4 h 40 minAudiobook5 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A golden hall rings with joy—until a monster comes through the door.
In this Anglo-Saxon epic poem, Beowulf of the Geats crosses the sea to help Hrothgar, king of the Danes. Each night, Grendel attacks the great hall Heorot and devours its warriors. Beowulf brings immense strength, a hunger for glory, and a wish to repay an old debt.
Before the fight come feasting, boasts, and Unferth's sharp challenge to the stranger. Beyond the hall lie dark waters and dangers that strength alone cannot explain. Through battles, speeches, and songs within the song, Beowulf explores loyalty, fame, and the fragile safety a king must try to give his people.
What you’ll discover
- A night in Heorot Enter a hall where shared joy gives way to the dread of Grendel's arrival.
- Strength without a sword Follow Beowulf into a bare-handed struggle with the creature that terrorizes Hrothgar's warriors.
- Beneath the dark water Approach a haunted mere where blood stains the surface and sea serpents crowd the bank.
- More than monster fights Discover how gifts, feasts, and old feuds reveal the bonds holding this warrior world together.
- The weight of glory Explore what it means to seek lasting fame while loyalty and duty make their demands.
Who will love it
For readers who love legends, fantasy and the roots of English storytelling, with monster battles, heroic boasts and questions of fame, loyalty and kingship.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A glorious hall draws a hungry monster
- A young hero crosses the sea to help
- Boasts and insults before the night watch
- Beowulf fights Grendel with his bare hands
- A second attacker comes for revenge
- Beowulf dives into the haunted mere
- Home, a long reign and what it all means
Who’s who
- BeowulfA young Geatish warrior of huge strength who crosses the sea to fight monsters, seeking glory and wishing to repay an old debt.
- HrothgarThe aging king of the Danes, builder of the great hall Heorot, who has been unable to protect his people from a nightly horror.
- GrendelA monstrous outcast of the fens who hates the joy of Heorot and attacks it night after night.
- Grendel's motherA creature of the dark mere who comes to avenge her son and lives in a cave beneath the water.
- UnferthA Danish speaker at Hrothgar's court who challenges Beowulf with a taunt about his past, and who later lends him a sword.
- WealhtheowHrothgar's queen, who carries the cup among the warriors, welcomes guests and cares about the future of her sons.
- HygelacThe king of the Geats and Beowulf's lord and uncle, to whom the hero returns with news and treasure.
- The dragonAn ancient creature that guards a buried hoard and rises in anger when a single cup is stolen.
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- Large-print eBook
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- Audiobook
- 4 h 40 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 5 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Beowulf: un poema epico anglosassone
by Tradotto da J. Lesslie Hall
Beowulf crosses the sea to face a monster that devours a king's men each night in his great hall.
Medium level2–5 hours to read25 languages
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In short
A hall of gold rings with song, and something in the dark hates every note. Beowulf is the oldest long poem in English, composed by an unknown poet in Old English and kept in one manuscript from around the year 1000.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A glorious hall draws a hungry monster
Hrothgar, king of the Spear-Danes, builds the greatest hall anyone has heard of. He names it Heorot, and its gold-shining roofs shelter feasting, song and the sharing of treasure among his warriors.
The joy carries into the dark, and Grendel listens. He is an outcast of the fens, a descendant of Cain, who hates laughter because he belongs nowhere. One night he seizes thirty sleeping warriors and carries them off to eat.
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What is Beowulf about?
He sails to Denmark to fight the monster Grendel, then faces Grendel's mother, and later, as an old king, he faces a dragon that threatens his own people.
Who wrote Beowulf and when?
No one knows. The poet is anonymous. Scholars date the poem anywhere between the eighth and early eleventh centuries, and its only surviving manuscript was copied around the year 1000.
Is Beowulf a true story?
The monsters are legend, but some people and events in the poem, such as King Hygelac's raid, match historical records. It mixes real Scandinavian history with myth and folk tale.
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