Beowulf

Fact check
Beowulf is an Old English poem
The poem is highly allusive
A heroic narrative
The language that is today called Anglo-Saxon or Old English
More than three thousand lines long
It stands as one of the foundation works of poetry in English
The anonymous poet (likely a Christian monk) gives no dates
Beowulf's story takes place in the 6th century in Denmark and Sweden.
The poem was written in England but the events it describes are set in
Scandinavia, in a ‘once upon a time’ that is partly historical.
A good example of alliterative verse, which is the repetition of sounds
from line to line. 
It is impossible to attain a full understanding and estimate
of Beowulf without recourse to this immense body of commentary and
elucidation
The most popular recent translation however is by the late Seamus
Heaney, a Nobel Prize-winning poet in his own right. Heaney uses his
native Irish turns of phrases in the translation and they fit in surprisingly
well (the Celtic meeting the Saxon?). He also uses conjoined words in
phrases like "God-cursed Grendel", "great-shafted spear", "the wine-hall",
and "gem-studded goblet" to keep his text compact. It comes across like
the sprung rhythm of poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, quite readable but
with a coiled energy. Exciting, many readers find it.
 CAESURA
a break in the middle of each line, called a caesura

So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by

and the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness.
We have heard of those princes’ heroic campaigns.
Transmitted orally by storytellers (scops), written not until around 1000 AD
Best known example of earliest English literature
Considered as an important source of information on the history and culture
of Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian people
The story is divided into three almost equal sections involving different
monsters that Beowulf fights and kills, one in each section
The hero himself is fictional, and the monsters belong to myth and fairy tale,
references in the text to authentic kings who once lived make it possible to
situate the action in the 6th century AD
The epic presents detailed knowledge of pre-Christian pagan beliefs and
practices
Used kenning and allliteration
ANGLO-SAXON