Beowulf: epic or not?
The exact time and place of the composition of Beowulf are under a continuous argument, rather no one is evident about the composition of Beowulf or its source. Many scholars and poets claimed for Beowulf to be published in Germany and later drawn to England by German invaders. There have been many arguments formed regarding Beowulf to be an epic or not, but there is no room for denial that it lacks in certain qualities that we find in epics like Iliad or Odyssey. Still, we cannot entirely repudiate that Beowulf has some epic qualities which makes it an epic.
Beowulf has possessed one of the greatest qualities of an epic such as the unity of design. Though, its plot does not reflect the unity of design like Milton's Paradise Lost or Odyssey. The first part of the epic poet has demonstrated a fine representation of the unity of design as we have gone through all the eventual incidents involving Beowulf's arrival at Denmark, his fight with Grendel and his mother, returning to king Hygelec, all of this have painted the unity of design with crafted hands. W.P.Ker asserted that " in this part of the poem, taken by itself there is no defect of unity".
Another significant quality of an epic is choric which refers to the quality of representing a certain age with its characteristics and symbolism. Beowulf has certainly addressed the quality as Beowulf itself has evinced the demand of the heroic age and portraited people’s hunger for fame and heroic figures are being worshipped like old gods. The prologue of Beowulf is another manifestation of an epic poem that has delivered epic conversations. Instead of the argument formed against Beowulf, it has given us a complete pleasure of Anglo-Saxon era and provided us with the rusty and bloody taste of heroic events that clearly have advocated the veracity of Beowulf as an epic poem.
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