I am stupid pls educate me. Were they actually poems?

  • Thomas_Dankara [any,comrade/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    there's a lot more focus on alliteration, consonance, and assonance, than strict end-of-line rhyming. Most of the people reciting this probably never saw it in writing. They possibly learned it orally, and recited it orally, and only later did people write it down.

    • Abraxiel
      ·
      3 years ago

      Well I agree on the first point. I think everyone who has been recorded reciting it read it first most likely, since I don't think there are many or any native old English speakers left. But maybe that's not what you meant.

      • Thomas_Dankara [any,comrade/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        But maybe that’s not what you meant.

        yeah i meant it was an oral tradition among the early medieval anglo saxon peoples who originally recited it. Meaning it was memorized and sung for a long time before being written down by someone literate.

        i think the confusion stemmed from the fact that I said "reciting" in the present tense when I meant to say it in the past tense.

      • Abraxiel
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        I love a scyld scefing