Beowulf: A New Verse Translation (Bilingual Edition)
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Book Summary Information
Translator: Seamus HeaneyEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-02
ISBN: 0393320979
Number of pages: 215
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780393320978
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Beowulf: A New Verse Translation (Bilingual Edition)
Book Review: "It is always better / to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning."
Summary: 5 Stars
So spoke Beowulf, legendary warrior/prince of the Geats (a Germanic people who inhabited southern Sweden around 500 CE) and hero of the poem of the same name, a poem in Old English that is arguably the cornerstone of English poetry. I had never read this classic, but with my youngest son now reading it as part of his ninth-grade course in world history, I decided to unshelve my hardback copy of the Seamus Heaney translation and fill that particular gap in my education. My conclusion is that BEOWULF is not an essential component of a minimally well-rounded education - as, say, "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" are - but it is interesting and well-worth the several hours required to read it.
As I understand it, BEOWULF in near the form that has come down to us (i.e., as it exists in a manuscript in the British Library) was composed between 650 and 1000. It is a heroic epic narrative, in verse, of the tale of a great warrior/prince, Beowulf, that is set in Scandinavia and references battles and shifting alliances between various Germanic/Scandinavian peoples, including the Geats, the Swedes, the Danes, the Jutes, and the Frisians. Some of these events - indeed, some of the personages from the poem - correspond to historical events and figures, and thus the time period for the tale can be set at roughly the middle of the 6th Century.
So one of the interesting aspects of the tale, for me, is that it was transported from Scandinavia to the British Isles - a strong indication of just how thoroughly Anglo-Saxon were at least some areas of Britain circa 700-800. Another interesting aspect of the tale is how it inhabits an intermediate zone between paganism and Christianity, as if obligatory homage to the Christian God has been superimposed on an essentially pre-Christian or pagan tale. (Furthermore, such references as there are to a Christian tradition are almost exclusively Old Testament references.) But what is most interesting to me is how BEOWULF seems to intersperse an epic narrative with hortatory prescriptions or guides to exemplary conduct for the thanes, retainers, and warriors of the period. Among the poem's homilies or prescriptions for living is the one quoted in part as the title to this review, which is part of what Beowulf tells Hrothgar, king of the Danes, after Grendel's mother has abducted and killed Hrothgar's mentor and "soul-mate": "Wise sir, do not grieve. 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."
Thus, besides being a landmark of English literature, BEOWULF tells us a lot about what life was like in the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon parts of Europe during the Dark Ages. (And thus it is an inspired choice as assigned reading for my son's 9th grade class in world history.)
This edition of BEOWULF is a handsome one, at least in the hard-cover form that I have, which I presume is laid out the same as the paperback. There is an informative but not overly academic 20-page introduction by Seamus Heaney. Then the 3182 lines of the poem are set out, about thirty lines to a page, with the Old English and Heaney's modern English translation on facing pages, in an appealing and easily readable format. I don't have the background to comment on the merits of Heaney's translation vis-à-vis others, but I will say that Heaney's seems appropriately blunt and forthright, yet it also flows and is readily understood by a contemporary reader.
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