Literacy In Beowulf

Beowulf

Beowulf contains information regarding the author, provenance, genre, language, and intended audience. To begin, the author is a mystery like many of the authors during the Anglo-Saxon period, so it could have been written by a single poet or a group of poets. Also, it is unknown when Beowulf was created, but using historical references from around that time it is believed to be around the 7th to 8th century CE in England. It is known that it was not written down until about the 1000 CE because the literacy rate in England at the time when it was created very low. The manuscript was first owned by Sir Robert Cotton the third, but was bought by the British government after seeing it as a national treasure. The an original manuscript

These tribes lived to survive, so literacy was not an important part of their culture. In addition, the fall of the Roman Empire lowered the literacy rates across all of Europe. After decades, the tribes in England began to form different identities, the largest being the Anglo and the Saxon tribes. These tribes eventually created cities, increased literacy rates, were introduced Christianity, and became a center of religious learning. Beowulf was believed to be created in this time of change from tribes to religious power. Because England was a strong Christian center, many people received Beowulf as an example of how to live. Like the bible that is used to teach morals, the author(s) created a strong heroic figure that embodied high morals and acted as a role model. Furthermore, the narrative was originally an oral epic poem. This affected the way it was received because the story could have changed from each person who told it, but the main points were kept through each telling. As it spread across England, the story slightly changed to relate to the people listening to it, which brought people from different tribes closer because of their common knowledge of Beowulf. Also, the tale used never before known characters. This increased the interest and gave the people of England a sense of pride because it was their very own unique narrative. In addition, many other stories during this time