed one epic poem that many individuals find it completely interesting. This is the main reason why there are so many of them who are so curious to know about the original author’s true identity.
Despite the effort made by the scholars trying to extract as much information that they can from a single old manuscript with the poem written on it, the author still remains completely anonymous. This means, nobody really knows about this mysterious poet.
On my further research about this subject, I compiled here some of the most common questions around.
“Was the author a Christian?”
Some are saying that the author was a Christian because the story portrays Paganism and Christianity. The land of Heorot was actually cursed where demons finds it a perfect dwelling place. When king Horthgar was the ruler, all of his people were pagans. They only started to seek help from various spiritual beliefs which includes Christianity when they lost hope of stopping Grendel.
I also do think that the author was possibly a Christian but it is not a one hundred percent guaranteed. He could be a poet who wrote Beowulf to describe events of his own time.
“Was the author a member of the Anglo-Saxon tribe and lived in England?”
Some scholars speculated that the author was a resident of England even though the events portrayed on his poem took place in Scandinavia. The proof is that, the original language used by the writer is in “Old English”. This was the language used by the Anglo-Saxons who spoke it back in 1150 AD.
In contrast to the above theory, other scholars believed that the original author lived in Scandinavia which is now Sweden and Denmark. There are really so many possibilities about why the poem was passed down to Britain.
One theory suggests that the original author was a traveler who entertained people around. He must had composed his poem directly in his own poetic mind, memorized it and delivered to his audience orally. Since he was a traveler, he must had visited Britain or even got invited to perform for the king.
When the king got fully entertained, he must had ordered someone for the poem to be written down on a manuscript. Since the one who simply wrote it wasn’t the real author, he didn’t placed it on the manuscript.
“When was the time that the author wrote the poem?”
So far, the scholars don’t agree with one another. Although, the oldest manuscript in existence that managed to survive until today is dated back from 1000 C.E.
But the big question is that, “Is this old manuscript the original document written by the actual author? What if it is just a copy of another copy from the past? And, what if the written manuscript was not the original source of the poem? What if it all started as a word-of-mouth passed down from one person to another before it got written?”
Anyway, the only clue that gives support to the time of the events was the introduction of Christianity. This time period falls somewhere in the mid of 600s to 700s.
Moreover, there is really nothing much important about who the real author of Beowulf was. Maybe he has good reasons why he doesn’t want to be given credits for his magnificent poem. In my own personal opinion, he probably wants the readers or listeners to truly grasp his poem’s message. There could be a hidden message that only the people of his time can literally interpret and understand.
Despite the effort made by the scholars trying to extract as much information that they can from a single old manuscript with the poem written on it, the author still remains completely anonymous. This means, nobody really knows about this mysterious poet.
On my further research about this subject, I compiled here some of the most common questions around.
“Was the author a Christian?”
Some are saying that the author was a Christian because the story portrays Paganism and Christianity. The land of Heorot was actually cursed where demons finds it a perfect dwelling place. When king Horthgar was the ruler, all of his people were pagans. They only started to seek help from various spiritual beliefs which includes Christianity when they lost hope of stopping Grendel.
I also do think that the author was possibly a Christian but it is not a one hundred percent guaranteed. He could be a poet who wrote Beowulf to describe events of his own time.
“Was the author a member of the Anglo-Saxon tribe and lived in England?”
Some scholars speculated that the author was a resident of England even though the events portrayed on his poem took place in Scandinavia. The proof is that, the original language used by the writer is in “Old English”. This was the language used by the Anglo-Saxons who spoke it back in 1150 AD.
In contrast to the above theory, other scholars believed that the original author lived in Scandinavia which is now Sweden and Denmark. There are really so many possibilities about why the poem was passed down to Britain.
One theory suggests that the original author was a traveler who entertained people around. He must had composed his poem directly in his own poetic mind, memorized it and delivered to his audience orally. Since he was a traveler, he must had visited Britain or even got invited to perform for the king.
When the king got fully entertained, he must had ordered someone for the poem to be written down on a manuscript. Since the one who simply wrote it wasn’t the real author, he didn’t placed it on the manuscript.
“When was the time that the author wrote the poem?”
So far, the scholars don’t agree with one another. Although, the oldest manuscript in existence that managed to survive until today is dated back from 1000 C.E.
But the big question is that, “Is this old manuscript the original document written by the actual author? What if it is just a copy of another copy from the past? And, what if the written manuscript was not the original source of the poem? What if it all started as a word-of-mouth passed down from one person to another before it got written?”
Anyway, the only clue that gives support to the time of the events was the introduction of Christianity. This time period falls somewhere in the mid of 600s to 700s.
Moreover, there is really nothing much important about who the real author of Beowulf was. Maybe he has good reasons why he doesn’t want to be given credits for his magnificent poem. In my own personal opinion, he probably wants the readers or listeners to truly grasp his poem’s message. There could be a hidden message that only the people of his time can literally interpret and understand.
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