Beowulf was written between the 7th and 10th century in Anglo-Saxon or Old English and comprises a heroic narrative concerning
the heroic exploits of a Scandinavian prince and is described as the foundation work of poetry in English.
English has changed so completely during the past 1,000 years that the poem must be read and studied in
translation. The poem was written in England but the events described are set in Scandanavia. Beowulf is the hero amongst the warriors of the Geats, a region of southern Sweden, and early in the
narrative Beowulf crosses the sea to the land of the Danes in order to destroy the man hunting monster, Grendel. A successful kill incurs the wrath of Grendel's mother. Beowulf is again the victor and returns in triumph to rule as King of the Geats for fifty years.
A dragon begins to terrorise the Geats, Beowulf confronts and slays the dragon, but, he meets his own death and enters the legends and folklore of the Geats as a warrior of high repute.
The manuscript is known from one copy in the British Library and it has been parsed and analysed ad infinitum.
'Paet was god cyning' looks nothing like 'That was one good King' yet this translation has clarified the Heaney mode of translation when thole, a word meaning to suffer is used to good effect.