The Old English epic poem that tells of a hero who slays the monster Grendel is Beowulf.
The anonymous poem follows Beowulf, a warrior of the Geats, who travels to Denmark to help King Hrothgar. Hrothgar’s mead hall, Heorot, has been attacked for years by Grendel, a supernatural enemy who kills and devours sleeping warriors. Beowulf confronts Grendel without a sword and tears off the monster’s arm, mortally wounding him.
The story does not end with Grendel. Grendel’s mother seeks revenge, leading to a second battle in her underwater lair. Much later, Beowulf becomes king and fights a dragon, receiving a fatal wound. The poem therefore combines heroic adventure with reflections on loyalty, aging, fame, and mortality.
Beowulf survives in a single manuscript, the Nowell Codex, copied roughly between 975 and 1025. Its 3,182 lines are written in alliterative verse, and the events are set mainly in Scandinavia during the fifth and sixth centuries. The title comes from its hero; the original manuscript does not give the poem a formal title.