Beowulf: Context

                                                                        CONTEXT

Beowulf has a peculiar history that complicates both its historical and its canonical position in English literature. Beowulf was composed by an unknown Anglo-Saxon poet around 700 A.D. and was trasmitted orally for many years. The Beowulf story dated around 500 A.D. before the migration of the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian people. Though still an old pagan story, Beowulf was told by a Christian poet, because the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian invaders were converted to Christianity. So the Beowulf poet attributed Christian thoughts and motives to his characters who frequently behave in un-Christian ways.We read today a Beowulf which is different from that of Anglo-Saxons. Beowulf  is set in Scandinavia.
Many of those values which Beowulf depicts were still operative to some degree when the poem was written. One of those values is heroic code of honor that is a relic of pre-Anglo-Saxon culture. It's a traditional story which is the work of a single poet.
Even though the manuscript of Beowulf was forgotten and was nearly destroyed in a fire, in the 19th century it emerged a big interest for this story to understand the Anglo-Saxon era.
Beowulf is now taught and is often presented as the first important work of English literature. Beowulf has had a direct impact on the development of English poetry.
Beowulf was written in Old English an ancient form of modern English. Old English poetry is highly formal different by modern English because it existed in oral tradition for a long time. The most common rhetorical devices is the Kenning, which is a short metophorical description of a thing used in place of the thing's name.



Sources : www.sparknotes.com