The individual chapters by eighteen scholars offer both a rapid survey of scholarly trends in the study of Beowulf and a more sustained exploration of selected problems. Each chapter begins with a brief summary of its contents followed by an annotated chronology of the most important books and articles on the particular topic it treats.

The core of each chapter constitutes a history of scholarly interest in the topic under consideration, a synthesis of present knowledge and opinion, and an analysis of scholarly work that remains to be done. All of the chapters have been written to accommodate the needs of a broad audience - from nonspecialists who wish simply to read and enjoy Beowulf to scholars at work on their own research.