in the final peroration of his notable lecture on folk-tale and history in beowulf , given last year , mr. girvan said : confessedly there is matter for wonder and scope for doubt , but we might be able to answer with complete satisfaction some of the questionings which rise in men 's minds over the poet 's presentment of his hero , if we could also answer with certainty the question why he chose just this subject , when to our modern judgment there were at hand so many greater , charged with the splendour and tragedy of humanity , and in all respects worthier of a genius as astonishing as it was rare in anglo-saxon england .