Beowulf — The Poem, Grendel and the Dragon

Beowulf begins in a royal hall that no one can defend. For twelve winters, Grendel has attacked Hrothgar’s warriors; the Geatish hero Beowulf arrives to end the raids. What follows is not a single battle but three tests of a hero, the last fought when he is an old king.

The hall and the marsh

At Heorot, Beowulf fights Grendel unarmed, relying on a grip the monster cannot escape. Victory brings another death: Grendel’s mother comes to avenge her son, and Beowulf must follow her beneath the haunted mere. The poem gives the enemies terrifying deeds without making the feud disappear when the first opponent falls.

An old king and his dragon

Many years later Beowulf rules the Geats. A stolen cup disturbs a dragon’s hoard, and the creature burns the surrounding land. The king goes to face it; most of his companions flee, while Wiglaf remains. Beowulf wins the fight but dies of his wounds, leaving his people to fear what enemies will do once their protector is gone.

Heorot’s feasts, gift-giving and boasts have political weight: the hall is where alliances are renewed and loyalty is made visible. The funeral at the end returns to the same problem on a larger scale. What survives after the greatest warrior can no longer hold a kingdom together?

At the table: victory with a debt

A hall has been freed from a night-raider. Its lord plans a feast, but relatives of the dead arrive with a lawful claim for compensation and news that the raider’s kin are gathering at the marsh. The party can negotiate a settlement, guard the feast or pursue the threat. A victory celebrated too early may start a larger feud.

The linked Faber & Faber paperback presents Seamus Heaney’s translation beside the Old English text. It is a useful edition if you want to compare the surviving poem’s language with an accessible modern reading.