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
Ynglinga saga Ynglinga saga Ynglinga saga is a legendary saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It is the first section of his "Heimskringla". It was first translated into English and published in 1844 by Samuel Laing. Snorri Sturluson based his work on an earlier "Ynglingatal" which is attributed to the Norwegian 9th century skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir, and which also appears in "Historia Norwegiae". It tells the most ancient part of the story of the House of Ynglings ("Scylfings" in "Beowulf"). Snorri described the descent of the kings of Norway from this