Michael's review

Michael's review

Beowulf: A New Verse Translation Beowulf: A New Verse Translation
by Anonymous, Seamus Heaney

742177 Michael's review
rating: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
bookshelves: literature, old-english

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 s...more

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