is ther irony in our version of.this past age? how does the poet create a distance between the characters and himself, and how does he express their own sense of a distant past?

The past is told through the memories and memoriazations of a wealth of ancient storytellers. The story passed on would have been extremely accurate, as the job itself was difficult. People memorized these tales word for word...... there are still people who verbally repeat and carry on the epic tales of the past. I recently watched a documentary about a man in Ireland..... fascinating.

The distance wouldn't be between the poet and the past; he is the narrator and his words come froma long ago time...... his listeners however would over time find the tale more glorious, hard to believe, and out of their scope as time went on. Today, we see this as an epic adventure with otherworldly beasts...... today, it's a fantasy. In ancient time, these tales were believed and the creatures could have been anything ot anyone that might have been different and misunderstood. Fear and superstition.