Paperback, 213 pages
English language
Published Sept. 17, 2001 by W. W. Norton & Company.
Composed toward the end of the first millennium, Beowulf is the elegiac narrative of the adventures of Beowulf, a Scandinavian hero who saves the Danes from the seemingly invincible monster Grendel and, later, from Grendel’s mother. He then returns to his own country and dies in old age in a vivid fight against a dragon. The poem is about encountering the monstrous, defeating it, and then having to live on in the exhausted aftermath. In the contours of this story, at once remote and uncannily familiar at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney finds a resonance that summons power to the poetry from deep beneath its surface. Drawn to what he has called the “four-squareness of the utterance” in Beowulf and its immense emotional credibility, Heaney gives these epic qualities new and convincing reality for the contemporary reader.
An astounding poem presenting perfectly England's northern german and nordic heritage. It is a truly epic tale that captures both history and the imagination. Its themes and ideas echo throughout the rest of English literature and fantasy. It is a story that speaks from our bones and I'm glad it now sings through mine.
Beowulf is a classic story of a guy killing a bunch of monsters for glory and then eventually becoming king. It's practically the archetype of modern fantasy, the text pre-dating even Siegfried and his dragon-slaying adventure.
The poem is paced oddly. There are long, boring stretches explaining random events in order to contrast Beowulf's deeds with other heroes of the time, but the action is fast, engaging, and brutal. Beowulf's manners in conversation can hardly be remembered as the poet describes him beating on Grendel with his bare hands and ripping his arm clean off.
Heaney's translation is... serviceable. It's a prose translation with no attempt at poetry at all, and rather than providing footnotes for obscure references they gave a summary of a few words for most of the stanzas. Nevermind that it's already prose and it's pretty obvious what's happening, the summary just reminds me that I don't …
Beowulf is a classic story of a guy killing a bunch of monsters for glory and then eventually becoming king. It's practically the archetype of modern fantasy, the text pre-dating even Siegfried and his dragon-slaying adventure.
The poem is paced oddly. There are long, boring stretches explaining random events in order to contrast Beowulf's deeds with other heroes of the time, but the action is fast, engaging, and brutal. Beowulf's manners in conversation can hardly be remembered as the poet describes him beating on Grendel with his bare hands and ripping his arm clean off.
Heaney's translation is... serviceable. It's a prose translation with no attempt at poetry at all, and rather than providing footnotes for obscure references they gave a summary of a few words for most of the stanzas. Nevermind that it's already prose and it's pretty obvious what's happening, the summary just reminds me that I don't know the story that the bard is currently recounting.
I'll definitely be re-reading this one with a different translation, because it's a story that deserves to be as good as I can read it.
I'm reading this as part of a book group.
This translation is wonderful. I had tried reading a different translation in school, before this was published, and couldn't get through it. Heaney was very open about not being too slavishly literal in his translation and the result is something that's very readable, tautly paced and full of evocative turns of phrase.
The actual story recounted is much less interesting than its telling. It's about the most macho character in a very macho world, who takes on other peoples' battles to prove himself, and where everything is valued in strength and/or gold. I found myself sympathising more with the second "monster" (a bereaved mother out to avenge her son) than the "hero". And the narrator seems very confused about whether the characters being described were Christians or not - they're explicitly described as pagans but then they keep referencing a distinctly monotheist God as if that was the only way …
This translation is wonderful. I had tried reading a different translation in school, before this was published, and couldn't get through it. Heaney was very open about not being too slavishly literal in his translation and the result is something that's very readable, tautly paced and full of evocative turns of phrase.
The actual story recounted is much less interesting than its telling. It's about the most macho character in a very macho world, who takes on other peoples' battles to prove himself, and where everything is valued in strength and/or gold. I found myself sympathising more with the second "monster" (a bereaved mother out to avenge her son) than the "hero". And the narrator seems very confused about whether the characters being described were Christians or not - they're explicitly described as pagans but then they keep referencing a distinctly monotheist God as if that was the only way the narrator knew to render humility. But it's still an interesting window into a period of history we don't exactly have copious written records from.
Unusually for an Important Work Of Literature, the introduction is really worth reading, I suppose because Heaney wrote it himself. I read it after the poem, which I think was the right way round.
This translation is wonderful. I had tried reading a different translation in school, before this was published, and couldn't get through it. Heaney was very open about not being too slavishly literal in his translation and the result is something that's very readable, tautly paced and full of evocative turns of phrase.
The actual story recounted is much less interesting than its telling. It's about the most macho character in a very macho world, who takes on other peoples' battles to prove himself, and where everything is valued in strength and/or gold. I found myself sympathising more with the second "monster" (a bereaved mother out to avenge her son) than the "hero". And the narrator seems very confused about whether the characters being described were Christians or not - they're explicitly described as pagans but then they keep referencing a distinctly monotheist God as if that was the only way …
This translation is wonderful. I had tried reading a different translation in school, before this was published, and couldn't get through it. Heaney was very open about not being too slavishly literal in his translation and the result is something that's very readable, tautly paced and full of evocative turns of phrase.
The actual story recounted is much less interesting than its telling. It's about the most macho character in a very macho world, who takes on other peoples' battles to prove himself, and where everything is valued in strength and/or gold. I found myself sympathising more with the second "monster" (a bereaved mother out to avenge her son) than the "hero". And the narrator seems very confused about whether the characters being described were Christians or not - they're explicitly described as pagans but then they keep referencing a distinctly monotheist God as if that was the only way the narrator knew to render humility. But it's still an interesting window into a period of history we don't exactly have copious written records from.
Unusually for an Important Work Of Literature, the introduction is really worth reading, I suppose because Heaney wrote it himself. I read it after the poem, which I think was the right way round.
beating me over the head with the sort of olde englifh in beowulf (and the canterbury tales and the faerie queen and and and) my freshman year was a great way to kill my desire to be an english major. thanks, beowulf! with my resulting science major, i doubt i'll ever work at starbucks.
i might enjoy beowulf if i gave it another go today. but if english departments want to increase their enrollment, they need to stop it with their emphasis on going through the great works chronologically from beowulf to rushdie (or whomever the last person is nowadays).
