Stylometry is intended to identify and quantify those individual tics. Everybody uses language a bit differently: we favor different punctuation or turns of phrase, have a broader or narrow vocabulary, and so forth. The methodology in this case is called stylometry, which analyzes the statistical characteristicsВ in textual style: the poem's meter, for example, or how many times different words or letter combinations appear in a given text. This is the first step in taking an old debate and refreshing it with some new methodology.' 'The latter also have the merit of being testable, measurable.

'Arguments based on the poem's content or its author's supposed belief system are vital, of course, but equally important are arguments based on the nitty-gritty of stylistic details,' said Krieger. This new study brings the power of computational analysis to bear on the debate. As Krieger points out, every character in the poem is a pagan, although 'it's overlaid throughout with a Christian perspective and infused with Christian language.'В Tolkien also defended the single-author viewpoint in the essay. In Tolkien's paper, he argued for an earlier eighth-century composition date, based on textual evidence of a strong influence of Anglo-Saxon paganism. Tolkien was a great admirer of Beowulf, which greatly influenced the world-building of The Hobbit andВ his Lord of the Rings trilogy. That's when Tolkien published his seminal literary analysis, ' Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics,' in Proceedings of the British Academy,В based on a lecture delivered that same year. However, 'It has helped contribute to a narrative according to which the writing of Beowulf, and maybe its original composition, was a long and collaborative effort,' said Krieger. Scholars agree that these were different scribes copying the poem, not two different poets. Then there's the fact that the handwriting of the original manuscript is different at line 1,939, mid-sentence, a second scribe's hand takes over. Scholars believe many of the characters are based on historical figures in sixth-century Scandinavia. Some 50 years after those adventures, Beowulf slays a dragon, although he is killed in the process. He slays her, too, and eventually becomes king of his people, the Geats. Beowulf obligingly slays the beast, incurring the wrath of Grendel's equally monstrous mother.

The Danish King Hrothgar's mead hall is under attack from a monster called Grendel. Set in Scandinavia, Beowulf recounts the adventures of its titular hero. They published their findings in a recent paper in Nature Human Behavior. Now researchers at Harvard University have conducted a statistical analysis and concluded that there was very likely just one author, further bolstering Tolkien's case. Tolkien was among those who famously championed the single-author stance. For decades, scholars have hotly debated both when the poem was composed and whether it was the work of a single anonymous author ('the Beowulf poet'). The epic poem Beowulf is the most famous surviving work of Old English literature.

Author of beowulf