Beowulf (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

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Beowulf (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

3.35 of 5 stars 3.35 · rating details · 95,560 ratings · 2,767 reviews

Beowulf," by Anonymous, is part of the "Barnes & Noble Classics"" "series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of "Barnes & Noble Classics" New introductions commissioned from today's top...more Beowulf," by Anonymous, is part of the "Barnes & Noble Classics"" "series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of "Barnes & Noble Classics" New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. "Barnes & Noble Classics "pulls together a constellation of influences--biographical, historical, and literary--to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works. Widely regarded as the first true masterpiece of English literature, "Beowulf" describes the thrilling adventures of a great Scandinavian warrior of the sixth century. Its lyric intensity and imaginative vitality are unparalleled, and the poem has greatly influenced many important modern novelists and poets, most notably J. R. R. Tolkien, author of "The Lord of the Rings." Part history and part mythology, "Beowulf" opens in the court of the Danish king where a horrible demon named Grendel devours men in their sleep every night. The hero Beowulf arrives and kills the monster, but joy turns to horror when Grendel's mother attacks the hall to avenge the death of her son. Ultimately triumphant, Beowulf becomes king himself and rules peacefully for fifty years until, one dark day, a foe more powerful than any he has yet faced is aroused--an ancient dragon guarding a horde of treasure. Once again, Beowulf must summon all his strength and courage to face the beast, but this time victory exacts a terrible price. New translation by John McNamara. Features an original map and genealogy chart. John McNamarais Professor of English at the University of Houston, where he teaches the early languages and literatures of England, Scotland, and Ireland, with a special focus on their oral traditions. He is the co-editor of "Medieval Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Myths, Legends, Tales, Beliefs, and Customs.(less)

ebook, 179 pages

Published June 1st 2009 by Barnes & Noble Classics (first published 700)

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Jul 21, 2010 Architeuthis rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry, pre-1300s, meta-reviews

*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 ocean ways,
here o'er the waters?"

*bum bum* . . . ONE M...more

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Jun 29, 2007 Seth Hahne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 "good parts...more 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 "good parts" (i.e., Beowulf's three notable feats), but this time, I was taken aback! The whole durned thing was the good parts! What luck! I read it over the space of three days and boy is my voice tired (I have a distinct inability when it comes to facing these sorts of tales - I have to read aloud. And with an accent. And with bluster).

One of the coolest things spicing up this reading (besides Heaney's great translation) was the juxtaposition of the Old English to the translation. As you may know, the only surviving copy of anything close to an original Beowulf is written in Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) from 'tween AD 700 and 1000. Now Old English isn't just archaic some King James English with lotsa thees, thous, and forsooths, as many people seem to think. It's the illegitimate birth father of Middle English (which I believe came about sometime after AD 1066) which in turn spawned Modern English. Modern English includes the English used in both Shakespeare and the King James Bible as well as the haphazard trash we sprechen today. In truth, Old English is nearly indecipherable. Below, I've included the first three lines of Beowulf, which are not only a great example of what I'm talking about, but strangely fitting for who I am:

Hwæt wê Gâr-dena in geâr-dagum
Þêod-cyninga Þrym gefrûnon,
hû ðâ æÞelingas ellen fremedon.

Fun, no? Well... so you know, that translates as:

So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by
and the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness.
We have heard of those princes' heroic campaigns.

Hoorah! Hoorah for the Spear-Danes! And...*ahem* ..who cares if by the time Beowulf comes around their busy getting their butts eaten off by Grendel. Hoorah for the Spear-Danes! Hoorah for Gâr-dena (and doesn't that sound like a wonderful name for a city?).

In any case, it was fun to look over at the Anglo-Saxon to see if I could decipher any of it. Alas, my attention was so rapt upon the tale that I didn't take as much time to peruse the original as I would have liked. But since I bought it, I should be afforded plenty of time for such trivialities.(less)

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Jul 18, 2007 Keely rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: epic-poetry, poetry, reviewed, uk-and-ireland

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 sonnets into English,...more 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 sonnets into English, and though the line of descent was unquestionable, the progeny was it's own work. Another example might be the digestion of Wuxia and Anime into films such as Tarantino's or The Matrix (though Tarantino's sense of propriety is often suspect).

However, in these cases, we can hardly call the new work a translation of the old. You are not experiencing the old work but the inspiration it has wrought. Beowulf is just this sort of translation, capturing the excitement and passion of the story, but obliterating the details which make the work interesting to students of history or literary theory.

