The "Wars of the City of Paris" was written in the 890s. The poem itself narrates events taking place over an eleven-year period from 885 to 896. It was first composed "circa" 890 and later extended up to 896. The entire poem consists of 1,393 lines in three books: 660 lines in the first book, 618 in the second, and 115 in the third. Throughout the poem Abbo employs a dactylic hexameter, though with the occasional fault. This metre helps to underpin the epic nature of the poem, a conscious aim of Abbo. The purpose of the work was both scholarly and hortative, warning future generations of the Viking menace. Its polemic literary style (sometimes called the "hermeneutic style") is typical of its period and place, though it is studded with "obscure Grecisms." It has usually received negative criticism from historians, or even been viewed as a contemporary parody of the hermeneutic style.