A man-eating monster and his hideous sea-hag mother terrorise the fifth-century Danish court. Only the great Swedish hero Beowulf, strong as thirty men, can liberate the Danes. Fifty years later, he saves his own people from a terrible fire-breathing dragon. Beowulf is the longest surviving poem in Old English, set against a convoluted background of Scandinavian wars, dynastic marriage, intrigue and treachery. Since its rediscovery in 1786, the poem has been translated many times. This version retains the rhythms and alliteration of the original and takes advantage of the most recent scholarship to make the poem accessible to modern readers. It includes an Introduction which explores some of the themes of the poem and helps the reader navigate the tortuous historical context.