Beowulf

Beowulf's adventures stand in front of the wide historical canvas of 5th and 6th century Scandinavia. Against this background of feuding and feasting, Beowulf kills the monster Grendel and her mother, and defends his people against a dragon in a battle that leaves them both mortally wounded.Alexander's translation is marked by a conviction that it is possible to be both ambitious and faithful [and] ...communicates the poem with a care which goes beyond fidelity-to-meaning and reaches fidelity of implication. May it go on ...to another half-million copies." - Tom Shippey, Bulletin of the International Association of University Professors of English