ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Beowulf is the first piece of English literature to present a dragonslayer. Although the Beowulf dragon exhibits many existing motifs common to Germanic tradition, the Beowulf poet was the first to combine features and present a distinctive fire-breathing dragon.

Detailed explanation-2: -Beowulf is an epic poem that is both one of the most important works in English literature, and a great adventure story. While it is set in Scandinavia in the early sixth century, the poem was composed in England somewhere between the seventh and the end of the tenth century.

Detailed explanation-3: -"Beowulf” is the oldest surviving epic poem in the English language and the earliest piece of vernacular European literature.

Detailed explanation-4: -The oldest epic recognized is the Epic of Gilgamesh ( c. 2500–1300 BCE), which was recorded in ancient Sumer during the Neo-Sumerian Empire. The poem details the exploits of Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk.

Detailed explanation-5: -The dragon is a mighty and glamorous opponent, an appropriate match for Beowulf. The dragon is so well suited to bring about Beowulf’s downfall, in fact, that some readers have seen it as a symbolic representation of death itself: the unique, personal end that awaits every person.