There is something refreshing about an experienced scholar's decision to push aside peer-reviewed articles, commentaries and editions in order to speak frankly about what she finds so rewarding in the text. Her zeal is palpable … Her book-length commentary, freed from scholarly apparatus, is itself a sort of translation of Beowulf, which will lead readers to a deeper understanding of this “magnificent literary achievement”.

Times Literary Supplement

Heather O'Donoghue's Beowulf: Poem, Poet, and Hero is a readable and engaging study of Beowulf, bringing us up close to the poem itself without forgetting the importance of the many contexts of its performance.

Journal of William Morris Studies

[Beowulf] shines a light on the Old English epic poem's artistry and details its breadth of reference. Beautifully written, it carefully explains why the intricate text still speaks to us today.

This England magazine

What makes Prof O'Donoghue's book so readable is the fact that, despite years of analysing it, she clearly still loves the poem, which she describes as being 'by turn thrilling and reflective, crudely violent and delicately emotional', and her enthusiasm is infectious.

Country Life

Heather O'Donoghue has done a great service to Beowulf, confidently navigating ongoing debates about authorship, date, provenance and structure to produce a highly readable, accessible and original vision of the poet as a learned synthesizer of biblical story, Norse myth and Scandinavian royal legend. This book provides an invaluable introduction to the most famous Old English poem, and will be essential reading for students and scholars alike.

Francis Leneghan, Professor of Old English, University of Oxford, UK

[O'Donoghue] writes with a reassuring directness and authority … The book is a tour de force of accessible scholarship, bringing what is arguably the most forbidding text in English literary history to life in all its supple, dark complexity.

Engelsberg Ideas