Beowulf

By Lerner Publishing

King Hrothgar of Denmark has a problem: though his land prospers, his great mead-hall is plagued nightly by a horrible beast, Grendel, that pillages and kills his men. Leaving his home in Sweden, the warrior Beowulf sails to the king's aid. Beowulf and his men camp in the mead-hall to wait for Grendel. When the beast attacks, Beowulf grabs him by the claw and rips his arm off, making the beast flee in defeat. But Grendel isn't the only challenge facing Beowulf and, even in his native Sweden, adventures and dangers await. Written between the 8th and 11th centuries, Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic poem written in Old English. This unabridged version is taken from the translation by published by John Lesslie Hall in 1892.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing
• Release date: Jan 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781467786874

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Reviews for Beowulf

[terpsichoreus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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 ...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.

[eoin-311239 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So, Heaney wins the Nobel, leaves Harvard, and decides to do this. Best seller, agreed new standard, best translation. Why? He’s not an Old English scholar, not a philologist as such. He was already rich and famous.

I have two guesses:
1. He had already written so much of his own work, he was looking into new sources, translation being a good one. Fine, probably true.
2. Revenge. England conquered Ireland, crushing out the native culture and language as best they could for hundreds of years. Early 20th century, Ireland attempts to reclaim language and culture, including political independence. Except where Heaney is from in the North. So, how do you conquer the conqueror hundreds of years later? You take their language and use it against them. Like Joyce, but instead of moving further ahead, he goes back to the beginning. Translates the oldest English there is into 20th century Irish dialect English.

[sloopjonb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had this book on my shelves for 20 years before reading it. I really shouldn't have left it that long. Heaney's translation brings the old poem to life, blowing off the cobwebs of nearly two hundred years of it being studied rather than read. His translation was contentious, especially with Angl0-Saxon purists, but I have no complaints to make; he manages to make the old words meaningful, and evokes marvellously the atmosphere of a society that was long gone even when the poem was written.Of course one cannot discuss Beowulf without mentioning Tolkien; as Heaney acknowledges, he was the first to treat the poem as literature rather than merely an ancient artefact. Every Tolkien fan should read this; they will understand him much better, and they will find therein the originals of many scenes and phrases in his works.

[tldegray-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A beautiful translation.

[thorold_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The poemBeowulf is a tough sell. Not only has it traditionally been used by English departments around the world to break the spirit of newly-recruited undergraduates (who thought they had signed up for three years of Emily Dickinson and Virginia Woolf, only to find themselves out on the parade-ground practicing their Old English sound-shifts for month after month...), but also, when you get down to it, it turns out to be a poem about a macho muscle-man who spends his time - when not quaffing mead - either ripping monsters limb from limb or swimming long distances in full armour. Told completely straight, without any discernible trace of irony. Well, not exactly my cup of tea...Skimming through the introduction of the Bolton & Wrenn critical text, it turns out that we know surprisingly little about what must be one of the most-studied poems in the canon. It has survived in only one manuscript, the famous "British Museum Cotton Vitellius A XV" (bizarrely, the emperor Vitellius comes into it because it's his bust that stands on top of that particular bookcase). In fact, there are very few Old English texts that survive as multiple copies, so this uniqueness isn't unusual in itself. The manuscript seems to have been written around the year 1000, and textual evidence suggests that it's at least the third generation of copies since the poem was first written down. When and where that was is hotly disputed, but Mercia in the second half of the 8th century is a strong possibility. The action of the poem is set in a pre-Christian past in Denmark and Southern Sweden (with some mention of actual historical figures from the time), whilst the poet is obviously from a Christian background and refers quite freely to the Old Testament. What I found most surprising was to discover that the poem was not conspicuously a "classic" in its own time: we don't have any other contemporary references to it (apart from the "Finnesburg fragment", a single page of MS that seems to come from a different version of part of the same story), and as far as anyone can tell it fell completely off the radar of English literature between the end of the Old English period and the time around 650 years later when the first modern scholars became interested in Old English manuscripts and discovered this poem, bound in with a prose translation of St Augustine. So Beowulf is only part of the history of English literature with hindsight.The Heaney translationSeamus Heaney, of course, saw it as rather more than a philological crossword puzzle or a Boys' Own adventure story, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered with it. He points us in particular at the last part of the poem, where the elderly (70+) hero decides that he owes it to his people to take on one last dragon, even though it will certainly cost him his life. And indeed, the anonymous poet deals with the complex emotions involved here a little less brusquely than he does elsewhere - but this isn't Shakespearean drama, and we shouldn't expect it to be.What Heaney is really interested in, I think, is the poetical challenge of finding something in modern English that has the same magically seductive sound quality as Old English alliterative verse (which always sounds magnificent, even if you haven't a clue what it means...). And, of course, being Seamus Heaney, he decides to imagine the voices of the poem as if they came from the Northern Ireland farmers of his own sound-world, puts these into a slightly looser form of the Old English two-stress half-lines, and succeeds brilliantly. This translation is a poem that you just have to read aloud, even if there's no way that you can find any sympathy for Beowulf as a character.

