Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them] to askchapo • edit-23 years agoWhy are old stories like Beowulf and Paradise Lost called poems?message-squaremessage-square32 fedilinkarrow-up131file-text
arrow-up131message-squareWhy are old stories like Beowulf and Paradise Lost called poems?Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them] to askchapo • edit-23 years agomessage-square32 Commentsfedilinkfile-text
minus-squareWittyProfileName2 [she/her]hexbear12·3 years agoBeowulf (like a lot of epics) was originally an oral tradition and thus was originally recited as verse because it's easier to memorise that way. When it was finally written down, it retained the verse structure, which is all you really need to classify a written work as a poem. Idk about Paradise Lost, never read it. link
minus-squareThomas_Dankara [any,comrade/them]hexbear7·3 years agothere's a dude, benjamin bagby, that performs it in the original old english link
Beowulf (like a lot of epics) was originally an oral tradition and thus was originally recited as verse because it's easier to memorise that way.
When it was finally written down, it retained the verse structure, which is all you really need to classify a written work as a poem.
Idk about Paradise Lost, never read it.
there's a dude, benjamin bagby, that performs it in the original old english