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Beowulf

Unknown,

Seamus Heaney (Translator)

3.46 · Rating details · 251,637 ratings · 6,965 reviews

Beowulf is a major epic of Anglo-Saxon literature, probably composed between the first half of the seventh century and the end of the first millennium. The poem was inspired by Germanic and Anglo-Saxon oral tradition recounting the exploits of Beowulf, the hero who gave his name to the poem. Here, it's transcribed as a verse epic, onto which are grafted Christian additions ...more

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Paperback, Bilingual Edition, 245 pages

Published February 17th 2001 by W.W. Norton & Company (first published 900)

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· 251,637 ratings · 6,965 reviews

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Nov 03, 2008 Michael rated it really liked it

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

*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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Mar 18, 2011 Jeffrey Keeten rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: book-to-film, historical-fiction, english-literature, unnatural-appetites

”One of these things, as far as anyone ever can discern, looks like a woman; the other, warped in the shape of a man, moves beyond the pale bigger than any man, an unnatural birth called Grendel by country people in former days. They are fatherless creatures, and their whole ancestry is hidden in a past of demons and ghosts. They dwell apart among wolves on the hills, on windswept crags and treacherous keshes, where cold streams pour down the mountain and disappear under mist and moorland.”

I ...more

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Aug 12, 2014 Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ rated it really liked it

Shelves: literary-stuff, made-me-think, fantasy, classics

As a college English major, I studied Beowulf without any great enthusiasm; my real love was for the Romantic poets. And Chaucer, but that might have been partly because I thought it was hilarious that we were studying such bawdy material at BYU. Plus you can still puzzle out The Canterbury Tales in its original Middle English, with the help of a few handy annotations, while Beowulf in the original Old English--other than the immortal (at least in my mind) line "Bēowulf is mīn nama"--is beyond a As a college English major, I studied Beowulf without any great enthusiasm; my real love was for the Romantic poets. And Chaucer, but that might have been partly because I thought it was hilarious that we were studying such bawdy material at BYU. Plus you can still puzzle out The Canterbury Tales in its original Middle English, with the help of a few handy annotations, while Beowulf in the original Old English--other than the immortal (at least in my mind) line "Bēowulf is mīn nama"--is beyond anyone but scholars, and it loses something in translation.

So I cheerfully forgot about Beowulf until I was puttering around in Barnes and Noble one day, and came across Seamus Heaney's recent translation. I read his forward and was absolutely entranced by its brilliance. Heaney tosses off phrases like "the poem possesses a mythic potency" and talks about the "three archetypal sites of fear: the barricaded night-house, the infested underwater current, and the reptile-haunted rocks of a wilderness." He discusses how we are enveloped "in a society that is at once honour-bound and blood-stained, presided over by the laws of the blood-feud." And he explains in detail how he went about creating a new translation of the poem and the difficulty of finding the right voice:

A simple sentence such as "We cut the corn to-day" took on immense dignity when one of [my father's relatives] spoke it. They had a kind of Native American solemnity of utterance, as if they were announcing verdicts rather than making small talk. And when I came to ask myself how I wanted Beowulf to sound in my version, I realized I wanted it to be speakable by one of those relatives.

Anyway, all this is to explain why, after years of blissfully ignoring Beowulf, I felt compelled to buy this book and give it another try. Did it hold up to my hopes? Well, not quite. I still appreciate Beowulf more than I love it. But I heard the solemn, deliberate voice that Heaney was seeking to use, and I thought he did a great job of translating it as well as possible into modern English while preserving the original feel and intent of the poem. I love the liberal use of alliteration and the compound words (whale-road = sea; ring-giver = king) that are found in the original version of the poem as well as this translation. I felt the side-by-side nobility and brutality of these characters from (it's surmised) 6th century Scandinavia. And I was getting some serious Tolkien vibes from the ending, which is not at all a bad thing.

In the end, it was a bit of a tough slog reading through the entire poem, but I'm glad I did it. I think I still love Heaney's forward more than I love the actual Beowulf poem. I need to check out J.R.R. Tolkien's Beowulf translation one of these days. ...more

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Sep 21, 2019 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: epic, fantasy, british, classics, academic, fiction, poetry, scandinavian, 10th-century

Beowulf, Anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet

Beowulf is an Old English epic poem consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important works of Old English literature.

The date of composition is a matter of contention among scholars; the only certain dating pertains to the manuscript, which was produced between 975 and 1025.

