I understand why you dislike the way Beowulf was taught to us in school, but, listen to a minute or two of
Seamus Heaney's translation, and you'll be hooked on it. I don't know anything about Tolkin's version, but Beowulf was meant to be spoken, not read, and Heaney, an Irish poet, with a soft and somber brogue, has the cadence of the saga down perfectly.