[josephlyoung · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting collection of hero stories of ancient Scandinavian origin. While reading, I noticed ring references that may be the source for the magic rings featured in J.R.R. Tolkien"s Hobbit stories and the dark creatures used by Tolkien and in Rowling's Harry Potter Books. Good background for understanding many of the classic English Literature references. Slow reading because of strange name spellings and use of Old English. I think it is worth the effort or at least it was for me.

[carlym_35 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Seamus Heaney's translation made me understand why this story has survived this long. He gives it vigor, something that translated works often lack, and this makes reading it a pleasure.

[catherinestead · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Warrior Beowulf saves the Danes from the monster Grendel and then Grendel's mother and then many years later does battle against a dragon guarding a hoard of gold.I loved reading this. The poetry of the Heaney translation is very vivid and flowing, and creates a great atmosphere of fighting and carousing and boasting warriors and epic battle against mythical beasts. The story is dark and sometimes gruesome, and it is not at all hard to imagine the poem being recited around the fire by Anglo-Saxon warriors, passing round the cup of mead as the tale unfolds.I am definitely going to pick up a literal/glossed translation at some point and read it again, and try to make more sense of the original text.

[poetontheone · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Most anybody who is even minimally versed in literature is familiar to some extent with the Beowulf poem. It is a great heroic epic, but it has very little flare, or fluff, or fanciful rhapsodizing. The qualities of the narrative clearly demonstrate that this poem rests in the tradition of great oral folklore. Being such it is very direct and at the same time engaging to the point of easy immersion on part of the reader. This is in no doubt helped by Heaney's modern translation of the text, which is very readable, but in no way does that seem to cheapen the work. This is a fine epic, Beowulf being a valiant stock example of the utmost testicular fortitude, and I wish I had read it in younger years.

[csayban · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Sigh. I know, I know. This is the oldest English language story and the inspiration for The Lord of the Rings and Chuck Norris Beowulf is such a monster killing machine and… That’s great. Unfortunately, if you take all that away and someone wrote it now it would be a painfully predictable, plodding bore filled with WAY too much expository dialog and a list of characters that are neigh impossible to follow – except for Chuck Beowulf who bench-press mountains and sneezes lightning. This was arduous to try and get through – Shakespeare on Ritalin kind of arduous – because there was never a single doubt about what was going to happen or any emotional stake in the characters. I do enjoy reading difficult pieces of fiction. However, difficult and boring is a really bad combination. I know I’m supposed to like things like this, but I missed the boat on this one.

[bryndahlquis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was very surprised at the ease with which I read this great epic poem. I expected it to be very hard to get through and keep focused on, but it's actually a very straightforward story. Lots of action, and lots and lots of random little stories thrown in.This is the only version of Beowulf I've read, but from the snippets I've seen of other versions, this would probably be my favorite.