The author was an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet, referred to by scholars as the "Beowulf poet".

The story is set in Scandinavia. Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to ...more

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Jul 02, 2007 AJ Griffin rated it did not like it

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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Mar 11, 2017 James rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1-fiction, 4-written-pre-20th-century

Beowulf is thought to have been written around the year 1000 AD, give or take a century. And the author is the extremely famous, very popular and world renowned writer... Unknown. Got you there, didn't I? LOL Probably not... if you're on Goodreads and studied American or English literature, you probably already knew this is one of the most famous works without an author.

It was first really published in the 1800s, using the Old English version where many have translated it, but there are still so ...more

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Jun 29, 2007 Seth T. rated it really liked it · 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 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. ...more

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Oct 10, 2019 Ruby Granger rated it liked it

I really don’t think I started Beowulf in the right mindset, and for the first 20 pages I actually wasn’t enjoying it very much at all.
I think this was because I started reading with certain expectations — namely in terms of style, for I am familiar with Seamus Heaney’s poetry. I was put off because, I think, it was not what I was anticipating. There were only a few lines whose construction I really stopped to pool over.
But — game changer — then I listened to the piece read in the original old ...more

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Jul 18, 2019 Alok Mishra rated it it was amazing

What an epic should be... a valiant epic that will relish the joys of poetry at the hands of the translator who has made it possible once more. I enjoyed reading it many times but a free-fall into the chasm of poetry was even more interesting and enlightening.

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Nov 29, 2018 Manuel Antão rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2001

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.

Pre-Arthurian-Myth: "Beowulf" by Unkwown, Seamus Heaney

(Original Review, 2001-02-20)

If you are familiar with the Hindu myth-kitty though, you may also find parallels between “Beowulf” and the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. When Jambavan spends a lot of time telling Hanuman about how great he is, to induce him to jump to Lanka in search of Sita, or Arjun surveys the array of warriors against him, described in some detail, leading to the ...more

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Feb 02, 2010 Alex rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: literally all white men

Shelves: middle-ages, rth-lifetime, reading-through-history, top-100, 2009

Beowulf and his drunk meathead friends are having a loud party, and their neighbor Grendel comes over like hey guys, can you keep it down? - that's funny because actually he eats a bunch of them - and then Beowulf tears his fuckin' arm off and nails it above his door, and honestly nobody really comes out of this looking like a good neighbor, do they?

So like Humbaba in Gilgamesh, or Odysseus’s cyclops, Polyphemus, we have a monster of questionable monstrosity. Because Beowulf started this fight, ...more

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Jan 14, 2021 Brett C rated it liked it

Shelves: poetry

This is a reread from my high school days. It was fun to reengage with this epic poem. This particular edition is bilingual with Old English on the left and modern English on the right. So technically that cuts the book length in half but does not take away from the story. The poem blends lots of elements of fictional, historical reference, and elements of legends. There are even Biblical allusions of Cain, making him a monster “pained by the sounds of joy.” Beowulf, son Ecgtheow, goes to aid of ...more

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Oct 09, 2020 Briar's Reviews rated it it was amazing

Shelves: drama, demons, film-adaption, fantasy-supernatural, thriller, classics, dragons, dark, 900, guilty-pleasure

I had to read Beowulf for my British Literature class, and my goodness was it one excellent read! I had heard vicious rumours that Beowulf was difficult to read and rather boring, and they were all wrong. I found Beowulf to be an exciting epic that grasped my attention better than Games of Thrones or the Witcher ever did. I was truly blown away and really loved reading into this story. It did help having an English Professor walking us through some of it, but either way it was marvellous.

Beowulf ...more

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May 24, 2007 J.G. Keely rated it liked it

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

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, 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. ...more

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Jan 22, 2021 Spencer Orey rated it it was amazing

I listened to the Seamus Heaney recording on a dark stormy day. It was fantastic.

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Dec 10, 2016 Simona B rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry, in-english

"But generally the spear
is prompt to retaliate when a prince is killed,
no matter how admirable the bride may be."

