The Adventures of Beowulf

Beowulf, written in Old English sometime before the Tenth Century CE, describes the adventures of a great Scandinavian warrior of the sixth century. A rich fabric of fact and fancy, Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic in British literature. This is not a line-by-line translation of the original poem but an attempt to recreate the poem in free verse so that no words must be added for the sake of formal meter or rhyme. In addition, free verse allows for the poem to approach the rhythms of the original. Some explanation has been added to the verse. Some lines have been cut. And the curious, contradictory section from line 1888 to line 2199 has been omitted. This is not an exact translation of the poem but rather a new version, close to the original but a poem in its own right. Beowulf can be used as an historical text. It has much to teach us about an ancient culture. More importantly, however, it is a ripping good story. This translation attempts to tell that story.