Heaney's translation is a fun, rollicking epic, able to draw in even uninitiated students, which is no doubt why it is now included in Norton. Unfortunately, it is not a particularly useful tool for teaching the importance of the original work. Heaney severs many connections to the unique world of Beowulf.

As the only surviving epic from its time, place, and tradition, Beowulf is a unique vision into a pre-Christian culture outside of the Mediterranean. Though the poem shows Christian revisions, these stand out in stark contrast to the rest of the work, and can usually be easily excised, unlike many pervasive Christian impositions on the 'pagan' cultures.

Heaney is not a philologist nor a historian, but a popular poet. He doesn't have the background for conscientious translation, and the clearest sign that his translation is haphazard is the fact that there are no footnotes explaining the difficult decisions that most translators have to make in every line. Heaney also loses much of the alliteration and appositives that marked the artistry of the original.

A Beowulf that can exist without context is a Beowulf that has well and truly been separated from its past. Perhaps his translation is suitable for an introduction to the work, but a good professor should be able to teach the original without much difficulty.

Then again, perhaps the inclusion of this version in college classes has to do with the fact that college is no longer the path for scholars, but has been given the same equality treatment as art and poetry. College is now meant for your average, half-literate frat boy who only wants a BA so he can be a mid-level retail manager.

Heaney's translation certainly suits for them, since it is the easiest version of the story this side of a digital Angelina. It's fun and exciting, certainly worth a read, but doesn't stand up as a translation.(less)

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Jul 03, 2007 AJ Griffin rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: assholes, dickless pieces of shit, dumbfucks, douchebags

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 it was the catalyst to...more

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Dec 27, 2012 Riku Sayuj rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Could not consider the experience complete without reading Heaney's acclaimed translation. The acclaim was well deserved. This version was much easier to read, less choked by stylistic anachronisms and more alive in every sense. Gummere's translation has an elegance and presence that intimidates and exalts the reading but Heaney brings it home, makes it as familiar as Homer's epics and somehow makes us at ease with the strange manes and the stranger tides.

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Jul 31, 2011 Ceridwen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Ceridwen by: Ms. Levin

Shelves: rule-britannia, sexy-nihilists, poetry, skol, tolkien-uber-alles

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 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. I mean, of course people don't love things I love. But I love Beowulf with such a weird fervor that it hadn't even occurred to me that others don't.

When I was in the fifth grade, my teacher read us some kiddie version of Beowulf. We were young enough still to have story-time, the teacher reading out a chapter at a time of Where the Red Fern Grows - holy cow, the weeping with that one - but old enough to start trying to be cool, impossible though that is with a perm and neon socks. We were all astonishment, this bragging badass ripping off the arm of a monster and beating him to death with it. I know, now, that Big Bad B didn't beat Grendel to death with his own arm, but that's the way we took it. It was this refreshing bit of violence, this wonderful monster, so much easier to kill than the discomfort we felt and lived, the squirming adolescence we were similarly entranced by in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. You can't kill your own impending period, much as you want to, conferring in the girls' bathroom when one of us was struck down, bleeding.

I read it again in some dreary text book in the 8th grade, I think in a mythology class where we were treated to some of the most bloodless recounting of the savage, bitchy gossip-mongerings of the Greeks, Romans, and hearth-bound heathens. Anwatin Junior High, you fucked that up good. I knew Beowulf was still awesome, I just had to compare all that boring genealogy that was Greek mythology in the text book to the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths my folks had furnished for me. But then, a few years back, Heaney translated Beowulf again, and I found in it all that shield-beating, clothes-horsing, Germanic-compound-wording that I love so very much.

But, backing up, I think we need to come up with a term for translations when the language being translated from is a dead one. I can't really join in this kind of conversation, because I am a dreadful monoglot, but I think it's interesting to consider who makes better translators – people who are native to the one being translated from, or people who are native to the one being translated to. (And, I'm sure there are ones who are native speakers of both, and that's its own riddle.) Anyway, translations from the dead tongues are always going to be the one way, and, moreover, no one really speaks a dead language, even if they do, because there is no way to correct the accent, no one to explain the obscure puns.