I'm astounded by the complexity of this poem. It makes me wish my Germanic philology course lasted forever so we could analyse it word by word, slowly, meticulously, languidly. This is why I personally suggest reading it with the help of a critical guide if you haven't the faintest idea what the poem is about, when and in what cultural context it was written, about the debate about it ...more

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Apr 17, 2018 Loretta rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, classic, my-2018-reading-challenge, poetry, five-star-reads

I was always quite intimidated by this book. I'm not sure why. Now I realize that my being intimidated by a book, especially by this one, was just ridiculous. What a fabulous, fabulous book! I just loved everything about it! The poetry, the story! Five big ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️'s all the way! ...more

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Jan 04, 2008 Michael rated it it was amazing

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 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.) ...more

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Jun 22, 2011 Jen/The Tolkien Gal/ジェニファー rated it it was amazing

Shelves: language, own, r-woosh, r-whoosh

I don't know who this "anonymous" guy is but he sure does write some fantastic books. I'll be sure to check his books his other stuff in future.

Image result for beowulf artwork

...more

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Aug 18, 2020 Lyn rated it liked it

Like many readers, I first encountered Beowulf as a young student, then later as a college student. The writing seemed old and tired and, though the subject was adventurous, having to read to it in the context of an English lesson drained most of the life out of it.

Seamus Heaney’s 2001 translation from the Old English breathes some new life into the ancient tale. We still have Grendel and his mom and later the dragon when our hero is an old king and not long for this world, but Heaney’s prose is ...more

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May 10, 2019 Maja - BibliophiliaDK ✨ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: popsugar-2019, books-i-own, classics, fantasy

A DANISH KING, A BRAVE HERO, TWO MONSTERS AND A DRAGON - IF THAT DOESN'T SPELL EPIC, I DON'T KNOW WHAT DOES!

✨ Popsugar Reading Challenge 2019✨
✨✨A book set in Scandinavia✨✨

Now. I might be biased here - I am Danish and most of this story takes place in Denmark - but this was truly an epos! I am not usually into poems, but this one actually moved me.

"[...] Beowulf and fear were strangers; he stood ready to dive into battle."

THE GOOD STUFF

Writing: It is not easy to make a battle sound a ...more

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Jan 05, 2015 Aubrey rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1-read-on-hand, r-2015, old-english, antidote-think-twice-read, r-goodreads, 4-star, reality-translated, reviewed, antidote-translated, reality-check

I doubt I would have liked this so much had The Lord of Rings not been such an essential part of me so early on. Books are the one and only thing that has been mine and my own since the beginning, and the rings, the dragons, the songs of days long lost and the coming of the end have filled the place of me that religion never could. While there is much to critique, it has sunk so deeply into my resonance that the best I can do is hope that everyone has such a refuge in their heritage as I do in E I doubt I would have liked this so much had The Lord of Rings not been such an essential part of me so early on. Books are the one and only thing that has been mine and my own since the beginning, and the rings, the dragons, the songs of days long lost and the coming of the end have filled the place of me that religion never could. While there is much to critique, it has sunk so deeply into my resonance that the best I can do is hope that everyone has such a refuge in their heritage as I do in English. Beowulf played the strings of Tolkien, Tolkien played the strings of me, and the most I can do is seek out the same in worlds beyond the same old, same old.

Beyond my nostalgic tone, there is the text itself with its strong rhythm, unusual self-reflexivity, and a future that looks back onto the crossroads with relief and a yearning. They are old, these crossroads, traversing a time when bloodshed belonged to a single self and the conquering strain had not yet set the tone for my postcolonial times. It is a time popularly known as the Dark Ages, a naming that shows how little use there is in generic categorizations that ignore both the frame of reference and the multifarious qualities of "Dark." True, there is neither Emperor nor Empire, but in its place is loyalty, blood, and a breed of mythos that has lost none of its awful potency in the age of climate change and drones.

Others have likely spoken about the lack of women, and it bears mentioning how few of them were worthy of a name in the family trees of the appendix. While good to keep an eye on during general reading, this text is an old and singular survivor of burning and religious condemnation, and what merits it would not have had it been written today will be granted. Much like my recently read 'Oroonoko,' it is a window to the past, and while much referred in academia to the detriment of less European texts, it also sparks a wondering thought: what else was going on in the world back then? What other voices have made their long and torturous way to the present conscious, and how many have yet to be given their due?

