Beowulf

Beowulf is an Old English heroic poem about a Geatish warrior whose encounters with monsters span his youth and later kingship. He first travels to aid the Danish king Hrothgar against Grendel and then Grendel’s mother; much later, a dragon threatens his own people. Speeches, recollections, and accounts of earlier conflicts place these actions within a wider history of kinship and obligation. The alliterative verse gives weight to ceremonial language and compressed description. Alongside the hero’s courage, the poem considers the burdens of leadership, the fragility of peace, and the grief that survives great deeds.