So, I have no idea whether Heaney's translation is any good, and I don't think anyone else can tell that either. Sure, I've heard some stuff about how it's not as precise as other translations, or that the Irish boast style is completely opposite to the Anglo-Saxon boast style, which may absolutely be right, but I love this translation for completely weird to me ideas about English that are super half-baked. My ideas about English, let me show you them. So, you know, the Normans invaded England in 1066 - a date I was ordered to learn by an asshole history teacher who affected a British accent, God rest his sherried bones - bringing into English this Latinate overlay. By the 12th (or possibly 13th) century, there is the Great Vowel Mutation, one of the best named events in linguistics ever. (And this is why you can read The Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English and sort of get the gist, while things like Beowulf are totally in a foreign language – Canterbury Tales was written after the Great Vowel Mutation, and after rhyme had been planted in the alliterative verse poetic garden of the Anglo-Saxons, and taken over like kudzu.) Anglo-Saxon skooched over on the couch, and the Latinate took over the tv remote, and the vocabulary of English doubled. Because the Frankish language of the invaders was the language of power, Frankish words are the ones that continue to be the higher ones, the ones understood to be better. You've got mansion, from the Romance languages, and house, from the Germanic. Which one would you rather live in? There's a doubling of all kinds of terms, high/low, the most obvious ones for the body and its functions. Piss/urinate, shit/feces, fuck/copulate etc. I realize now that some of this is Greek, but fuck off, the Greeks were the fancy for the Romans.) (And that, again, blows my mind, all this embedding of historical cultural supremacy in the language itself. Whoa, I just freaked myself out.)

Anyway, I think Heaney nails something in his translation that speaks to the part of my English-speaking brain that is the invaded Anglo-Saxon, in her ill-lit mead-hall, beset by monsters and the French. I want to say something about the narrator of this work, that anonymous monk, who pops in from time to time to break it down, hit the unwanted Tolkienesque aside of poetry, chide us, or talk smack, but then I don't really think he'd appreciate it if I started droning about the narrator. I love him though; he's funny as hell. The story itself is told so oddly, with an Imma tell you what Imma do, then Imma do it, then Imma tell you what I done did construction which, you know, is a little hammy. I'm not sure how to put this, but I kept thinking about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight when I read this, because that has this strange attentiveness to describing food, and Beowulf has a similar attentiveness to describing weaponry. (Gawain also describes clothes, but so much more sensually. The silk underpants of Gawain are particularly noted, if I'm remembering correctly.) I want to make a joke about British cuisine here, but you have to fill it in yourself. Something about the French invading with sauces, and being completely beat down by the boiled vegetables? Whatever. You know.

So, here I am, second read through, and this Beowulf is still wonderful. I read in a cabin, on a porch in the moth-battered light. The last trip up, my mother watched a bear lumbering through the yard, and told us, and we told our children, who thrilled with idea of the beast outside the light our habitation throws. They worried, and we soothed their worries, but the monster still thrills. I love that Beowulf ends on a sour note, Wyglaf prophesying doom, and the narrator backing that prophesy with the help of narrative hindsight. I love the weird, fatalistic Christianity. I named my cat Grendel; this was probably a mistake.
(less)

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May 20, 2008 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: old-english, literature

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 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 wrested from existence and are of short duration. And the interplay of the original Pagan story and the Christian elements brought in by our monastic narrator show the tension of a people wrestling with their old beliefs and how to reconcile them with the new. The startling use of language and poetic diction make this a masterpiece of English literature.

I've read a dozen translations (and even done my own crude one); each of them has different aspects to recommend it. Heaney's strength is in his poetic voice—he's done an amazing job of preserving the rhythms and alliterations so crucial to the format of the original verse and updated it without being so modern as to lose the flavor of the original. He uses some archaic terms and those of his Celtic ancestors, which work well and do not mar the understanding of readers new to the text. Best of all, this is a parallel translation, with the original Old English on the verso pages.

My only quibbles have to do with some of Heaney's word choices. There are debates within the literary community about the nature of the monsters (and the heroes) in the poem, and Heaney takes a pretty hard line, translating some phrases and terms in ways that make his choices seem unavoidable (but which are not always supported in the original). Innocent phrases like "wight" and "spirit" are sometimes glossed as "demon" or "specter," and we lose the sense of some of the wonderful Old English kennings, like the description of Grendel as a mearcstapa, "walker on the borders."

Overall, a really fine translation. (And since it's been immortalized in The Norton Anthology and all Norton's student editions, it will be the version most everyone knows for the foreseeable future.)(less)

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Sep 15, 2010 Alex Telander rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2000, books-read-in-2009

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 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 fantastic, but sticks to the original terms, translating them as closely as he possibly can. The book is set up so that on the left is the poem in its original Anglo-Saxon or Old English text and on the right is Heaney's translation.

