Beowulf is a very complex piece of literature, or perhaps I just have a small mind, never the less it was difficult for me to understand. It was originally a folk-lore, passed verbally through the years, therefore it was told in a manor that could be easily remembered and retold. This story was told, possibly sang, to warriors before they went into battle. It was told to then to put a sense of bravery. When this story was told, the narrator used alliteration, kenning, and a sing-song pattern; this helped the story teller to remember the story.

             Who the original speaker is in this story is not stated; but the reader gets the idea that it is a person that was watching from a distance. It was not one of the warriors, for they ran off. Perhaps it was just a commoner that wants to see what is being done for his own safety. This story was passed by mouth for close to five hundred years. Told to warriors right before they went out to battle. The story teller would have possibly sang this story so that it could be remembered. Because of this there is a certain flow to the piece, not any rhyming, but there is a general flow.

             The first sign of alliteration occurs on the first line of the piece extracted from the story. "Then the dangerous dragon." It goes on to emphasize the burdening problem the dragon, ".scourge of the Geats." is towards the innocent Geats. When in reality, the Geats were doing as much killing as the dragon, and their killing was probably less justifiable than the dragons, considering the dragon was fighting for his own survival. In this case though the dragon was killing in a rage, over his missing treasure. Nevertheless, the Geats see the dragon as pure evil. "(He) was intent a third time upon attack." Perhaps by his relentless attacking it suggests that evil is always there, that we may keep fighting it, but it forever keeps fighting back. Then our hero is introduced.