Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics give it a powerful effect. He rebuts suggestions that the poem is an epic or exciting narrative, likening it instead to a strong masonry structure built of blocks that fit together. He points out that the poem's theme is a serious one, mortality, and that the poem is in two parts: the first on Beowulf as a young man, defeating Grendel and his mother; the second on Beowulf in old age, going to his death fighting the dragon. The work has been praised by critics including the poet and "Beowulf" translator Seamus Heaney. Michael D. C. Drout called it the
Beowulf in front of him. In the way that it is currently bound, the "Beowulf" manuscript is followed by the Old English poem "Judith". "Judith" was written by the same scribe that completed "Beowulf" as evidenced through similar writing style. Worm-holes found in the last leaves of the "Beowulf" manuscript that aren't present in the "Judith" manuscript suggest that at one point "Beowulf" ended the volume. The rubbed appearance of some leaves also suggest that the manuscript stood on a shelf unbound, as is known to have been the case with other Old English manuscripts. From knowledge of books held in