Beowulf is the greatest surviving literary work in Old English, unparalleled in its epic grandeur and scope. It tells the story of the heroic Beowulf and his battles, first with the monster Grendel, who has destroyed the great hall of the Danish king Hrothgar, then with Grendel's vengeful mother, and finally with a dragon that threatens to destroy his homeland. Through its combination of mythology and history, Beowulf vividly evokes a twilight world where humans and supernatural forces exist side by side, and celebrates the resilience of the human spirit in a transient world.