Facts about Beowulf

1. 05

   J.R.R. Tolkien's influential 1936 lecture Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics helped establish the poem as a serious work of literature rather than a mere historical document.

   BeowulfJun 6shareliteraturemedievalscholarship
2. 04

   Grendel, the monster antagonist of Beowulf, is described in the poem as a descendant of the biblical figure Cain.

   BeowulfJun 6shareliteraturemythologymedieval
3. 03

   Written in Old English, Beowulf consists of more than 3,000 alliterative lines, making it the longest surviving Old English poem.

   BeowulfJun 6shareliteraturemedievalpoetry
4. 02

   Beowulf is set in Scandinavia and centers on the hero's battles against the monster Grendel, Grendel's mother, and a dragon.

   BeowulfJun 6shareliteraturemedievalepic
5. 01

   The Old English epic poem Beowulf survives in a single manuscript known as the Nowell Codex, dating to around 1000 CE.

   BeowulfJun 6shareliteraturemedievalmanuscript