Beowulf. The oldest and, arguably, the greatest epic in English literature's vast history. Beowulf is an epic poem, originally written in Old English, that details the heroic exploits of the warrior, Beowulf, throughout his life. It represents the heroic ideal and the role of fate's importance to the Old English people, while also addressing politics, war, old-age, kinsmanship, and fantasy. The depth of the poem, in both its poetry and narration, is incredible, and in the original Old English the integration and weaving of meaning throughout the text is virtually unparalleled. Though Beowulf is an obvious masterpiece of English literature, its true importance in history is often understated and misrepresented. This is because the Old English that the poem is written in is very difficult and different from what most readers consider English, or even "old English". The antiquity of the text limits the poem's greatness and true understanding to a very small group of scholars, "armed" with their word-hoards and knowledge of Old English; the rest of the "unready" literary world sees a diluted representation through translation. Over time there have been large numbers of translations of Beowulf, in various forms, that have provided the greater literary world with a common perception of the text. It is this paper's focus to examine a variety of these translations in relation to the meaning evident in the original Old English text. As it would be impossible to examine the entire poem in Old English with multiple translations, due to the depth and complexity present in the text, I have selected the following short passage from Beowulf for the analysis: Gewat da neosian, sypdan niht becom, hean huses, hu hit Hring-Dene aefter beorpege gebun haefdon. Fand pa daer inne aepelinga gedriht swefan aefter symble; sorge ne cudon, wonsceaft wera. Wiht unhaelo, grim ond graedig, gearo sona waes, reoc ond r...