For this translation, Heaney had to return to his long misused Irish tongue of Gaelic. He had learned the language when he was a boy, but has since spent more time using English. His main source was his grandmother, who is still fluent in the archaic language. In talking to her, he would hear strange words and terms that simply do not exist in modern English. Heaney would then turn to the original text of Beowulf. There he would notice similarities between these strange expressions uttered by his grandmother and the poem. In one case he found an exact match with the word "Þolian" which means to suffer and his grandmother's expression, "They'll just have to learn to thole"; here the thorn symbol Þ is pronounced with a "th" sound. Heaney considered these unique insights "loopholes" through which he was able to translate this magnificent piece of literature.

It remains unknown as to when Beowulf was written and by whom. Quite likely a monk wrote it, since monks were really the only people of the time who were able to write; also the poem was written by a Christian, since there are numerous points throughout the codex where the "Almighty" and "God" are thanked and respected.

The poem was composed first orally some time during the middle of the seventh century, and then written down in the eleventh century. It is a tale about a great hero of the Geats know as Beowulf, who travels to Denmark, where the king, Hrothgar, is being attacked by a monster in the night known as Grendel. Beowulf fights with the beat and rips off its arm, whereupon the creature flees into the darkness from whence it came. The next night, Grendel's mother comes to avenger her son; she takes a life and flees back to her lair beneath the mere (a lake). Beowulf pursues, tracks her down and with a magic sword decapitates her.

After being greatly rewarded by Hrothgar, Beowulf and his army return to their homeland in the south of Sweden. There, after years of attacks by enemies, he inherits the throne and rules for fifty years. In his fiftieth year, a dragon is disturbed from its lair, where it has been guarding a mound of ancient treasure, left by a long-dead warrior. Beowulf confronts the dragon but is gravely injured. Wiglaf, one of his soldiers, comes to his rescue and stabs the dragon in the stomach, killing its ability to make fire. Beowulf draws his dagger and stabs the dragon a lethal blow. But Beowulf has been poisoned by the dragon's bite and dies shortly after.

A great funeral pyre is built and set ablaze, while his many followers watch. His cremated remains are added to a special mound that is created on a hilltop overlooking the sea, where any ship passing will see the mound and know that Beowulf lies beneath. Thus, the poem ends with the forever-lasting memory of a great hero.

For more reviews, and author interviews, go to BookBanter.(less)

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Sep 14, 2012 Bettie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: re-read, radio-4x, paper-read, fradio, autumn-2012, published-2001, dragons, classic, epic-proportions, poetry, mythology, medieval5c-16c, danish-root, sweden

Re-visit via radio 4x.

A king is attacked by a demon. Can anyone help?

Poet Seamus Heaney reads his own translation of the great Anglo-Saxon poem.

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Dec 10, 2012 Riku Sayuj rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

We want Tolkien! We want Tolkien!

I demand that this be made a top priority, instead of spending millions trashing good books by making movies of them.

The coolest thing about Beowulf was the tracing of Tolkien's imaginative journey as I read it. Maybe someday I would like to write a short review story on the morphing of Beowulf into a hobbit...

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Sep 15, 2008 Greg rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry

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!!

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Mar 02, 2013 Nenia Campbell rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: precocious, insecure teenage boys

Shelves: ye-olde-booke-shelffe, rhymes-with-orange, magic-and-sparkles-and-shit, reviewed, why-is-this-a-classic, specialsnowflakes, major-eyerolling, did-not-finish-or-skimmed, unintentionally-hilarious, x-700s

Once upon a time, there was a brave, powerful knight named Beowulf, who ate nails and shat thumbtacks. He lived a hard and trying life;it was so painfully difficult being the most righteous dude in the land. One day, he came to a country where everyone sucked at killing monsters. Beowulf happened to be very good at killing monsters. In fact, he was pretty much good at everything. He was the Chuck Norris of ancient times. "Swords?" said Beowulf. "Swords are for pussies. I kill monsters with my ba...more Once upon a time, there was a brave, powerful knight named Beowulf, who ate nails and shat thumbtacks. He lived a hard and trying life;it was so painfully difficult being the most righteous dude in the land. One day, he came to a country where everyone sucked at killing monsters. Beowulf happened to be very good at killing monsters. In fact, he was pretty much good at everything. He was the Chuck Norris of ancient times. "Swords?" said Beowulf. "Swords are for pussies. I kill monsters with my bare hands!"

