The poem is epic in cast and epic in proportion.  Although, judged by the Homeric standard, it falls short in many respects of the complete form, yet it may without violence be called an epic.  The central figure, Beowulf, a nobly conceived hero, possessing immense strength, unflinching courage, a never-swerving sense of honor, magnanimity, and generosity, the friend and champion of the weak against evil however terrible, is the element of unity in the whole poem.  It is in itself a great honor to the race that they were able to conceive as their ideal a hero so superior in all that constitutes true nobility to the Greek ideal, Achilles.  It is true that the poem consists of two parts, connected by little more than the fact that they have the same hero at different times of life; that episodes are introduced that do not blend perfectly into the unity of the poem; and that there is a lack of repose and sometimes of lucidity.  Yet there is a dignity and vigor, and a large consistency in the treatment of the theme, that is epic.  Ten Brink says:—­“The poet’s intensity is not seldom imparted to the listener....  The portrayals of battles, although much less realistic than the Homeric descriptions, are yet at times superior to them, in so far as the demoniac rage of war elicits from the Germanic fancy a crowding affluence of vigorous scenes hastily projected in glittering lights of grim half gloom.”  In addition to its great poetic merit, ‘Beowulf’ is of the greatest importance to us on account of the many fine pictures of ancient Teutonic life it presents.

In the merest outline, the argument of ‘Beowulf’ is as follows:—­Hrothgar, King of the Gar-Danes, has built a splendid hall, called Heorot.  This is the scene of royal festivity until a monster from the fen, Grendel, breaks into it by night and devours thirty of the king’s thanes.  From that time the hall is desolate, for no one can cope with Grendel, and Hrothgar is in despair.  Beowulf, the noble hero of the Geats, in Sweden, hears of the terrible calamity, and with fourteen companions sails across the sea to undertake the adventure.  Hrothgar receives him joyfully, and after a splendid banquet gives Heorot into his charge.  During the following night, Beowulf is attacked by Grendel; and after one of his companions has been slain, he tears out the arm of the monster, who escapes, mortally hurt, to his fen.  On the morrow all is rejoicing; but when night falls, the monster’s mother attacks Heorot, and kills Hrothgar’s favorite thane.  The next day, Beowulf pursues her to her den under the waters of the fen, and after a terrific combat slays her.  The hero returns home to Sweden laden with gifts.  This ends the main thread of the first incident.  In the second incident, after an interval of fifty years, we find Beowulf an old man.  He has been for many years king of the Geats.  A fire-breathing dragon, the guardian of a great treasure, is devastating the land.  The heroic old king, accompanied by a party of thanes, attacks the dragon.  All the thanes save one are cowardly; but the old hero, with the aid of the faithful one, slays the dragon, not, however, till he is fatally injured.  Then follow his death and picturesque burial.