[liz1564 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beowulf translated by Stephen Mitchell was sent to me by Yale University Press via NetGalley. Thank you.This Beowulf by Stephen Mitchell is an very entertaining translation, The adjective that comes to my mind is "robust." The narrative is straightforward and the flashbacks and foreshadowing are not awkward and do not stop the forward movement of the story. I taught Beowulf for many years to high school students and I wish I had this version. The literature anthology I used had the Kennedy translation which I personally love for it lyric imagery. In Kennedy, the lines about Grendel approaching Heorot (lines 678-680) are "From the stretching moors, from the misty hollows, Grendel came creeping, accursed of God." The Mitchell translation renders the same lines as " Then up from the moor, in a veil of mist, Grendel came slouching. He bore God's wrath." I like the former, but I know my students would have preferred the latter.In the end, whether it be Mitchell, Seamus Heaney, Charles Kennedy or E. Donaldson, all translations of Beowulf are a good thing. I am sure the scops who entertained their listeners during the black nights in the cold north would each have put his own spin on the story. Make it beautiful or make it bloody. One thing is for sure. Beowulf can never be boring.Some very nice addition sto the Mitchell translation are the addition of maps, genealogical charts and a list of characters and place names with pronunciations.

[lhlogan1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Classically good and classically fun.

[chiarabeth · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant. Though don't trust me; trust Mr. Heaney's Nobel. I read this around the same time as I took a course in Old English, which helped me to appreciate the sheer genius of Heaney's translation even more. He manages to recreate so much of the style, technique and structure of the original text, you almost forget you are reading in today's English. Yet, at the same time as you are immersed in that sense of the past (much like the feeling that reading Shakespeare often gives), you are able to understand the story perfectly and appreciate it fully. A must for the bookshelves of anyone who appreciates poetry, the history of the English language, or just simply a good old fantasy.

[sasham-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I would have loved to have a glossary with in this book with a few explanations of some words and maybe a summary because the poetical form can make the story hard to follow

[janemarieprice · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This translation of Beowulf is excellent. It captures the spirit of the poetry without becoming too dense to read. I had read excerpts of the story for various classes and never enjoyed it. It is definitely something that you have to read the entire thing to find interesting.

[atdcross · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not being a scholar on such poems as "Beowulf" and having read it for the first time, I find it was a beautifully written and in such a way as you can almost see the poetic imagery in front of your eyes. From the first words of the prologue - "Hear me!" - one may be caught in the trap of, although the poem consists of 3182 lines of verse (no fear, only 99 pages), finishing the book in one day.There is adventure, suspense, anticipation, blood, revenge, fantasy, death, mourning, villains, faith in God, glorious heroes, dreadful monsters, all elements of what makes a great story combined in one. There are moments that you can almost feel the character's emotions, for example, in Wiglaf's failed attempt to revive Beowulf from death and his resignation to the Christian God's will:"...He was sittingNear Beowulf's body, warily sprinklingWater in the dead man's face, tryingTo stir him. He could not. No one could have keptLife in their lord's body, or turnedAside the Lord's will: worldAnd men and all move as He orders,And always have, and always will."(lines 2853-2859)For those not familiar and new to reading this kind of poetry, as I am, there is provided a helpful introduction, an informative afterword, and a glossary of names and a diagram of the genealogy of characters mentioned.I encourage the reading if this classic. After reading it, you will know why it is a classic, and that for centuries.

[sweetbriarpoet · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A beautiful poem. I have been meaning to read this for years- and thought it would require a deeper understanding of Old English to really capture the essence of the poem. If you are worried about this, I suggest reading Seamus Heaney's translation. He is such an amazing poet (my absolute favorite) and his knowledge of Old English means you get a meaningful translation which really allows you to just enjoy the story.

[drt_4 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Beowulfby Unknown author Seamus Heaney's translationWhy I picked this book up: I saw the book a lot and had never read it so I thought I’d pick it up.Why I finished this book: I thought the book was ok and wasn’t really drawn into the whole thing but was interested (at times) about the fanciful and powerful way things were addressed. The whole “machoness” and power made me want to see how things were handled. Rating: I’d give this book a 2 star rating out of 5 stars. It was not my favorite but at least I read it.

[nch05 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I would not have understood it or liked it had I read it on my own, but by reading it in class with explanations I thought it was facinating.

