Editing Beowulf (section)

=== Performance ===
[[File:A minstrel sings of famous deeds by J. R. Skelton c 1910.jpg|thumb|upright|The traditional view is that ''Beowulf'' was composed for performance, chanted by a [[scop]] (left) [[Rotte (lyre)#Anglo-Saxon lyre|to string accompaniment]],{{sfn|Liuzza|2013|pp=18–20}} but modern scholars have suggested its origin as a piece of written literature borrowed from oral traditions. Illustration by [[Joseph Ratcliffe Skelton|J. R. Skelton]], {{Circa|1910}}]]

{{further|Oral-formulaic composition}}

The scholar [[Roy Liuzza]] notes that the practice of oral poetry is by its nature invisible to history as evidence is in writing. Comparison with other bodies of verse such as Homer's, coupled with ethnographic observation of early 20th century performers, has provided a vision of how an Anglo-Saxon singer-poet or [[scop]] may have practised. The resulting model is that performance was based on traditional stories and a repertoire of word formulae that fitted the traditional metre. The scop moved through the scenes, such as putting on armour or crossing the sea, each one improvised at each telling with differing combinations of the stock phrases, while the basic story and style remained the same.{{sfn|Liuzza|2013|pp=18–20}} Liuzza notes that ''Beowulf'' itself describes the technique of a court poet in assembling materials, in lines 867–874 in his translation, "full of grand stories, mindful of songs ... found other words truly bound together; ... to recite with skill the adventure of Beowulf, adeptly tell a tall tale, and (''wordum wrixlan'') weave his words."{{sfn|Liuzza|2013|p=36}} The poem further mentions (lines 1065–1068) that "the harp was touched, tales often told, when Hrothgar's scop was set to recite among the mead tables his hall-entertainment".{{sfn|Liuzza|2013|p=119: "gomenwudu grēted,      gid oft wrecen, ðonne healgamen      Hrōþgāres scop   æfter medobence      mǣnan scolde,"}}