And kill them, he did, as his armor sparkled blazingly in the sun, putting even Edward Cullen's sunlit backside to shame. Paragraphs and paragraphs describe his beautiful armor, and manly physique, because nothing says "I'm a bad-ass" like taking part in Viking Fashion Week. The Danes, who sucked at killing monsters, were in awe of his glittering bad-ass self, and gave Beowulf tons of loot, which is also described in great detail because you're no man if you don't participate in the Viking Home Shopping Network, as well. Of course, Beowulf sends the loot back to the Danish king because he's so awesome, he doesn't need wealth. "Wealth is for pussies," said Beowulf.

Yes, nearly everyone loved Beowulf. However, there were sad and pathetic individuals who did not love Beowulf, incredible and shocking though this may seem. Mostly, these were the jealous pussies, dependent on things like swords and money and approval from their peers.

Just to show how completely awesome Beowulf is, there's this one noble of a slightly higher rank who is the total opposite of Beowulf (and therefore of awesomeness and badassery, as well). He couldn't even attack with a sword (which makes him a mega-pussy), and he was a burden on all his people who had to put up with his mega-pussiness, because they were his subjects and victims of his lameness. He also didn't send back loot to his retainers; not just because he couldn't get any loot (which he can't, because he sucks) or because this was written by a retainer (GIVE ME YOUR MONEY PEASANTS! HAIL BEOWULF!), but also because he was majorly uncool and un-awesome and the complete opposite of Beowulf who is the paragon of everything that is right in this world.

Beowulf got enlisted to kill the evil monster, Grendel, who was so uncool that he liked to terrorize villagers. Beowulf killed Grendel, who was also a pussy. When Grendel died, that wasn't the end of the story, though. Oh, no. His momma comes to get her revenge for Beowulf killing her precious little boy, ~~Jason~~ Grendel. Beowulf almost died, but then he remembered that he was using his sword and that swords are for pussies, tossed it aside, blinded her with his sparkly armor and then killed her with his bare hands.

And everyone lived awesomely ever after with sparkly armor, piles of loot, and hot Viking babes.(less)

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Nov 05, 2011 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sagas, 2d-readings-the-good-stuff, poetry

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 lots of nice poetic p...more

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Jun 14, 2007 Trin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry, classics

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?

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Jun 14, 2012 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, poetry, book-club, 2012

Beowulf is one of those classics that we've all heard about, but about which we know little. Unlike Greek and Italian classics, or some other legends, it hasn't entered into our common lexicon or our everyday phrases. We know a lot more about the fall of Troy and "beware of Greeks bearing gifts" (ouch) without having read The Iliad or The Aeneid - but Beowulf? Not so much. Stop reading right now and ask yourself: what's it about? Who is Beowulf? Where and when is it set? What lessons in life doe...more

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Aug 08, 2007 Meredith rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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.) Some examples of its fantas...more 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.) Some examples of its fantastic compound words: the sun as “the world-candle,” war as “life-evil,” cervical vertebrae as “bone-rings,” being in a black mood as being “gallows-grim.”

What struck me reading was not so much the adventures of Beowulf himself--the tearing off of Grendel's shoulder and arm, the subaqueous slaying of Grendel's mother, the fatal struggle with the fire-breathing dragon--but rather all of the side stories, genealogies, and digressions that added a richness to the social fabric of the text.

To give an example: the minor character King Hrethel is given one of the most moving passages, a description of his grief having to avenge one son's death by the misfired arrow of his brother (the king's other son):

"So it is sad for an old man to endure that his son should ride young on the gallows. Then he may speak a story, a sorrowful song, when his son hangs for the joy of the raven, and, old in years and knowing, he can find no help for him. Always with every morning he is reminded of his son's journey elsewhere. [...] There is no sound of the harp, no joy in the dwelling, as there was of old. Then he goes to his couch, sings a song of sorrow, one alone for one gone. To him all too wide has seemed the land."

These seeming digressions and side-stories that inhere to Beowulf's life history suggest that the true richness of the narrative lies not so much in just particular battle-deeds, but rather in the broader culture of storytelling, collective memory, and song.