[heidip_38 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you've always wanted to read an epic poem, but didn't know where to start, this is the epic poem for you. Beowulf turned out to be an awesome story. This story is very Tolkien-ish probably because a scene in Beowulf forms the backbone of the story of Smaug in The Hobbit. The names might remind you of the character names in The Lord of the Rings.The story starts with Hrothgar, king of the Danes. Each night a monster, Grendel, who lives in the marsh waters, attacks Hrothgar's castle and eats the king's guards. This puts a damper on their evening celebrations.Beowulf, from the neighboring Geats, comes and offers to fight the monster. Thus begins the epic story of Beowulf, which goes on to include an exciting dragon battle and horded treasure. I don't want to say anymore for fear of spoiling the story. What did I think? I thought it was great to read this poem after suffering through twenty-two of Horace's Odes. You see, my online book club is reading through the poetry section of The Well-Educated Mind. I've read The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Odyssey, a sampling of Greek Lyrics, and a sampling of Horace's Odes. I'm quite pleased to read the story of a dragon battle.Have you read any epic poetry?

[antao-3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

(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 Bhagavad Gita, or the Pandavas' "advisor" at Draupadi's swayamvar asks the unknown Karna to declare his lineage and rank.In Beowulf, where the eponymous protagonist has to be introduced by his history in order to be considered worthy of being received in Hrothgar's halls, and able to, perhaps, take his chances against Grendel. Thorsten Verblen's, in his model of conspicuous consumption, suggested that in societies, or social conditions, that were not stable a man could only gain status by his reputation and by what he carried with him: his arms, his abilities and his history. It is a theory that applies to the bling culture of hip-hop, where alas, lives can be dramatically shortened, as much as to the Bronze Age and Iron Age world's of chiefdoms and agriculturists versus nomads. Women were acquired by raids, but there was enough spare, or surplus, labour available for ancillary crafts to develop: goldsmithery, ironmongery and the like. In such conditions, a man meeting a stranger or a putative enemy, would be likely to show off his armour and then show off further by talking about who he was, both his history and his lineage. Like Buffaloes sizing each other up before fighting, it may have been a way of reducing the number of fights that had to occur.Let us not forget the fate of Patroclus, who deliberately rode around in Achilles' bling and therefore got caught in a drive-by assassination. Had he been in a Prius instead of his black, silver-wheeled, borrowed SUV, he might have lived...It reminds me of the peaceful moment of the Bhagavad Gita from the Mahabharata just before the great battle of Kurukshetra, though of course Arjuna and Krishna are on the same side.Celtic kingdoms, Saxon kingdoms, Anglo-Norman kingdoms, were ALL European kingdoms. There was no hard border between mainland Britain and the rest of Europe. Kings ruled territories on both sides of the channel in joint jurisdictions. Laws and customs, language, arts and religion were common, in overlapping webs. The Celtic (that is British, or Welsh) and the Saes/Saxon peoples were not 'barbaric'. They were civilised, literate cultures, with highly organised governments, law codes, religion and arts.The group which was 'barbaric' was the 'Normans'. These were a rabble of raiders, adventurers, thieves and pirates, drawn together to loot other peoples. They were illiterate, depending on the monks of those they conquered to keep their records. Their law codes were truly barbaric, vastly inferior to the British and the Saxons, who operated on a system of compensation payments (fines). It was the Normans who imposed amputation, tortures, and increased executions. They were supreme in violence only, inheriting the worst of Viking culture without its balancing qualities, as the Normans were the misfits and rejects. What they were also good at was propaganda. Their bards sang wholly fabricated histories claiming an honourable ancestry for a united people that didn't exist. There were no 'Normans' until the bards constructed the myth of them as the raiders conquests grew successful.This is the 'people' who spawned the British ruling class. The British ruling class keeps books that trace their genealogy proudly 'back to the Conquest'. They were violent thugs, the vermin of Europe, who grabbed and stole, then dressed it all up in myths of propaganda. They haven't changed. Just like the rest of Europe, namely in Portugal...I wonder what the Britons thought about the invading Anglo-Saxons. Were they any better? The difference is, we have very few records to tell us what they thought. The invaders came in sufficient numbers that over a period of centuries their language replaced the native language, and so over time the Brits ended up with a weird sense that the Anglo-Saxon invaders were "Britons", but later Norman invaders were "them", because there weren't enough of them to replace the language of the Anglo-Saxon invaders (although enough to give us 1/3 of the English vocabulary).What did the Britons think about the Saxons (who didn't invade, but simply switch roles from mercenaries to usurpers...)? Actually we know exactly what the British thought of the Saes - they loathed them. See “Armes Prydain” and other works of the time. There was no worse insult than to be called a Saes - Saxon. The native British were culturally superior if only because settlers come as younger sons, or people who are unsuccessful at home, less educated, less cultured. You don't invade and crush natives by singing pretty songs. Compare “Beowulf” with the “Mabinogi” and the gulf is huge - like comparing drinking songs with Shakespeare.It's also inaccurate that the Saes replaced the British. Genetics say otherwise and the story is mixed. In some places it was violent takeover. In others it was trade, marriage, settlement. Coexistence is now the new historical understanding. Brits were mainly herders so held to the high ground and you can still see their place names across 'England' today in higher areas. The Saes were grain farmers who lived on lowland clays so their names survive there. The Saes were not as educated as the Brits. Alfred imported monks from the Cymru (Wales) led by Asser, to teach his people to read and write. Alfred was a visionary, like the later Guillaum le Batard of Normandy. But their peoples were less savoury, especially the Normans who practised genocide to terrify the natives. The whole of Yorkshire was depopulated, half of Pembrokeshire, and a large area of the Scots border. Massacres, or else driven out into destitution. On the second the British ruling class has not changed, still driving people into poverty and homelessness, just like the rest of Europe, namely in Portugal...The English called themselves English from at least the sixth or seventh century on. It was the Normans and their successors who coined the term Anglo Saxon to describe them. All part of the attempt to legitimise their conquest and pretend that they were the rightful rulers of the kingdom and its confiscated estates; and that English history started with them. That's why they promoted the Arthurian myth and tried to pretend they were its heirs - in order to try to write the English out of the story. And why they immediately knocked down the English Abbeys and cathedrals and rebuilt them in their own style.

