Quote:
Originally posted by Miinxx:
In regards to the author of beowulf:
I believe he was a 11th century christian monk composing this poem based on the oral viking tradition at the time and since monasteries were the prime targets of viking due to their concentration of wealth, I was just picturing the priest being tied up and forced to write this as the vikings stood over him to give "encouragement"  . Just a vivid imagination going to work there.
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Actually, to my knowledge, Beowulf is an anonymous poem, like most OE poems.
It's true that there are some Christian influences in it but there is nothing known about the author, so we cannot tell for sure.
Still, I agree that it's a splendid work, I loved reading it. In fact, I have a recommendation for those who like Beowulf: get an audioversion! I have three of them:
- a selection of excerpts from Beowulf and a number of other OE poems read in Old English (absolutely fantastic to hear!)
- Seamus Heaney's acclaimed translation read by the author himself
- the translation by Michael Alexander