For our own days of wire-tapping, civil liberties infringements, and egregious abuses of power, a passage on power and corruption stood out to me. King Hrothgar warns Beowulf of the dangers of kingship. Beguiled by an easy life and “a stronghold of men to rule over,” the corrupt ruler “makes regions of the world so subject to him, wide kingdoms, that in his unwisdom he may not himself have mind of his end.” He, in other words, uses empire as a way of forgetting about death.

Hrothgar continues: when the ruler’s conscience sleeps, his psyche self-destructs: “the watcher sleeps, the soul’s guardian; that sleep is too sound, bound in its own cares, and the slayer most near whose bow shoots treacherously. Then is he hit in the heart, beneath his armor, with the bitter arrow—he cannot protect himself—with the crooked dark commands of the accursed spirit” (46). The corrupt ruler falls into covetousness (“What he has long held seems to him too little, angry-hearted he covets”), forgets God, and his “loaned body weakens, falls doomed.” And, of course, his worldly treasure is lost to him in death. Beowulf takes the admonition to heart. More than one can say about the Bush administration.

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Dec 13, 2011 Bryan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: christianity, classic-literature, fiction, highly-recommend, mythology, mythopoeia, read-multiple-times, recommend

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 part was his metaphorical stateme...more

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Mar 02, 2008 Summer rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 story of Grendel...more

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May 09, 2009 Nikki rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: medieval-literature, poetry, classics, for-class, myth-legend-saga-etc

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

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May 05, 2011 Scott rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, poems, 2000s, medieval

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 students can sorr...more 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 students can sorrowfully attest, squeezing meaning out of even a few lines can be painful. It's no wonder that it took Seamus Heaney, Nobel Prize laureate and Harvard professor, over a dozen years to unwind the Old English, smooth out the edges, and reload its meaning into his sleek verse translation.

What Heaney offers us, in his "big voiced" Ulster dialect, are the oldest English ghost stories, murky tales of monsters that haunt the halls by night, gobbling up unwary warriors as they sleep, leaving behind nothing but blood-splattered benches and woe. Beowulf (his name means bee wolf, or bear) battles with the worst of them, wrenching his foes apart with his bare hands, diving deep into their haunted lairs, hacking and hewing the demons and hanging them by bits in the rafters, proof of his good works.

Not just a grim story couched in the language of "melancholy and fortitude," Beowulf is also an elegant tale of courtly etiquette, a handbook of behavior in the mead hall. Kings, warriors, and queens have necessary roles to fulfill in a society that totters on a wobbly foundation of violence, plunder, and retribution. Don't look for the northern gods in this epic set during the early centuries of Europe's Christianization. Woden, Tiu, Thor, and the rest of Valhalla have been dismissed, their place in the hall taken by the god of the Old Testament. But the ghouls are refitted into the Christian mythos (Grendel's thought to be a descendant of Cain). Odd how the pagan monsters linger even after the heathen gods have gone.

All this may sound a bit serious, but Heaney -- whose goal is to rescue the poem from the tedium of its first language -- makes Beowulf pleasing ... even the gory bits. He doesn't always use alliteration so densely as the first poet, but when he chooses, Heaney plays with it to our delight. Here's his description of Grendel just after Beowulf has relieved him of his arm: "He is hasped and hooped and hirpling with pain, / limping and looped in it." I have no idea what hirpling means, but it feels like the right word for the line. It trips along like a drunk man dancing barefoot on hot coals, adding a comic lilt to an episode that's otherwise taut with suspense. I liked Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf so well that I read it twice through in three days. It's everything the original isn't: clear, unclenched, and compelling. And Farrar, Straus & Giroux's edition, set in large Palatino type, well leaded, trimmed out with notes in the margins and the Old English text on the facing page make reading the old poem a real pleasure. (less)

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Feb 15, 2012 Lori (Hellian) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a beautiful book, the paper itself is to die for, feels so good, and there are also historical images that are fascinating. The translation flows and is easy to read. I finished the Grendel part, and I am considering buying it - my library copy is almost due and I just picked up Reamde - any new book by Stephenson is a drop-everything-and-do-nothing-else-except-read-it...

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Jan 15, 2011 Xabier Cid rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 was to write a...more 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 was to write a work in verse, but it should be told that breaking the lines after getting the right half of a page does not make exactly a poem, but the rhythm does. And there is no rhythm at all in this Galician Beowulf.

