ix + 203 pp. A verse translation reprinted many times, and reused by others often, sometimes without attribution. The translation of Beowulf is preceded by an Introduction (1-21) and is followed by translations of The Fight at Finnsburg, Waldere, Hildebrandslied, Deor, and Widsith. From the Introduction:

there is no reason to doubt the tradition that the hero himself, though not mentioned by the chronicle [i.e., Gregory of Tours' History of the Franks], was with his kinsman and chieftain [Chochilaicus/Hygelac], and escaped after the defeat by a masterful piece of swimming. The poem tells this; and its exaggeration in loading Beowulf with thirty suits of armor is only proof that something of the sort took place. Legend is always false and always true. History invents facts; but legend can only invent or transpose details; and there is sure to be something real within the field of the glass which legend holds up to one's eyes, let the distortions be as they may be. (4)

The translation begins:

[title] Prelude of the Founder of the Danish House

Lo, praise of the prowess of people-kings
of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,
we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!
Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,
from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,
awing the earls. Since erst he lay
friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:
for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve,
till before him the folk, both far and near,
who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate,
gave him gifts: a good king he! (22)

And ends:

Then about that barrow the battle-keen rode,
atheling-born, a band of twelve,
lament to make, to mourn their king,
chant their dirge, and their chieftain honor.
They praised his earlship, his acts of prowess
worthily witnessed: and well it is
that men their master-friend mightily laud,
heartily love, when hence he goes
from life in the body forlorn away.

Thus made their mourning the men of Geatland,
for their hero's passing his hearth-companions:
quoth that of all the kings of earth,
of men he was mildest and most belovéd,
to his kin the kindest, keenest for praise. (158)

• Hugh Magennis, Translating Beowulf: Modern Versions in English Verse (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2011), 71.

BAM, from digital images of a copy at the University of Michigan, via Hathitrust.org.