Francis B. Gummere was a scholar of old English whose translation of Beowulf is still in print. She championed the poem long before it was widely agreed that it was worth reading, and this paper represents s clear discussion of the issues involved in translating the poem for modern English readers. It offers valuable insights into the poem for students of Anglo-Saxon literature, but also acts as a case example for the issues involved in any translation of a classic work of foreign-language literature.