Translator has chosen to recreate poetry using the same tools that a group of probably bearded people ten centuries ago, i.e., the alliteration and the repetition of characteristic phrases, something that other epic-composer peoples had done before. But our Neolatin system for creating rhythm is quite different: rhyme and number of syllables. Including three words beginning for t-, or even just two, in the same verse does not make any perceptible hum in a Contemporary reader, nor helps him/her to retain in his/her memory a list of 3182 verses. Is it a shame? Maybe, but that's how Galicians read now.

That imperative search for t-words, p-words, b-words and so on has another casualty: the very content. The epic register —Galicians have one coming from eight centuries ago— is mingled with very popular sentences, creating a quite odd mix of Galician words coming directly from the dictionary with a result lacking harmony.

I am not saying that the translator did a wrong job. His introduction is brilliant, his job was impressive, and the number of nights stolen from his family to be devoted to an obscure Medieval text could not be paid. As Galicians, we should be proud of his work, of his effort. I am only saying that, IMHO, he has taken a wrong decision about translation principles when he started his job.(less)

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Jun 28, 2007 Wealhtheow rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of Tolkein

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.

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May 13, 2011 Rise rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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
Is everything to the brave wolf’s safety net,
The adventuring prince Beowu...more

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Rise Thanks for the likers. I actually continued this verse-review in my blog. The next lines are:

Ho! The villain comes to town
to slay a lot of warriors, t...more
Apr 21, 2013 10:58pm

Jul 28, 2011 lauren rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: religion

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.

When the monste...more 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.

When the monster Grendel emerges from his putrid cave underneath the swamp and starts feasting on drunken soldiers, Beowulf and his hand-selected man-friends sail across the see to battle Grendel, since who is the only person far and wide who can take on Grendel? That's right, Beowulf. Not only is Beowulf the only one tough enough to take on Grendel, he's so tough he does it with his bare hands! He messes up Grendel so bad that whatever is left of him runs off to cry to mommy in the swamp-cave.

Mom is pissed. And when all the soldiers get drunk in celebration of Grendel's demise, momma comes tearing into the mead hall and tried to fuck their shit up! Alas she only manages to get one of the king's trusty manservants, since she is but a tired old hag-monster. But a super pissed one.

Beowulf is all like "Nuh-uh!", and takes off to the swamp. He dives through the murky waters and busts into mama's dank home, kicks her ass and steals the head of Grendel to prove that he's way tougher than those monsters. The king tell's Beowulf he is like a son to him and gives him more gold.

So Beowulf and his men go back to their home, and Beowulf gets all this land, and eventually becomes king. Everything is, of course, awesome with Beowulf as king. That is, until some transient sneaks into the dragon cave and steals a piece of treasure that the dragon is protecting, and awakens the fury of the ill-tempered fire-breather! They have to keep rebuilding things because that damn dragon keeps burning everything down.

Beowulf will have none of this. At this point he is an old man, but he's still the toughest thing around, still as cocky as ever. He gets some more men together, they go to the dragon cave, Beowulf wants all the glory so he heads into the cave himself. Beowulf has had a premonition of his death before going into the dragon cave, and the dragon is messing him up pretty good. All but one of his men turn out to be big wusses and run away when the dragon starts breathing fire at them. One guy sticks it out with B. and lands a solid blow on the dragon. But that guy doesn't kill the dragon. He just preps the dragon for death, then Beowulf, of course, lands the lethal blow.

The dragon is dead! But Beowulf is almost dead too, though he's not going to die until he sees the invaluable treasures that the dragon has been guarding. That other guy brings some gold out to Beowulf to see, and B. tells him exactly how the monument to his death should be built, and how many of his treasures should be incinerated with him in the funeral pyre.

This seems like an honorable and decent end for the hero, saving the people once again. But people start getting worried. None of them are as tough as Beowulf, so without him around, they are sure to be invaded by their enemies that Beowulf has kept away all those years.

um... I don't remember what happens next. maybe i need to reread the last ten pages.(less)

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Oct 13, 2009 Christopher H. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Christopher by: lonebearimages@gmail.com

Shelves: poetry, favorites, read-in-2009, my-western-canon, favorite-rereads, adventure, european-literature, translations, nobel-nba-booker-pulitzer, mythology-mythopoeia, medieval-anglo-saxon-middle-english, british-authors-translators, british-literature, classics-of-antiquity

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 was an...more

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Jul 30, 2009 Iris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: adventure-seekers, storytellers, chainmail-and-longsword fans from the Renaissance Faire

Shelves: poetry

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.

