Beowulf is the longest extant poem written in Old English or, as it is sometimes called, Anglo-Saxon. At 3,182 lines, Beowulf represents about 10 percent of the poetry that survives from the earliest stage of the English language, a period that lasted from about 600 to 1100 C.E. Some of the most basic facts we can know about any work of literature--who wrote it, and when, and where--elude us about Beowulf. Scholars have argued for generations about these matters, as is evident from some of the critical discussions included in this edition, but they have also agreed on the extraordinary qualities of the poem. For it is a remarkably vivid and powerful narrative of the hero Beowulf and the world he moves through as a slayer of monsters and ruler of his people.

This Norton Critical Edition presents the highly acclaimed Donaldson prose translation of Beowulf in its entirety, accompanied by explanatory annotations.

"Backgrounds and Contexts" provides readers with the historical, linguistic, and literary settings of Beowulf, including Robert C. Hughes on the origins of the Old English language, E. Talbot Donaldson's presentation of the major features of Old English poetry, new material on Beowulfs tribes and genealogies, three maps, and a facsimile illustration from the manuscript.

"Criticism" collects seven new and wide-ranging interpretations of Beowulf by Fred C. Robinson, Roberta Frank, John D. Niles, Michael Lapidge, Joyce Hill, Helen Bennett, and Nicholas Howe.

A Glossary of Proper Names and a Selected Bibliography are also included.

Preface

The Translation · E. Talbot Donaldson

Abbreviations

The Text of Beowulf

Backgrounds and Contexts

 The Beowulf Manuscript

 Tribes and Genealogies

 The Geography of Beowulf

 Robert C. Hughes · The Origins of Old English

to 800 A.D.

MAP: the continental homelands of the

  Germanic invaders

MAP: the English kingdoms at the beginning of the

  seventh century A.D.

 E. Talbot Donaldson · [Old English Prosody and Caedmon's

Hymn]

Criticism

 Fred C. Robinson · Appositive Style and the Theme

of Beowulf

 Roberta Frank · The Beowulf Poet's Sense of History

 John D. Niles · Reconceiving Beowulf'. Poetry as

Social Praxis

 Michael Lapidge · Beowulf and the Psychology of Terror

 Joyce Hill · "pat Was Geomum Ides!" A Female Stereotype

Examined

 Helen Bennett * The Female Mourner at Beowulf's Funeral:

Filling in the Blanks/Heanng the Spaces

 Nicholas Howe · The Uses of Uncertainty: On the Dating

of Beowulf

Glossary of Proper Names

Selected Bibliography