This thesis analyses J. R. R. Tolkien’s translation of Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon poem considered the highest achievement of Old English literature. The theoretical framework of the paper consists of Barthes’ text on narrative codes and Brooke-Rose’s text on the encoded reader. A survey of certain aspects of Tolkien’s translation of Beowulf is given, in addition to its comparison to Seamus Heaney’s rendition. The last part of the discussion is dedicated to the analysis of Tolkien’s translation of Beowulf using the theoretical framework introduced in the second chapter. This is completed with the evaluation of the encoded reader in Tolkien’s translation of Beowulf, followed by conclusion on the strength of the proposed argument regarding Tolkie...