How many lines does the poem Beowulf contain?

The poem Beowulf contains 3,182 lines of Old English alliterative verse. It is the longest surviving major poem written in Old English and one of the most important works of early English literature.

The poem survives in a single medieval manuscript known as the Nowell Codex, which is generally dated to around the year 1000. The story itself is set much earlier, among the Danes, Geats, and other Germanic peoples of Scandinavia during the Migration Period. Its anonymous poet combines heroic legend, dynastic history, Christian reflection, and meditation on fame, loyalty, aging, and death.

The line count refers to the poem’s traditional numbering in the surviving Old English text. Individual modern translations may format the work differently, divide passages into sections, or use varying lineation, so page counts and printed line counts can differ. That does not change the standard scholarly total of 3,182 lines. The poem is usually divided into three major encounters: Beowulf’s battles with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. The final dragon episode occupies roughly the last third of the poem and brings its themes of heroism and mortality together.