xiii + 390 pp. An edition and verse translation, presenting the Old and Modern English texts en face. The poem is preceded by a preface on the goals of the edition and translation (ix-xii), an introduction (1-28) focused on matters of style and critical approaches but also including a summary (1-3), a "Guide to Reading Aloud" (29-38), and a detailed textual note (41-46). The text is followed by genealogical tables (244), a lengthy chapter called "Backgrounds" that contains miniature essays on such topics as "Heroic and Social Codes in the Poem" and "The Perspective of Christian Stoicism" (245-77), commentary (278-379), and a bibliography (380-85).

The summary of the story in the introduction begins:

Lines 1-836. The poem opens, as it is to end, with a funeral: the sea burial of Scyld, the founder of the Danish royal line. The first fifty lines are the epitome of a hero's career, combining loss with triumph. Then the main narrative begins. King Hrothgar of Denmark has long been afflicted by a huge demon, Grendel, who nightly kills and eats the warriors in the king's great hall, Heorot. (1; italics as in original)

And ends:

Lines 2892-3182. Wiglaf sends a messenger with the news of Beowulf's death to the king's stronghold. The messenger's speech to the king's council is an epic prophecy of the doom of the Geats at the hands of their enemies now that their protector is dead. Beowulf is cremated on a great pyre, and the treasure and his ashes are buried together in a monumental barrow on a headland by the sea. (3; italics as in original)

The Old English text of the poem begins:

Hwæt! Wē Gār-Dena     in geār-dagum,
þēod-cyninga,     þrym gefrūnon,
hū ðā æþelingas     ellen fremedon!

Oft Scyld Scēfing     sceaþena þrēatum
monegum mǣgþum     meodo-setla oftēah;
egsode eorl[as]     syððan ǣrest wearð
fēasceaft funden;     hē þæs frōfre gebād,
wēox under wolcnum,     weorð-myndum þāh,
oðþæt him ǣghwylc     pāra ymb-sittendra
ofer hron-rāde     hȳran scolde,
gomban gyldan.     Þæt wæs gōd cyning! (48; italics as in original; "pāra" for "þāra" sic)

The facing translation begins:

Listen! We have heard     of the glory of the Spear-Danes
in the old days,     the kings of tribes—
how noble princes     showed great courage!

Often Scyld Scefing     seized mead-benches
from enemy troops,     from many a clan;
he terrified warriors,     even though first he was found
a waif, helpless.     For that came a remedy,
he grew under heaven,     prospered in honors
until every last one     of the bordering nations
beyond the whale-road     had to heed him,
pay him tribute.     He was a good king! (49)

The Old English text ends:

Þā ymbe hlǣw riodan     hilde-dēore,
æþelinga bearn,     ealra twelf[e],
woldon [care] cwīðan,     kyning mǣnan,
word-gyd wrecan     ond ymb we[r] sprecan:
eahtodan eorlscipe     ond his ellen-weorc
duguðum dēmdon.     Swā hit ged[ēfe] bið
þæt mon his wine-dryhten     wordum herge,
ferhðum frēoge,     þonne hē forð scile
of līc-haman     [lǣded] weorðan.
Swā begnornodon     Gēata lēode
hlāfordes [hr]yre,     heorð-genēatas;
cwædon þæt hē wǣre     wyruld-cyning[a],
mannum mildust     ond mon-ðwærust,
lēodum līðost     ond lof-geornost. (242; italics as in original)

And the facing translation ends:

                              Then round the barrow
twelve nobles rode,     war-brave princes.
They wanted to mourn     their king in their [grief],
to weave a lay     and speak about the man:
they honored his nobility     and deeds of courage,
their friend's great prowess.     So it is [fitting]
that a man speak praise     of his beloved lord,
love him in spirit,     when he must be [led]
forth from his life,     the body's home.
Thus did the Weders     mourn in words
the fall of their lord,     his hearth-companions.
They said that he was,     of the kings in this world,
the kindest to his men,     the most courteous man,
the best to his people,     and most eager for fame. (243)

• Hugh Magennis, Translating Beowulf: Modern Versions in English Verse (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2011), 196-97.

BAM.