by Seamus Heaney

Little is known about the circumstances of the composition of Beowulf: not only is the author unknown, but scholars are in wide disagreement about when the poem was written. Until a generation ago the prevailing opinion was that a date somewhere in the eighth century was likely, but dates in the range of the seventh to the tenth centuries have been proposed. This makes any detailed investigation of the author’s cultural and literary background problematic. However, much more is known about the unique surviving copy of Beowulf; while the poem is concerned with events in pagan Scandinavian history and legend, it survives in a manuscript of English origin, written in the early eleventh century. These facts could argue for either an early or late date of composition; England in the early eleventh century was ruled by the Danish king Cnut...