Beowulf is the most important Old English poem and perhaps the most significant single survival from the Anglo-Saxon period.

Though its composition was completed in England in the eighth century, the poem is set in the heroic societies of fifth-century Scandinavia. Against this background of feuding and feasting the hero, Beowulf, kills Grendel and Grendel's mother, but in killing the Dragon is himself killed.
We have here something more than merely a heroic poem of historical interest: Beowulf has a truly epic quality and scope, and this verse translation successfully communicates the poem's artistry and eloquence.