ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -What is Beowulf? Beowulf is a heroic poem, considered the highest achievement of Old English literature and the earliest European vernacular epic. It deals with events of the early 6th century CE and is believed to have been composed between 700 and 750.

Detailed explanation-2: -For a description of this period in the context of the history of English literature, see English literature: The Old English period. Beowulf is the oldest surviving Germanic epic and the longest Old English poem; it was likely composed between 700 and 750.

Detailed explanation-3: -Anglo-Saxon literature (or Old English literature) encompasses literature written in Anglo-Saxon (Old English) during the 600-year Anglo-Saxon period of Britain, from the mid-5th century to the Norman Conquest of 1066.

Detailed explanation-4: -Composed by an anonymous poet between the 8th and 11th centuries, Beowulf is the first great work of English literature. It looks back to the adventures of its exemplary hero in the Scandinavian/Germanic world from which its hearers’ ancestors came.