In "An Education in the Mead Hall: Beowulf's Lessons for Young Warriors", Alexander M. Bruce speaks to a general audience about the lessons surrounding the battles of Beowulf and how those lessons are passed on to younger warriors, especially in the oral version of the poem. The theme of the article is that the oral tradition of Beowulf was told to younger audiences in an attempt to motivate them for battle, and over the years, and who knows what changes, the poem was finally written down.
             Bruce lets us know that he believes ....the story was perpetuated, told and re-told (doubtless with variation) until someone wrote it down" (Blake 2). The article addresses Beowulf's early battles with Grendel and Grendel's mother as a means of motivating young warriors and finally to the lessons learned in Beowulf's battle with the final dragon (death), which all warriors, great and small, eventually will fight and lose. The article shows us how Beowulf could very well have been a battle cry for young warriors in the Anglo Saxon time period.
             Although it not outlined with headings, the article is fairly easy to follow and is well evidenced by several literary and historical sources, especially in the beginning of the article. For example, he cites Karl Brunner, who believes that the idea that Beowulf was designed specifically to teach princes as the main reason Beowulf was preserved and passed down (Brunner). Although Bruce quotes liberally from other sources in the beginning of his article, towards the middle and end of the article, he simply quotes from the poem itself to support his thesis that younger warriors were read Beowulf as a method of motivation.
             The word choice of Mr. Bruce allows an easy understanding by the reader. He does not "speak above" his intended audience by using jargon to confuse his reader. Indeed, I believe someone with a high school education, or perhaps early college e...