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Beowulf

Telling the Tale
Beowulf Through the Ages - Cloze Activity Answers

The epic poem Beowulf tells of legendary people and events. It is thought to have been composed around the 8th century AD, although the first recorded written version dates from the 11th century. During the time in between, it is thought that poets would memorise this long, heroic tale and tell it at the fireside as a form of entertainment. In this way it was passed down through the generations by the Scops (pronounced 'shops'), singers of stories. As you can imagine, every telling of the poem would have been slightly different: even today, there are many different translations of the poem and the story has been retold in many different forms. The scriptwriters for the Beowulf movie also made some interesting decisions about characters and events based on their own understanding of the legend.