Tolkien’s Beowulf gives us the sound of the Dark Ages we lost when it was consumed by Middle Earth.

“Tolkien reproduces the syntax of the Old English poetry almost exactly. The word order of ‘His sword had already the good king drawn’ is garbled, but in just the way that the Old English sounds when translated word for word. Square brackets mark where present day English has forced Tolkien’s reluctant hand to emend the original.”