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Dec 16, 2009

Seth rated it:

I've just finished reading Beowulf for the third time! But lo, this reading was in the bold and exciting Beowulf: a New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney! And what a difference a day makes - Heaney is unstoppable! Rather, he makes Beowulf unstoppable. Unstoppable in his ability to pound you in the face with his manliness and leave you bleeding-but-strangely-desiring-more.

As I said, I've read the epic Anglo-Saxon poem several times now, but usually, I'm trudging through to get to the More...

6 comments like (30 people liked it)

Jul 22, 2010

Michael rated it:

*bum bum* IN A WORLD . . . *bum bum* . . . FULL OF NASTY MONSTERS . . . *bum bum* . . . WHO EAT PEOPLE AND BREAK INTO CASTLES . . . *bum bum* . . . THE BEASTLY GRENDEL LURKED LONG OVER THE MOORES . . . *bum bum* . . . BUT NOW . . . *Cut to scene of monster ripping someone's face off with his teeth*

(silence. black screen.)

*Unknown warriors approaching*

"Who are ye, then, ye armed men,
mailed folk, that yon mighty vessel
have urged thus over the More...

23 comments like (48 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Keely rated it:

There are different ways to translate, and it comes down to what you want to get across. Most creative authors have such a strong voice and sense of story that they will overwhelm the original author. As Bentley wrote of Pope's Iliad: "It is a pretty poem, Mr. Pope, but you must not call it Homer".

Sometimes this sort of indirect translation is useful in itself, such as during the transition of the Renaissance from Italy to Britain. Many of the British poets rewrote Italian More...

4 comments like (13 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

AJ rated it:

If I wrote a list of things I don't give a shit about, I'm pretty sure "some big fucking monster whose name sounds like a word for the area between my balls and my ass that attacks alcoholics and is eventually slain by some asshole, told entirely in some ancient form of English that I don't understand" would be near the top (for the record, run-on sentences would not. Judge not).

This was one of the first books I was ever assigned to read in high school, and I'm pretty sure More...

32 comments like (17 people liked it)

Jul 31, 2011

Ceridwen rated it:

I was recently in a bookstore – gasp, right? Who does that? - and I exclaimed aloud, “Who doesn't love Beowulf?” (This wasn't apropos of nothing; I was considering whether to buy Grendel.) The lovely be-tattooed college student clerk who was sort of eavesdropping and talking to us while we went about exclaiming about this and that – who also ranked all the Austen books in order of his enjoyment, boldly listing Pride and Prejudice as number three – was like, I don't. I was aghast, which is funny. More...

47 comments like (40 people liked it)

May 20, 2008

Michael rated it:

I teach Beowulf in my honors class, and it's a tale I've always loved. There's something about the raw power, the direct yet engaging storyline, the rhythm and tone of the story that draws the reader (or, ideally, the listener) into another world. The social conventions, alien in many ways to our modern mindset, show a world both brutal and honorable, where death and heroism go side-by-side, where every act has consequence and there is no expectation of joy and happiness—these things have to be More...

0 comments like (14 people liked it)

Sep 15, 2010

Alex rated it:

BEOWULF: A NEW VERSE TRANSLATION BY SEAMUS HEANEY: Earlier this year a new version of Beowulf was published, translated by the Irish Nobel Prize Winner (for 1995) Seamus Heaney. Heaney has spent many years trying to get this translation just right, and I believe he hit the nail on the head in this case. This book presents a different insight into reading Beowulf, adopting a more archaic viewpoint in both language and imagery. Henry does not bother much with fancy words to make the poem seem more More...

4 comments like (6 people liked it)

Sep 05, 2010

Greg rated it:

Yeah, yeah it's a 'classic' of literature and all that but what would make this better is if a movie was made of it with some big name talented actors reduced to playing second string to some crappy CGI, now that would be entertaining!!

3 comments like (9 people liked it)

Nov 05, 2011

Steve rated it:

I've read this multiple times. One of the true, original bad asses. 6 stars.

OK. Very briefly (in part because I've been very busy), the Heaney version is THE version to read if you're looking for accessibility. Who would of ever thought that such a rough and tumble read would come out so smooth? And from a poet who is all knots, rough rhythms, and peat moss. But it is. What I particularly liked were the various important speeches. Clarity is key with this version, but with More...

0 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Trin rated it:

This epic poem becomes even more astonishing if you read it aloud in a valley girl voice. ("So. The Spear-Danes? Like, in days gone by?")

