“Accomplishes what before now had seemed impossible: a faithful rendering that is simultaneously an original and gripping poem in its own right.” — New York Times Book Review



This Norton Critical Edition includes:

• Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney’s poetic translation of the great Anglo-Saxon epic—winner of the Whitbread Prize—along with his translator’s introduction.
• Detailed explanatory annotations and an introduction to Old English language and prosody by Daniel Donoghue.
• More than two dozen visuals, including, new to the Second Edition, a fine selection of objects from the Staffordshire Hoard.
• A rich array of Anglo-Saxon and early northern civilisation materials, providing student readers with Beowulf’s cultural and historical context.
• Nine critical interpretations, three of them new to the Second Edition.
• A glossary of personal names and a selected bibliography.