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EpicOld English · c. 700–10002 min · 1 passageSteady

Beowulf

This is the oldest long poem in English, recited aloud to a room of drinkers in a language you would need a translation to read. Listen to the beat before you worry about the meaning.

Power Mortality Courage

0 / 1 understood

The opening lines

Alliteration

Hwæt. We Gardena in geardagum, þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon, hū ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.

Underlined words and phrases can be tapped for a note

Plain English

Listen: we have heard of the glory of the Spear-Danes in days gone by — how those princes did brave deeds.

Go deeper

Mortality — how other works handle it →Power — how other works handle it →

That's the whole thing.

Read it again slowly — it gets better the second time.

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