Beowulf is much more than a poem. It is more than just literature. It is an emblematic statement of nationhood. One of the defining documents of Anglo-Saxon England, it remains - a thousand years after it was written - an iconic narrative of emergent English identity. Yet for all its importance and significance, no book introducing this foundational epic text, in all its violent complexity, has been attempted for over forty years. Heather O'Donoghue here remedies that neglect. Seamlessly melding history, literature and reception, she addresses the poem's provenance and background; its setting in an imagined region of sixth-century pagan Denmark; its innovative narrative devices, including flashbacks and flash-forwards; its ideas and ideals of heroism; its sinister monsters (whether homicidal Grendel, Grendel's terrifying mother or the fatal dragon and eventual nemesis of the tale's eponymous Geatish hero); and its rich meanings, legacy and afterlives. Shedding fresh light on the poem's unique alliterative style, this is the most complete portrait yet written of a story whose lasting appeal is matched only by its genius.