s called formulas. These are characteristics of the oral tradition. Starting at line 867 in the poem, the method of composition of a poem by a Danish scop is described, and it is likely that this is the process that produced the original "Beowulf" as well long before it was written down by a scribe. A later passage, beginning at line 2105, also details the telling of stories and places a stress on the ability to remember the old stories as an important qualification for a poet.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight exists in a manuscript containing three other works as well--Pearl, Purity, and Patience. All are by the same unknown poet who wrote in the last half of the fourteenth century, during the time of Chaucer. Chaucer's work would serve as the beginning for a poetic tradition extending over the next five centuries, while the poet of Sir Gawain wrote in a different style off the main track of development and completely ignored as a model. Indeed, his poetry bears more resemblance to the poetic conventions of Beowulf in terms of his use of alliterative devices, based on the old native meter and style.
The social structure of the world of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is more familiar to modern readers than that of Beowulf beca
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