ABSTRACT
In the first place it may be observed that all the earliest old English literature is in poetic form, and that it is to the poetry that we must look chiefly for the characteristics of the period. The prose arose later and shows such strong foreign influence that it is necessarily less individual in character. In the poetry we have achievement, in the prose chiefly promise. The ultimate source of the poetry is to be found centuries earlier on the Continent in the songs which the Germanic tribes composed in honour of their great men. Further, some general knowledge of these songs, of the heroes thus honoured, and of the style of treatment in them may be gathered from extant poems, especially from those in Old English (OE) and Old Norse Literature. In OE times the custom of song-making lasted on, Biblical themes being added to secular ones, and peasants took their part in these performances.