My modern age has given me much in terms of technology, but still it malingers in Eurocentric repetition. I doubt I shall live to see the day when Beowulf is joined by twenty or more of its polytongued siblings in halls that give each the credit they're due, but I can begin making my own way towards those waiting, not so foreign strings. ...more

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Dec 27, 2012 Riku Sayuj rated it it was amazing

Shelves: epic-stuff, poetry, epics, r-r-rs

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. ...more

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Jul 20, 2016 Francisco rated it it was amazing

Beowulf - you might have encountered it at a college English class. Your teacher may have written a few of the original lines of Old English on the blackboard and had you try to decipher them. There was probably lots of history taught in that class: the poem was written by an Anglo-Saxon poet some time between the 8th and the 11th century. The poet, a Christian, wrote about events taking place in "heathen" England two or three centuries before. If your English class was anything like mine there Beowulf - you might have encountered it at a college English class. Your teacher may have written a few of the original lines of Old English on the blackboard and had you try to decipher them. There was probably lots of history taught in that class: the poem was written by an Anglo-Saxon poet some time between the 8th and the 11th century. The poet, a Christian, wrote about events taking place in "heathen" England two or three centuries before. If your English class was anything like mine there was probably a lot of analysis about the "mixture" of world views - the Christian and the Germanic. And all along, you were probably hoping that the teacher move on to something more exciting. But here's why you may want to give this particular classic another try. First, chances are that the Seamus Heaney's translation will convey to you the essential beauty of the poem in a way that other translations couldn't do. And by "essential" I mean that sometimes it takes a poet's sensibility to intuit the right and clear presentation of another poet's meaning. It is not a case of avoiding the literal and the precise but rather the acknowledgment that translation is an art that requires not only scholarship but also creativity and intuition. All you have to do is read Seamus Heaney's introduction and you will know almost immediately that you are in the presence of a man of extraordinary gifts who has taken great care to present you with a work of everlasting beauty. I am not going to tell you about the "plot" of the poem because there is no "plot" other than three battles between a hero and evil represented in various forms. The fact that these representations of evil are "fantastic" only adds to the extraordinariness of this early work. One of the greatest contributions of this edition by Norton is the inclusion of the most incisive critical essays on the poem, including, J.R.R. Tolkien's ground breaking, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics where Tolkien takes on the countless critics who have lamented the poet's decision to portray conflicts between a man and monsters and dragons in lieu of more historical or more realistic encounters between humans. (Tolkien's essay, by the way, will also give you a greater understanding of why Tolkien chose to do certain things in The Lord of the Rings) What Tolkien will remind you of and what you will feel when you read the poem again is that the story of a man fighting battles he will eventually lose but which he must nevertheless continue fighting is as heart-enhancing today as it was in the eight century. Courage, after all, has little to do with the success of the fight. ...more

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Jan 31, 2021 Piyangie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: brittish-lit, poetry

Said to have composed between the seventh and tenth century, Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon Epic poem. Named after its hero, Beowulf, a prince and later the King of the Geats, this poem recounts his heroic adventures. It begins with Beowulf coming to the aid of Hrothgar, the King of Danes, whose kingdom has come under the attack of a monster named Grendel. Beowulf successfully defeats the monster and his mother who comes to avenge his death. Later in life when Beowulf is the King, his kingdom is terr ...more

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Jun 20, 2018 Roger Brunyate rated it it was amazing

Shelves: poetry, fantasy-surreal, other-languages, before-1900, nobel-laureates

The Book I Thought I Knew

1. A Confession. This made a big splash it first came out in 2000. I bought it mostly for duty, but didn't read it. After all, I had studied the text in the original at University; I could even recite the opening. Surely I just needed a nudge, and it would all come back to me—so why bother with a translation?

Oh, the arrogance! When I opened this, and saw the original text on the left-hand pages, I found I could not make it out at all; I had even been misremembering the ...more

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Mar 19, 2019 Philip Allan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

There are many versions of Beowulf, but that translated by Seamus Heaney is the only one you should consider reading.

I have always loved the idea of Beowulf. The earliest ever work in English, it lies on the very edge of our cultural memory. It was written by an early Christian, but records a previous, vanished world of myth and legend, of warriors, heroes and monsters.

My first attempts to read Beowulf were not successful. It was forced on me at school – never a promising start. Later I bought ...more

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Oct 03, 2020 William Gwynne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, reviewed, historical, literary-fiction

A video with some more depth on BookNest - BookNest - Beowulf

“I’ve never known fear; as a youth I fought/ In endless battles. I am old, now,/ But I will fight again, seek fame still,/ If the dragon hiding in his tower dares/ To face me”

This is the first time that I read a translation of the original version of Beowulf. I am very familiar with the story, having read the brilliant children’s adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s, and also the animated 2007 movie with Ray Winstone (a great film). And th A video with some more depth on BookNest - BookNest - Beowulf

“I’ve never known fear; as a youth I fought/ In endless battles. I am old, now,/ But I will fight again, seek fame still,/ If the dragon hiding in his tower dares/ To face me”

This is the first time that I read a translation of the original version of Beowulf. I am very familiar with the story, having read the brilliant children’s adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s, and also the animated 2007 movie with Ray Winstone (a great film). And this did nothing but strengthen my love for the story.

