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Composed toward the end of the first millennium of our era, 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 end of the twentieth century, 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.… (more)
Weasel524: Embodies and champions the same spirit/ideals commonly shared by norse mythology, scandanavian sagas, and northern germanic folklore. Significantly longer and different in structure, should that be of concern
PaulRackleff: Michael Crichton had written "Eaters of the Dead" as a means to show Beowulf's story value. The character names and plot line are very similar. Though Crichton changed some elements to make it more interesting than just a copy of Beowulf.
This is an incredible translation. I had no idea how difficult or engaging Beowulf would be when I read this many years ago, but I thought a translation by Seamus Heaney would make it at least interesting. It was a wonderful read. ( )
Beowulf, “A hero’s been sent here by Heaven to defend the Danes from Grendel!”
“Now his mother was here, carried on a wave of wrath, crazed with sorrow, looking for someone to slay, someone to pay in pain for her heart’s loss.”
And then, an angry dragon. And an EPIC battle! A pretty good read, though I was confused a bit at times. Glad to have finally read this, and I'm glad that this was the translation that got me to do it!
“Living has killed us all. We’re dustbinned by destiny.” ( )
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 is a warrior coming to Hrothgar's aid. The wicked monster Grendel has plagued Heorot (Hrothgar's famous mead hall) for twelve long years. Nothing has gotten rid of the vicious monster who was tormenting them and killing off all the Spear-Dane men he could find. Good ole Beowulf comes around and slaughters him, has to deal with Grendel's Mother and finally has to fight a dragon. Can you get any more epic than that?
I can see how this poem influenced a lot of today's modern stories. It's truly epic and really interesting. I really liked this poem and want to read more like it. It's a truly marvellous classic.
This translation made the news as the first one done by a woman. TBH I don't think I would have been able to tell if I'd been presented with it without the translator being accredited.
From time to time I found the translator's choices aggressively modern to the point they jerked me out of the story so that I wished I had my Seamus Heaney translation with me to see how he had translated that part. But I still enjoyed reading it enough to want to listen to an audio version to see how that stands up. The ebook version I read was badly formatted so that the introduction to the translation was difficult to read and so I gave up and just read the poem. ( )
At the beginning of the new millennium, one of the surprise successes of the publishing season is a 1,000-year-old masterpiece. The book is ''Beowulf,'' Seamus Heaney's modern English translation of the Anglo-Saxon epic, which was created sometime between the 7th and the 10th centuries.
And now this is 'an inheritance' - Upright, rudimentary, unshiftably planked In the long ago, yet willable forward
Again and again and again.
(Seamus Heaney ed., 1999).
Dedication
In memory of Ted Hughes
Seamus Heaney (1999)
To Kate, Julie, and Ben
For Brian and Blake
Burton Raffel (1963)
In memory of Joseph and Winifred Alexander
Michael Alexander (1973)
For Grimoire William Gwenllian Headley, who gestated alongside this book, changing the way I thought about love, bloodfeuds, woman-warriors, and wyrd.
Maria Dahvana Headley (2020)
First words
Hwæt we gardena in geardagum þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.
Preface
This book is meant to make Beowulf available as poetry who have not studied Old English (Anglo-Saxon) before and to those who have only a rudimentary knowledge of it.
Bro! Tell me we still know how to speak of kings! In the old days, everyone knew what men were: brave, bold, glory-bound.
(translated by Maria Dahvana Headley, 2020)
Introduction
Beowulf is written in the unrhymed four-beat alliteratie meter of Old English poetry.
Of the strength of the Spear-Danes in days gone by we have heard, and of their hero-kings: the prodigious deeds those princes perfomed!
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.
(translated by Seamus Heaney, 1999)
Listen! We have heard of the glory of the Spear-Danes
Hear me! We've heard of Danish heroes, Ancient kings and the glory they cut For themselves, swinging mighty swords!
(translated by Burton Raffel, 1963)
Attend! We have heard of the thriving of the throne of Denmark, how the folk-kings flourished in former days, how those royal athelings earned that glory.
(translated by Michael Alexander, 1973)
How that glory remains in remembrance, Of the Danes and their kings in days gone, The acts and valour of princes of their blood!
(translated by Edwin Morgan, 1952)
Lo! we have heard the glory of the kings of the Spear-Danes in days gone by, how the chieftains wrought mighty deeds.
(translated by R. K. Gordon, 1926)
Yes, we have heard of the glory of the Spear-Danes' Kings in the old days -- how the princes of that people did brave deeds.
(translated by E. Talbot Donaldson, 1966)
Yes! We have heard of years long vanished how Spear-Danes struck sang victory-songs raised from a wasteland walls of glory.
(translated by Frederick Rebsamen, 1991)
Quotations
Last words
... And so Beowulf's followers Rode, mourning their beloved leader, Crying that no better king had ever Lived, no prince so mild, no man So open to his people, so deserving of praise.
This was the manner of the mourning of the men of the Geats, sharers in the feast, at the fall of their lord: they said that he was of all the world's kings the gentlest of men, and the most gracious, the kindest to his people, the keenest for fame.
So the Geat-people, his hearth-companions, sorrowed for the lord who had been laid low. They said that of all the kings upon the earth he was the man most gracious and fair-minded, kindest to his people and keenest to win fame.
Thus the Geats all grieved and lamented the noble lord whom they so loved. They cried out that he was, of all the world's kings, the kindest and most courteous man, the most gracious to all, and the keenest for glory.
This work is any complete, unabridged translation of Beowulf. The Seamus Heaney translation is not a separate work from the other complete, unabridged translations. To quote the FAQ on combining - "A work brings together all different copies of a book, regardless of edition, title variation, or language."
Based on currently accepted LibraryThing convention, the Norton Critical Edition is treated as a separate work, ostensibly due to the extensive additional, original material included.
ISBN: 0060573783 9780060573782
Please see the LT Combiners' discussion at http://www.librarything.com/topic/508... before combining the Howell Chickering translation of Beowulf with other editions of the original work on LT. Thank you.
This is NOT an abridged edition. DO NOT combine with the abridged edition by Crossley-Holland or any other abridged edition.
Reserve this for dual-language texts (Anglo-Saxon and modern English) regardless of translator.
Composed toward the end of the first millennium of our era, 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 end of the twentieth century, 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.
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Haiku summary
Fear falls on the hall: monster meets match in hero; mother waits at home.
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Group Read: Beowulf - Seamus Heaney (spoilers)
Wikipedia in English (11)
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