On a more serious note, I love Heaney's theory of the Irish as the cold and rejected Grendel prowling outside the warm fires of England's Herot. Who doesn't sometimes feel like the exiles of the world?

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 05, 2010

Meredith rated it:

Beowulf, "the earliest extant heroic poem in any modern European language," has survived since its composition in the early 900s. (To be honest, some scholars do date it as late as the 11th century.)

As a function of its age--but also, I think, of its literary genius--the poem has delightfully weird language, even in translation. (I enjoyed the Donaldson prose translation in my Norton, although I'd be interested in comparing it with Heaney's celebrated verse version.) So More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 13, 2011

Bryan rated it:

One of the greatest tales of loss ever written.

The way the author tells the story powerfully expresses what it must have felt like when, during those same times, they watched their mighty pagan traditions of honor and bravery set out to sea forever, then to be replaced by the new culture of Christianity.

If you read it, make sure you also read J.R.R. Tolkein's "The Monsters and The Critics." The whole essay brings new insights to the story; my particular favorite pa More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 02, 2008

Summer rated it:

This poem is awesome (in the traditional sense of the word) only because it is sooooo old. I read it for 2 reasons: A) I've been trying to interject classic books that are commonly referenced into by repertoire and B) I wanted to read a book called Grendel that has been sitting on our bookshelf for years but thought I might miss the joke if I didn't first read Beowulf.
Overall, it was a little bit of a tedious read. It skipped around a lot between family lineage and the actual st More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 06, 2011

Nikki rated it:

I think I would've liked this better if I'd listened to the cassette tape we have of Seamus Heaney reading it. I liked it much better when I started reading it aloud to myself, and grasped what was going on much more easily -- otherwise, I'm afraid it didn't hold my attention very well (much like The Iliad and The Odyssey, honestly). I like Seamus Heaney's translation, although, of course, I don't have any other to compare it with! I was kind of surprised: most of what I knew about Beowulf was a More...

11 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 11, 2011

Scott rated it:

Beowulf is a dense poem, a thousand years old and over 3,000 lines long, written in a barbed version of English that looks like it might catch in your craw. It begins, "Hwæt wé Gár-Dena in geár-dagum þéod-cyninga þrym grefrúnon hú þá æþelingas ellen fremedon." Not only do the words look foreign, the letters themselves seem strange, like something you might find scrawled on a mossy rock in Middle Earth. This is fine stuff for elves, trolls, or orcs, but as generations of English student More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2011

Xabier rated it:

Even if the story has some captivating moments —or at least some captivating moments for freak people loving old epics— I couldn't enjoy this work as it probably deserved. The reason for that is the Galician translation, what I deeply disagree with.

I am not intending to say that the translation is not accurate, because I hardly can write in English, let alone to give my opinion about Anglo-Saxon translations. My reluctance is related with the Galician result. Translator's decision w More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Wealhtheow rated it:

By far my favorite translation, although the least faithful to the original text. Heaney captured a spirit, tone and power in a way that no other translator has even approached.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 13, 2011

Ryan rated it:

On page 109:

So. In the midst of this fiendish fun-book.
Monsters flit to and fro, the hungry blokes.
Heaney's translation exhales and breathes.
It brooks no comparison mayhaps,
Old English’s boon is drinking in its words,
Delivering blow by blow as swords clash
Bilingually, the movie grays beyond
Compare to the verses that believe
In the breast where the chain-mail protects
Our hero’s blood, and flesh, the chain-mail cloth
I More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 28, 2011

lauren rated it:

First off- this whole thing is a poem! A freaking poem.

Beowulf is the macho-est of macho dudes, and this story is all about how dudes should be fearless or shit goes down. Beowulf is so fearless that him and his bestie swim for many nights in a sea full of voracious sea creatures just to see who is tougher. Guess who is tougher? Beowulf. Duh. People all over are lavishing him with gold rings and hand-forged, jewel-encrusted swords, and the finest chainmail for all his badassery.
More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 05, 2010

Mrs. Crane rated it:

Although I had this book on my to-read list, I only finally read it because I found it for free in a box around the way.
It's not my kind of subject. I'm not sure I knew what I was getting into before I started reading it. I knew it was considered a required read, and so that's why I had it on my list. However, subjects about dragons and slaying does not appeal to me in the least. For me personally it was quite difficult to get through. I'm just very relieved its finally over and it wasn't More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 28, 2011