Beowulf, the epic poem, was an incredibly interesting and enjoyable read. The form as an epic and the prose immersed me into the Norse world and swept me along what is a riveting story infused with fascinating Norse culture and the fantastical idea of Monster VS Man.

“Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done.”

The manner in which fact and fiction, history and mythology, are mixed in this poem is fascinating. On the one side we have the classic gritty Scandinavian world of war and conflict between the clans of the Geats and Jutes and Danes and so on. And then we have monsters such as Grendel, which allow Beowulf to rise to the status of hero that has become so famous.

Beowulf himself as a character is interesting, as he is an incredible warrior who’s skills are exemplified through his bravery. But, despite this poem being written in a culture far different than ours, his honour, dedication to duty and courage are compelling traits that still make us route for his character as opposed to his enemies.

“I shall gain glory or die.”

I love Norse Mythology and Scandinavian history, hence part of the reason I loved this tale. But that is not all. It is an accessible poem that contains themes of heroism, tragedy and everything in between within its prose, which in itself is smooth and stirring. Anyone who enjoys historical tales, mythology or anything linked to such things, I believe that you will love the epic story of Beowulf, which has resonated through the ages.

5/5 STARS ...more

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Dec 23, 2013 Wanda rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2016, public-library, foundational-literature, poetry, z-100-to-well-read

Beowulf is an interesting window into the past—specifically where Christianity and older pagan religions overlapped. It was fascinating to see the older, warrior culture being lived with an overlay of Christianity. But deeds of bravery and being able to hold your liquor whilst on the mead-bench were still valuable commodities! Modesty was not yet a virtue—a warrior was expected to declaim his exploits (a la the Norse god, Bragi, from whom we get the English verb “to brag.”)

Although I was familia Beowulf is an interesting window into the past—specifically where Christianity and older pagan religions overlapped. It was fascinating to see the older, warrior culture being lived with an overlay of Christianity. But deeds of bravery and being able to hold your liquor whilst on the mead-bench were still valuable commodities! Modesty was not yet a virtue—a warrior was expected to declaim his exploits (a la the Norse god, Bragi, from whom we get the English verb “to brag.”)

Although I was familiar with the story line of the first half of the poem, dealing with Grendel and his mother, I found the second half completely new. I was unaware of the portion dealing with a dragon that Beowulf faces. I know that Tolkien also translated this poem and I was amazed at how similar some sections of it were to parts of The Hobbit when Bilbo and the dwarves are dealing with Smaug, the dragon occupying the former home of the dwarves. Obviously, Beowulf was inspiring for Tolkien.

I know that I had to translate parts of this poem from the old English for a linguistics course that I took many years ago. I remember it being a difficult task and I have to admire Seamus Heaney’s accomplishment. He has created a very readable version of the text. I tried something quite different for me with this work—I borrowed both the text and the audio book from the library and allowed the poet to read his work to me, while I followed along in the text. The only problem with this arrangement was the abridgement of the spoken-word version, requiring occasional pausing on my part to find my place further ahead in the text. Despite this, I enjoyed the experience very much and plan to use audio-books for other foundational texts of Western literature, such as The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Several of my friends have warned me that is it very important who is providing the vocal performance on an audio-book. I felt that a poet of Heaney’s stature would have a good grasp of performing his work and I was not disappointed.

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Feb 27, 2019 MK added it · review of another edition

This is actually the edition I'm reading, I accidentally shelved this other one with the brown cover ... don't want to 'switch' to the edition, because there's some really great info from Ian in the comments section for the brown covered edition (thanks, Ian! :) ). So I'll shelve this one too ~

---------------------------------------------

"Angelina Jolie played Grendel's mother in the 2007 film version of the story" >
src - https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-s...

*blink*
What ... ? Srsly ... ?! ...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.” — 158 likes

“Behaviour that's admired
is the path to power among people everywhere.” — 109 likes

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