The Beowulf Poet about 750?“Hear me!” So begins Beowulf, the oldest surviving epic poem in English. The command was intended to capture the listening audience’s attention, for Beowulf was originally chanted or sung aloud. Centuries of poet-singers, called scops (shIps), recited the adventures of Beowulf. It is our great fortune that eventually a gifted poet unified the heroic accounts and produced an enduring work of art.
