Introduction. Hwaet! -- Ch. 1. 'Rude Beginning': 1705-1899 -- Ch. 2. 'Conflicting Babel': 1900-1931 -- Ch. 3. The Monsters Meet the Critics: the 1930s and 1940s -- Ch. 4. The Debates Continue: the 1950s and 1960s -- Ch. 5. Stock-taking: the 1970s -- Ch. 6. Critics on the Crest of a Wave: the 1980s -- Ch. 7. An Embarrassment of Critical Riches: the 1990s to the present -- Ch. 8. Beowulf in Popular Culture.
