Beowulf (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

By Barnes & Noble Classics

Beowulf is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:

• New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars
• Biographies of the authors
• Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events
• Footnotes and endnotes
• Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work
• Comments by other famous authors
• Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations
• Bibliographies for further reading
• Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate

All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.

Widely regarded as the first true masterpiece of English literature, Beowulf describes the thrilling adventures of a great Scandinavian warrior of the sixth century. Its lyric intensity and imaginative vitality are unparalleled, and the poem has greatly influenced many important modern novelists and poets, most notably J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings.

Part history and part mythology, Beowulf opens in the court of the Danish king where a horrible demon named Grendel devours men in their sleep every night. The hero Beowulf arrives and kills the monster, but joy turns to horror when Grendel’s mother attacks the hall to avenge the death of her son. Ultimately triumphant, Beowulf becomes king himself and rules peacefully for fifty years until, one dark day, a foe more powerful than any he has yet faced is aroused—an ancient dragon guarding a horde of treasure. Once again, Beowulf must summon all his strength and courage to face the beast, but this time victory exacts a terrible price.

New translation by John McNamara. Features an original map and genealogy chart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble Classics
• Release date: Jun 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9781411431836

Reviews for Beowulf (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

[millsge_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I don't know how to review a masterpiece like Beowulf - it's like writing a review of Sistine Chapel . To say something about this work of art that would be both original and add to our understanding of the poem, the author, the time in which it was written, and its many themes is beyond me. As with all great poetry, all one can do is try to hear every note of its music and allow it to go directly to that thing one identifies as one's "I."

[roguebelle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love Heaney's translation, but for me, the real gemlike quality of this text is the matching Old English printed on the opposite pages -- it's just too much fun (at least if you're a lit geek like me)!

[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.

[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.

[john257hopper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a great, stirring epic, with perhaps some roots in the real history of the founding of the Swedish nation. I have never read any other version to compare this with, but Burton Raffel's 1963 translation reads well to me, and actually makes you want to read on to find out what happens next.

[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.

[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.

[joles_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you are able to get past the archaic language used (even in the translations) this book is very riveting. It is well written and the action never ends. There are many interpretations of this work. There is a reason this is a classic.

[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.

[hermit_9_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

McNamara makes no bones about it. He is more interested in an accurate translation than in conveying the poetic feel of Beowulf. The poem offers a glimpse into pre-Christian European life, but it is so infused with Christian commentary (by the monks who transcribed and preserved the oral tradition) that it is difficult for a layman to separate what is real and what is overlay. Because McNamara focuses on pure translation, this version is fairly easy to read, given how and when it was originally written.

[loganbuttram330 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I chose this poetry book because I really enjoyed reading this book in high school. I think this book is very important to students in the classroom because it helps broaden there experience in different types of literature. I think that students will find this book very interesting. I also feel that they may understand the book better if they watch the movie first so that they can get a better mental image of how the story unfolds and the stories purpose.

[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?

[cbl_tn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read at least portions of Beowulf years ago in school, perhaps even in elementary school if my foggy memory is reliable. Halloween seemed like a good time to revisit this epic monster tale. I chose the translation by renowned poet Seamus Heaney. His translation is very readable for this generation, except for the names, which he couldn't do much about. The meaning is clear, and I rarely had to re-read passages to tease out their meaning. My only quibble is that Heaney used too many modern idioms and expressions. Beowulf predates Shakespeare, the King James Bible, and other modern sources of commonly used expressions. Phrases derived from modern sources seem like anachronisms in Beowulf.

