Beowulf (The Standard Translation)

This is the famous story in verse about Beowulf, a warrior hero in Scandinavia who comes to the help of Hroðgar, the king, who has been under attack by a monster known as Grendel. Beowulf must try to slay this hideous creature. And he wants to become a king in his own right. As if that isn't enough, Beowulf must defeat a dragon, which turns out to be his greatest battle of all. This translation of the heroic epic was the first to truly popularize the saga of what is without a doubt one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.