Not to be nitpicking or anything, but…
Shakespeare is considered Early Modern English, which is the transition from Middle English (late 15th century) to Modern English (mid-to-late 17th century).
Beowulf on the other hand is Old English, which is the earliest historical form of English (early Middle Ages until the Norman conquest of England in 1066).
This is what Old English looks like (opening lines from Beowulf):
Hwæt we gardena ingear dagum, þeod cyninga þrym ge frunon huða æþelingas ellen fremedon.