It sounds wonderful. Thanks for letting us know! I'll look for "Beowulf and the Critics": I checked, it's on Amazon, my precioussss. :D W.H.Auden was entirely right, the Old English language sounds lovely (and yes, a little scary). Here are some examples. I think your dedication was "Fer thu hal" (þ=th) which means "Fare you well".

Interesting about Eowyn. It is true that Sam too faces Shelob and the Orcs. Maybe she is a more "traditional" hero than Sam, going out with an army in her armour. It could also relate to Tolkien's "theory of courage": the two types of courage, the one from unlikely heroes who go on alone in the dark, and the other from more traditional heroes.