The first versions of Beowulf were necessarily oral because the scops were illiterate. All versions of this classic poem were constructed from phrases or “formulas” repeated from generation to generation among the scops. These formulas constituted a common source for all ancient poetry, from which all poets derived the language used in their improvised poetic creations. Francis Magoun, in his "Oral-Formulaic Character of Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry", states: "A poem oral until written does not have and cannot have a fixed text, a difficult notion for scholars" ( Magoun 84). With each telling of the oral poem, there is some variation from the previous telling. Consider the poem where Hrothgar honored Beowulf for his victory over Grendel; the king made poetic verses relating the famous episode of Finnsburh sing with his scop, against a harp background: there was tumult and singing, a melodious noise, in front of the battle commander of Healfdene; the harp was plucked, good verses sung when Hrothgar's scop was in its place o...... middle of paper ...... language in Beowulf is made up of formulas (88-89). We thus see that the first versions of Beowulf were necessarily oral, because of the illiteracy of the scops, and necessarily stereotyped because of the scope or immensity of the poetic creations not memorized. Works Cited Collins, Roger and McClure, Judith, editors. Bede: The Ecclesiastical History of the English People; The Great Chronicle; Letter from Bede to Egbert. New York: Oxford University Press, 1969.Magoun, Frances P. “Oral-formular character of Anglo-Saxon narrative poetry”. In TheBeowulf Poet, edited by Donald K. Fry. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: Sons of GP Putnam, 1907-1921; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000