Of Old English heroic poetry,it is difficult to form any definite
or final estimate as the extent or worth of what has been lost is not fully known. Different political events and social upheavals destroyed distinctly a good deal of old .AngloSaxon poetry with Germanic traditions.As a matter of fact Beowulf has completely survived, and seems much luckier than its fellow works in this respect Waldhere,Finnsburgh and others are found preserved only in fragments. What is , however , significantly marked in all these old heroic -Beowulf , Finnsburgh , Waldhere -as also early pagan works , Deor and Widsith - is that they all belong to a muck earlier time and contain as such much of the picture of the time to which they belong . Actually , those works are supposed to belong to the heroic age an they well reflect the tradition as well as spirit of past time there is a good deal to be learned from them about the conditions of life in the heroic age just as this can be seen in the Iliad of the Odyssey about the heroic age of ancient Greece . The way of living , Picture in these English poems , is not without the touches of nobility and the impression they live testifies sufficiently to brief historical annals of the time . To a modern reader , the importance of Beowulf lies not in its epic grandeur , nor in its technical superiority . The epic quality or technical perfection of Beowulf is not beyond all disputes . In fact Beowulf is seldom taken as a finished work of epic poetry and it artistic excellence is not seldom dismissed by characterizing it as a nursery tale . Yet , above all such controversies , Beowulf stands out for one specific quality , and this is a social picture that it presents . Indeed , its significance to a modern reader mainly lies in the social account that it contains and represents . As a social document of primitive life , its excellence is undeniable . Truly speaking , Beowulf stands out as an illuminating evidence of the mode of living of
primitive Teutonic rather Germanic people , with all their
ideals , rituals and customs . Beowulf belongs to primitive Teutonic life and the exact period of its composition on not known . It is a characteristic heroic poem of a primitive community and celebrates the glory of primitive hero . Beowulf , who is the hero of the poem , stands out brilliantly with his gallantry , nobleness and unhesitating self -sacrifice . He goes to fight indominately against evil forces to protect his friend and his comrades and demonstrates the noble zeal for fighting to save the weak against the wicked. He even lays down his own life heroically to save his people from a tyrannical dragon , and thereby to ensure his subjects ' safety against demonic external aggression . The social aspect of Old English heroic poetry is distinctly discernible. Though the authentically of these earliest works is justifiably disputable,the social account that they give is no myth.No matter whether the works are original or created or edited by subsequent authors they expose a keen of allegiance to the social order or practices of the time to which the belong.