The heroic epic of Beowulf, composed in verse in Old English around the sixth or seventh century A.D. and preserved in an ancient and unique manuscript from the early eleventh century, holds for the English the same value that the Homeric Epics hold for the Greeks.

It recounts the exploits of the hero Beowulf, who, in his quest for glory and recognition, faces terrible monsters of primordial chaos in a story that blends elements of myth, legend, and the history of Northern Europe.

J.R.R. Tolkien, a professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford, translated the epic into prose, combining his academic knowledge and experience with his literary skill in a text that reveals in all its glory a world lost in the mists of myth and history.

Along with the translation, the book includes detailed commentary by the professor and analyses of the epic's content, as well as the Sellic Spell (Wonderful Story), his own rendition of Beowulf in the form of a fairy tale.

Through the text of Beowulf and Tolkien's notes, a forgotten world is revealed that deeply influenced the later works of the professor himself and represented the primal form of modern Western Europe.