The epic poem of war and adventure. Beowulf is the earliest extant poem in a modern European language. It was composed in England four centuries before the Norman Conquest. But no one knows exactly when it was composed, or by whom, or why. As a social document this great epic reflects a feudal, newly Christian world of heroes and monsters, blood and victory and death. * Burton Raffel"s modern language translation from the original Old English remains the most celebrated introduction of the poem to students and the general reader alike * Includes a glossary of terms