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There are many that make it a significant part of the history of literature. It is a perfect representation of how the people in eighth century England communicated, what their feelings were, and their culture. "It gives us vital information about Old English ....

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.... Beowulf , or why. A single manuscript (Cotton Vitellius A XV) managed to survive Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries, and the destruction of their great libraries; since his name is written on one of the folios, Lawrence Nowell, the sixteenth-century scholar, may have been responsible for Beowulf's preservation."(Raffel ix) An interesting fact that is unique about the poem is that "it is the sole survivor of what may have been a thriving epic tradition, and it is great poetry."(Raffel ix) The poem was composed and performed orally. "Old English bards, or scops, most likely began by piecing together traditional short songs, called he ....