Beowulf Essay No one knows when Beowulf was composed or by whom or why A single manuscript managed to survive Henry VIIIs dissolution of monasteries and the destruction of their great libraries But we do have a poem and we are remarkably lucky to have it not only it is unique the sole survivor of what may have been a thriving epic tradition but it is great poetry It is essentially an aristocratic poem concerned with kings and kingship He ruled lands on all sides wherever the sea would take them