Life is full of choices. Whether their important or insignificant they do make a difference in the long run. Richard Wilbur makes many well thought out choices when writing "Beowulf". There are many similarities and differences compared to the epic poem and his own version. Wilbur had to make decisions in order to keep the selection of words effective. The words chosen create a visual image similar to the original epic so that the reader can relate it to the early writings of Anglo Saxton.

The old English epic Beowulf has over two thousand lines of text. In order to maintain the same writing style, Wilbur had to be highly selective in his terminology. For example in the first couple of lines "The land was overmuch like scenery, The flowers attentive, the grass too garrulous green;". In contrast to "Fell to ear, the flowers were too wrong," Wilbur...