The Style of BeowulfUrsula Schaefer in “Rhetoric and Style” provides an overview of the history of style criticism:The examination of the poem's rhetoric and style began with the investigation of the characteristics common Germanic. On the other hand, attention has been drawn to a possible Latin influence on the style of the poem. Recently, there have been reconsiderations of indigenous traditions mainly linked to the analysis of broader narrative patterns (105). The stylistic features of Beowulf will be examined in this essay, along with the perspectives of various literary critics. TA Shippey in “The World of the Poem” comments on a point of style in the Old English poem Beowulf: “The poet reserves the right to say what people think; he does not, however, consider it of extreme importance” (39). It is true that the reader is forced to draw conclusions, from the characters' words and actions, about the characters' thoughts. This is one of many authorial preferences that contribute to style or “how” writers say what they say (Abrams 303). Joan Blomfield in "The Style and Structure of Beowulf" notes two important features of the poem's style – irony and the tendency to antithesis: this tendency to antithesis, often bordering on paradox, and the constant play of irony are nothing more than stylistic manifestations of those movements of the poet's thought that shape the very substance of the poem (Blomfield 58). Antithesis abounds: the poem has a reference to the burning of Heorot included in the description of his early glories, and the prediction of family conflict with Ingeld while all is well... middle of paper...... ok, 1977. Donaldson, E. Talbot. "Old English Prosody and Caedmon's Hymn." Beowulf: The Donaldson Translation, edited by Joseph F. Tuso. New York, WWNorton and Co.: 1975.Magoun, Frances P. “Oral-Formulaic Character of Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry.” In The Beowulf Poet, edited by Donald K. Fry. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Schaefer, Ursula. "Rhetoric and style". In A Beowulf Handbook, edited by Robert Bjork and John D. Niles. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.Shippey, T.A. “The world of poetry”. In Beowulf – Modern Critical Interpretations, edited by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Tharaud, Barry. "Anglo-Saxon Language and Traditions in Beowulf." In Readings on Beowulf, edited by Stephen P. Thompson. San Diego: Greenhaven Press,1998.