<p>This article offers a reassessment of the digressions in <i>Beowulf</i>, arguing that these inset narratives serve a central rather than peripheral role within the poem. Departing from traditional interpretations that view the digressions as aesthetic devices that enhance the main narrative, this essay suggests that the poet devised the hero’s three-monster fight structure as a frame to embed significant legendary tales. These inset tales, featuring ancestral figures familiar to early English audiences, are integral to the poem’s purpose and reflect early English identity, as demonstrated by their appearance in royal genealogies and heroic verse. <i>Beowulf</i>'s narrative layering stands in contrast to other Old English texts, indicating that this interplay of primary and secondary narratives is unique and an innovative feature of the poem. The article rejects both New Critical and Oral-Formulaic approaches, offering instead a reading that sees the legendary figures in the inset tales as having greater cultural and historical significance than the protagonist Beowulf. This interpretation explains the poem's “digressive” structure as a deliberate choice to preserve and celebrate early English legends within a larger heroic framework. By viewing <i>Beowulf</i> as an anthology of heroic tales, focus shifts from formal unity to the accumulative and heterogenous nature of the poem, suggesting that <i>Beowulf</i>’s enduring power lies in its ability to encapsulate multiple narratives within a single, overarching structure.</p>