[jrissman_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Beowulf" is an old English poem written some time between the 8th and 11th centuries. It tells of Beowulf, a great hero among the Geats, who travels to assist the Danish king Hrothgar in defeating a monster that has been killing and eating his warriors. I won't discuss the poem's plot or content here, as plenty of summaries are available elsewhere. I will briefly comment that the plotline was solid and Beowulf was both moral and heroic, even by modern standards, which was contrary to my expectations. I anticipated a meandering plot and glorification of violence against humans, which were both features of the "Saga of the Volsungs," an Icelandic epic about the warrior Sigurd that dates from several hundred years after Beowulf.I picked the translation by Seamus Heaney after researching all of the in-print options, including one by J.R.R. Tolkien released in 2014. Heaney has translated the poem into verse, and he provides a lengthy introduction to the work that includes some details on choices he made in the course of translation. He has done a marvelous job: the text is exciting and flows smoothly and naturally. It is comfortable to read, and it goes quickly (maybe a few hours of reading), as the poem is not overly long.I can unhesitatingly recommend "Beowulf" to fans of old legends and myths, as well as to modern Fantasy readers and even gamers who like Norse-inspired settings. It is easy to see how Beowulf has influenced modern works such as "The Hobbit" (particularly as pertains to the dragon Smaug) and computer games such as the "Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" (which is set in a Norse-inspired fantasy world, complete with a king named Hrothgar in a Heorot-like mead hall).

[fuzzi_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was not as quick a read as I had anticipated, based upon its length, nor was it an easy undertaking. However, it was worth all the effort I expended to read, and understand this ancient poetry. I plan to keep and reread this classic.

[horacewimsey · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Translation by Seamus Heaney. Heaney's the translator because his name looks good on the cover. This version isn't bad, but don't buy it thinking that Heaney brings out something that wasn't already there.(I should note that Heaney's translation is sometimes a little obscure for American readers. Heaney relies on some of the old Irish dialect for some of the words, and they end up being just as clear as if they weren't translated at all.)

[ulfhjorr · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great epic, and Heaney's translation is a joy to read.

[lizannbowen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Having translated the entirety of Beowulf from Old English into modern English, I must say that Heaney takes great leaps and a poetic license to the original text. That being said, Heaney's translation allows any reader to understand the world of Beowulf in a greater capacity and fully engages the audience to hear the world as well through beautifully written verse. However, if using this text to research its setting and time period (which is rather loose and controversial, with scholars claiming the work anywhere between the 8th to the 11th century), you must have the original text and your Oxford to truly appreciate the language's impact on the understanding of its time period.

[amabel300 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the story itself, but the actual book bored me to tears. Past its time perhaps.

[ysar_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this is high school, and I'm not sure I fully appreciated it. I enjoyed it much, in part because I find it fascinating that a story so old still has resonance. In any case, I look forward to reading this one again.

[librarygirl66 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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

[antiquary_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Adequate but not nearly as good as I expected from his prize and some reviews. Occasionally jarring for informality or anachronism

[dcarchitect_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A trace of the origins of English Literature. Proof that adventure, excitement, and heroes are timeless.

[berthirsch · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This ancient tale written in old english is translated by the famous poet, Seamus Heaney, in a bi-lingual publication. What I imagined would be a difficult text to read was, in fact, a fast suspenceful tale built on character development and action.It is easy to see how this tale became a precursor to later literature of the Middle Ages and the more modern writings such as The Lord of the Rings. I highly recommend this classic to all ages.

[magus_manders · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Only so much can be said about Beowulf that hasn't already been heard, and I am not one to do it. Having read this, it's clear to see why this story has lasted so long and been such an influence to so many authors and scholars. It is a richly mythical melange of Christian themes and Nordic paganism in a stirring adventure story. I will say that as far as epic poetry goes, I'm more partial to the Iliad, which to me has much more complex and dynamic characters, but the setting is far less intimate and in a way, less fantastic. The best part of this volume, however would have to be the side-by-side translation Most of the Old English was completely alien, but ever now and then one world, like 'mist' or 'helm' would jump out at you from the jumble and make clear where this language I write comes from.This is a book that anyone interested in myth and story should read at least once. Now, the question is, will I read it again? Probably not. For all its pros, it is sort of a stodgy and dated work. Things are very flat, and at times very uninteresting. The movie that was released just recently (the CGI one, not the live action) probably saved the entire work in giving it an alternative meaning and some characters who, at the very least, lie every now and then.

[metalgoddessamb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An Excellent translation! It flows very well when reading it, and keeps you engaged.

[legalmove · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Magnificent translation, capturing the strength of the poem without sacrificing its beauty