The Scop Finishes the Tale The bard goes on to tell us of Beowulf’s fate. He tells us that when Beowulf dies, a sadness will take over the land and the dragon’s jewels will burn on Beowulf’s funeral pyre.

The digression is used to hint to Beowulf’s fight with the dragon, becoming king, and tell what kind of king Beowulf will not be in the future. The digression begins as a story of a legendary king named Sigemund who is very similar to Beowulf. Moreover, this move will be the beginning of Beowulf’s downfall.

The use of digressions constitutes the artistic design of Beowulf and the most important function of these stylistic devices is to provide the reader with additional pieces of information, so that the poem as a whole can be understood up to a greater extent.

What is a didactic and how is Beowulf one? -Beowulf taught lessons to Anglo-Saxons to represent the heroic code and to get Anglo-Saxons to always be loyal to their kings, fight for their people, etc.

The Voice that Brought Beowulf Beowulf was recited long before it was first recorded by Medieval Poets, known as Scops (pronounced shops). Scops travelled to Mead Halls around the Anglo-Saxon country-side to recite their poems to the warriors who’ve returned from battle.

Scops were the keepers of tribal histories as well as influencers of tribal values. These poets had high status within their communities because they affirmed and promoted ideas the Anglo-Saxons found important. They also often had high status in their communities due to acquired wealth and land (Taylor).

Quick Reference. A temporary departure from one subject to another more or less distantly related topic before the discussion of the first subject is resumed. A valuable technique in the art of storytelling, digression is also employed in many kinds of non-fictional writing and oratory. Adjective: digressive.

Examples are the poems Widsith and Deor, in the Exeter Book, which draw on the idea of the mead-hall poet of the heroic age and, along with the anonymous heroic poem Beowulf express some of the strongest poetic connections to oral culture in the literature of the period.

: an Old English bard or poet.