Christopher rated it:

This was incredible! First of all, the story was told in the spare, sparse, and gritty language of Seamus Heaney's bilingual translation of the Anglo-Saxon original. Second, the plot of this elegiac poem was absolutely epic. The horror of Grendel and his Dam was palpable; and the heroism of Beowulf and his spear-fellows timeless. Finally, the ability to carefully study Heaney's translation, alliteration, and interpretation and then compare it to the Anglo-Saxon was almost surrealistic. It w More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 04, 2010

Iris rated it:

Seamus Heaney translated Beowulf with his "large-voiced" relatives in mind: he wanted it to be simple and clear and a natural candidate for reading aloud. As a result, Heaney's Beowulf seems timeless: it's not sassy and modern, nor fetishistic of the past. Avoiding the Renaissance Faire-style catchphrases of previous translators, Heaney takes your hand and guides you through the past on a deep level. Reading this book, you connect to centuries of storytellers and listeners.

More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 03, 2008

Joshua rated it:

Can't really say enough about this one. This short epic is too big for it's pages. The way the narrative folds, twists, and forks, it just can't be described, it has to be read. Well, I've re-read it 8 or 10 times now, and it just keeps getting better and better. There's a reason this is one of the foundation works of Western literature. And Seamus Heaney was uniquely positioned to retranslate it, as he demonstrates in the short, pithy introduction.
This book can be described with thos More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2008

John rated it:

I don't know what it was about 2005, or perhaps living in Manila, that sent me on an epic-poetry jag -- but something did, and that was the year I finally read the Iliad, the Odyssey, and Beowulf, all in superb, direct, forceful translations (Fagels for the first two, Heaney for Beowulf). I re-read it about two months ago, prompted by my sense of revulsion at the ads for the film adaptation that greeted me at the bus stop every day (I think it was Angelina Jolie's high-heeled hooves that pushed More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 06, 2008

Courtney rated it:

At the start of this thousand-year-old Old English epic poem, Beowulf is a young unproven warrior, physically strong and determined to prove his merits. He crosses the sea, defeats ungodly beasts in bloody combat, wins a foreign ally for his king and earns respect from his native people. Eventually he becomes king himself, rules in relative peace and wisdom, and then is killed in a fight with a dragon, but not until after he slays the beast.

It's a strange story, about a world with fo More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 25, 2007

Chris rated it:

So, somehow I made it through college as an English major without ever reading Beowulf. Then I heard that there was a new modern-English translation of it that was highly readable and enjoyable. I picked it up the other day and found it hard to put down until I'd finished it.

The story of Beowulf, a kind of Herculean figure of medieval Scandinavia, and his encounters with three monsters, sucked me in. I see why it's been chosen as the basis for an upcoming movie. I also discover More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jun 07, 2011

Carl rated it:

I'm dating this review based on the first time I read this translation (I THINK it was sometime 2003), not the first time I read Beowulf. The poem itself is one of my favorites, but there is nothing like reading it in the original-- even if you aren't a Medieval studies major, if you like this, I say take a course in Old English, then another where you go through Beowulf with the help of the professor. I've done that twice with two different professors (Carol Pasternack as an undergrad, Nick H More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 30, 2009

John rated it:

NOTE: Goodreads thinks that the Chickering and Heaney translations are the same. This is wrong. My review is for Chickering's translation.

Chickering's translation is likely not for the average reader. He reproduces the blunt, epic style of the original in a way that is faithful to the original and even engaging. However, the original story describes a culture where stealing mead-hall benches is seen as a great feat for a king. (This text in question is describing the might of Ki More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 03, 2007

Toby rated it:

The most readable translation, and the one most likely to excite non-majors. I would say it's the best translation (ok, so I've only read one other translation all the way through, but I've read sections of ten other translations, and wrote an essay comparing them, so I feel (sort of) qualified to make these statements) but I've heard some grumbling about gender issues in the Heaney version, though I haven't read any articles about it. I know it's a big issue, but I'm willing to see past it beca More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 15, 2008

Stamatia rated it:

When I bought this book I had a vague and quite naive idea of exploring old english with the use of a translated verse (very much as I did Odyssey by reading the translated into modern greek verses simultaneously with the original text).
What a big joke. At least modern greek is a continuation of the old language and we still use most of the words that Homer did. Needless to say I didn't get around to accomplishing what I set out to do.
What I did get out of this book was a highly sati More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

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