Now we know it: "Beowulf" written by just one poet

Cutting-edge technology may have answered a long-running question about an ancient poem.

The Guardian reports that a new study of Beowulf indicates that just one author wrote the epic Old English work. (The author's identity, however, remains unknown.)

Some scholars have suggested that there were initially two poems — one about Beowulf’s escapades in Denmark, the other about his battle with a dragon — though many others (including JRR Tolkien) have insisted it’s a solo piece.

So a team of researchers analyzed text from around the transition to Denmark to dragon, looking at “the use of certain types of pause, the use of different rhythms, and the occurrence of words produced by joining others together” in addition to “the use of clusters of letters found within words,” according to the Guardian.

Read more about this most exhaustive analysis to date in the Guardian.

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