Lookout: Who are you, strangers? Beowulf: My friend, we are Geats and we come in peace. I am Beowulf and I wish to speak with Hrothgar, your king. Lookout: If you are truly the famous Beowulf then ...

As Prof Burn points out, Beowulf lends itself readily to modern interpretations. "You can read the poem as coding; the language is formulaic in its narrative," he says. He argues that Beowulf has ...