[lamotamant · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm a Heaney fan and, after reading his introduction to and translation of Beowulf, I think the depth of that statement swelled a few leagues. That being said, I haven't read Beowulf prior to this encounter and would have to read other translations to really offer up a satisfyingly comparative review. However, I can say that this particular effort of Heaney's has inspired enough interest to do just that.

As for the story of Beowulf in and of itself: it offers a view into an honor-bound society and a heroic journey that is priceless in how it's merit in both style and telling has inspired and shaped our definition of the 'hero's journey' up to the present day. As Heaney says, it's 'an inheritance,' a statement I fully agree with. Much like Homer's Odyssey or Tolkien's Rings, it's both definitive, explorative, and "willable...again and again and again."

[lorenelambert · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a great translation. I enjoyed every line of it. If you combined this with Tolkien's translation of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", you'd have an evening of purely escapist medievel literature. (yeah, I know, Beowulf's not strictly medievel. whatever) Very good stuff.

[marcush_42 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a timeless classic. An epic poem that details the life of Beowulf, a great warrior. The poem gets reduced down many times simply to the Grendel/Hrothgar section, but should be read in its entirety. It's amazing that this is one of the earliest pieces of literature our civilization created, and Heaney does an amazing job at translating it.If you love fantasy like Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin, or even the Harry Potter novels, read this poem and you will see how influence it is.

[a.witt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have never enjoyed a poem so thoroughly in my life. Beowulf was fascinating, beautiful, epic, and thought-provoking from beginning to end. And I am not just some sappy professor who thinks all the classics are inherently perfect. I'm a teenage girl, and I loved it.

[fionacat_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The absolute best version of "Beowulf" out there. I love the original Old English (Anglo-Saxon) text on the facing page.

[hemlokgang · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Kindle.............Glad I read it.

[librarygirl66 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Graphic novel adaptation of the Old English epic poem, Beowulf.

[justlance · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have read many translations and this is my favorite. I love the poem/story of Beowulf and read it often. This is not only an excellent translation, but it is such an easy to read version that I must give it 5 stars. Read this version and enjoy a true classic tale that will keep you interested from start to finish.