As a result, I've neve...more

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May 11, 2009 Robin Tell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literary

I'm that apparent rarity, an English major who liked Beowulf from the beginning. And really I suspect my early exposure to it is the reason: I found an old copy (with much marginalia and underlining) in the basement when I was anything from eight to eleven years old, and read it out of my own idle interest rather than having it foisted on me by a teacher. I had an old girlfriend who discovered Thomas Hardy and a number of other canonized authors early in the same way, and she was likewise free o...more I'm that apparent rarity, an English major who liked Beowulf from the beginning. And really I suspect my early exposure to it is the reason: I found an old copy (with much marginalia and underlining) in the basement when I was anything from eight to eleven years old, and read it out of my own idle interest rather than having it foisted on me by a teacher. I had an old girlfriend who discovered Thomas Hardy and a number of other canonized authors early in the same way, and she was likewise free of the reactive resistance to these texts that students can develop toward what they experience as assigned chores.

So, I've read several translations and always liked the poem, always found it quite recognizably itself in each edition. I haven't been approaching any of them with the gimlet eye of serious literary analysis, until perhaps Heaney's version.

The Heaney Beowulf has a few advantages over the others I've seen. It has the original text face to face with the translation, which is great--any good speaker of English can decode a bit of the original with a translation on hand to help. And the text comes with what amounts to one free lecture on the text and its translation by a good professor; Heaney's notes are indispensable, and for my part I'd say they're well worth reading in the order they're presented. He does much to show the text as unified, to illumine the world within which the story is set, and through an account of his own experience, to help modern readers position themselves in relation to the language of the original.

In the translation itself, he works hard to keep the language direct, unassuming, and assured. It reads as natural and accessible to the modern reader, despite a generally faithful rendering of the improbable poetic figures of the original. And the story remains compelling; it is the original warrior epic, hailing from a rather horrifying world in which nobody would have thought of any other subject matter for an epic to have in it.(less)

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Jul 16, 2010 Silvana marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: 10th-grade

Beowulf is the name of the personage in the epic poem that carries the same name. This poem was probably written ten centuries ago. It is classic Anglo-Saxon literature.
This epic poem is mainly describes the different situations of Beowulf during his battles with three opponents. His opponents were Grendel, Grendel's mother and the dragon.

Beowulf was a warrior in Geatsland southern Sweden who hears about the terrible Grendel in Denmark and decides to go and takes his men with him. Upon his arriv...more Beowulf is the name of the personage in the epic poem that carries the same name. This poem was probably written ten centuries ago. It is classic Anglo-Saxon literature.
This epic poem is mainly describes the different situations of Beowulf during his battles with three opponents. His opponents were Grendel, Grendel's mother and the dragon.

Beowulf was a warrior in Geatsland southern Sweden who hears about the terrible Grendel in Denmark and decides to go and takes his men with him. Upon his arrival Beowulf meets the King of Danes who explains the terror Grendel was causing the people in Denmark. Soon after Beowulf arrives Grendel attacks at night. Beowulf, the Danes' hero, has superhuman strength and defeats Grendel who goes back to the swamp and bleeds to death.

Before everybody in Denmark could celebrate Beowulf's victory, Grendel's mother came out of her cave and attack them during their sleep. Beowulf followed her back to her cave and defeated her there.

Fifty years passed by and Beowulf becomes King of the Geats and returns to Sweden where a Dragon this time attacks and terrifies the people. Beowulf did not want to listen to their warnings about the dragon and he went and fought the beast anyway. As a result of this, Beowulf dies due to deep wounds the dragon left on him before it died.

The story finishes with the mourning of the Hero. And it cites how the Swedes kill the Geats. After everything Beowulf has done for the Swedes and then after the Hero dies, since he did not leave any heir, the people were not satisfied and they go back and kill their Hero's people! Despite his victories, his death doomed them and they did what they did. I did not like the way it ended, but by the same token the story compares to today's everyday life. I know more than once you might have felt like you are Beowulf; but it is ok. In this life we all have a purpose, and in this story in particular Beowulf's purpose was to liberate the Danes from all kinds of bad things, and he did.

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May 03, 2008 Joshua rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry

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 those two wo...more

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Quotes from Beowulf

“It is always better
to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning.
For every one of us, living in this world
means waiting for our end. Let whoever can
win glory before death. When a warrior is gone,
that will be his best and only bulwark.” — 36 people liked it

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