Beowulf

Rating:
Summary: An excellent translation
Review: Beowulf is an old Anglo-Saxon poem composed late in the first millennium. It is the story of Beowulf, a war-leader (and later king) of the Geats, a people who competed for dominance with the Swedes. In this story, Beowulf overcomes fearsome monsters and magic, through his own strength, and the assistance of his followers. If you are interested in the ancient Germans, then this story will provide you with a unique view into the German way of thinking.

Seamus Heaney's translation is easy to read and brings the story into a form comfortable for the modern reader. As an added bonus, the author includes a side-by-side copy of the story in the original Old English, for those who are interested in that language.

This is an excellent translation.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and Remarkable
Review: Today, only about 30,000 lines of Anglo-Saxon verse are in existence. Approximately 10 percent of this is formed by the 3,182 lines of the remarkable epic poem, Beowulf. Beowulf tells the story of a hero by the same name and of his battles against supernatural creatures as well as containing many digressions into other stories and historical events.

As books were rare and valuable items in Anglo-Saxon times and much of the population was illiterate, the storyteller became both an entertainer and a memory bank for the kingdom's history. These storytellers were repositories of the tales the first settlers brought with them from their continental homelands, the legends of Germanic heroes and heroines whose behavior served as both example and warning.

Although it is possible that there existed an earlier manuscript of Beowulf than that which now survives, the poem is the product of a society that expected to hear poetry and not read it. It was no doubt intoned or chanted, probably to the accompaniment of a lyre or a harp.

Beowulf is set in Denmark and Sweden during the sixth century. Most of the action takes place in Geatland) part of Sweden south of Lake Vättern) and the Danish island of Sjaelland (Zealand). Frequent digressions in the poem do extend its geography.

Beowulf's encounter with Grendel takes place in King Hrothgar's hall of Heorot, most probably at Lejre on the Danish island of Sjaelland. Archaeologists working at Lejre have found traces of a series of great halls of exceptional size and splendor which date from the fifth or sixth century (the time in which Beowulf is set) and continue well into the "Viking Age." One of those halls may well have been the Heorot of Beowulf.

There is no evidence that Beowulf, himself, ever really existed, although it seems there were other analogous tales that provided the Beowulf poet with his inspiration for the character. The poet obviously had a deep knowledge of Germanic history; the fairy tale figure of Beowulf is fitted into both an existing place and a precise historical context. Many then-extant historical characters are mentioned in the poem: Hygelac, the king of the Geats, Hrothgar, Ongentheow, Haethcyn, Onela and Heardred were all historical characters that are mentioned in Beowulf and help to us to place it most accurately, regarding time.

The characters in the poem no doubt had a special interest to the Anglo-Saxon audience and some also appear in other poems as well. One such character is Hengest, who succeeds Hnaef as leader of the Half-Danes. It is almost certain that Hengest was the same Hengest who came to England with Horsa in 449 A.D. at the invitation of King Vortigern to fight the Picts. This same Hengest eventually founded the Kingdom of Kent and, as the first recorded settler in England, would have been of tremendous interest to later Anglo-Saxon audiences.

We will probably never know exactly where the poem was composed. It survives in only one manuscript dating to about 1000 A.D. and there is no other reference to the hero in any other source. Although we now think of Beowulf as a great masterpiece, it seems the Anglo-Saxons did not see it this way. To them, Beowulf was no doubt just another weird and wonderful monster story.

The author of Beowulf, like most other Anglo-Saxon poets, is unknown. It could have been composed by a poet working at court or it could have been a poet-monk who was repsonsible for the creation; the preferred alternative depends on how the function of Christianity is viewed within the body of the poem.

The difficult questions of date and place of composition are best considered together. It is clear that the poem could not have been composed prior to 521 A.D. because of the reference to the death of Hygelac, and not before 580 A.D., as Beowulf's death would have taken place around this time. It certainly could not have been composed after 1000 A.D., as this is the date of the Beowulf manuscript. Many critics have argued in favor of the seventh century on the grounds that the Beowulf poet alludes to and expects his audience to be familiar with.

Most scholars agree that Beowulf was composed in one of three places: Northumbria, during the Age of Bede, Mercia during the reign of King Offa or seventh-century East Anglia. Because of the Sutton Hoo discovery, the East Anglia location seems the most likely choice today. Not only was the ship burial uncannily similar to the burials of Scyid and Beowulf, but the grave goods revealed the East Anglican court of the Wuffingas to be unexpectedly sophisticated and closely linked to the Swedish royal house at Uppsala. The scholar Howell Chickering asked, "Was it through the early East Anglican court that detailed knowledge of Scandinavian tribal history in Beowulf became available in England?" The poem just might have been a way of telling East Anglicans something of their semi-historical, semi-legendary Scandinavian ancestors. A case can be made for believing that the poem was composed in Suffolk, at the palace of Rendlesham, within living memory of the great ship burial in 625 A.D.

Rating:
Summary: A Rich and Beautiful Translation
Review: Mr. Heany has taken a timeless classic written in an ancient tongue and created a modern work equally as beautiful as the original.

The subject matter can be somewhat challenging--a long tale of a great hero, Beowulf, who comes to the aid of a Danish king besieged by the ravenous and brutal monster Grendel. Its themes of duty, honor, man against nature and the glory of combat in the service of God are ancient but, despite the passage of 1300 years since its creation, the words of the poem still exert a powerful influence today.

While the text of some previous translations has been awkward and stiff, this edition is smooth and polished. It transmits the power and emotion of the poem without resorting to overly passionate passages.

This is the very best way to enjoy an ancient masterpiece which should never be forgotten.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful narration, but incomplete.
Review: I purchased this recording not realizing what "unabridged selections" meant. Now I know that it is just a tricky way to say "abridged". I am not pleased with this deception. The description on the back of the cd case mentioned that Beowulf was originally meant to be heard, not read. I would have liked to have heard the whole narration. Some of the parts I enjoyed reading are sadly missing. Sometimes whole parts of the plot are omitted. For instance, the beheading of Grendel is skipped, but the part where his head is carried in triumph by Beowulf's men is kept in. The abridgement loses some of the complexity of the tale. On the bright side, Seamus Heaney reads the tale (what there is of it) beautifully. Listening to the reading does help with pronounciation and helps clarify the tale. It is a shame that the entire tale was not read! I reccomend Seamus Heaney's translation in book form. Though it may not be the same as listening to a mideval scop tell his tale, it is very well done. I would have given this recording five stars had it been complete. I hope a truely unabridged recording of Heaney's translation is released later.

Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: A new look, a new sound, and a new feel for an age old classic!

Rating:
Summary: Accessible, enthralling, and startlingly immediate
Review: Please forget that you are supposed to read this book. Please forget that you were probably forced to read BEOWULF and don't remember liking it. Just pick it up. Beowulf isn't some cartoon he-man lurching around in front of a cardboard background, surrounded by identical-sounding "yes men," chopping the heads off a desultory collection of monsters. Beowulf sounds like someone you looked up to in childhood; like the kind of person you always hoped you'd become: talented, compassionate, dedicated. His colleagues sound like people you know: young idealists who turn wary with age, not quite as talented, most willing to join in but unwilling to go first. Even the minor characters and, perhaps most astonishingly, the dragons are given individual voices, each surprisingly real, believable, and oddly familiar.

I could not put this book down. After I finished, I began to see the eerie doppelgangers of the characters in my boss, my coworkers, my friends. I've known a few Grendels, a few Grendel's mothers, and plenty of people facing that last, ominous dragon.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I bought this book before I read it and I was impressed.I'm not a real big reader myself,but this is a book I just couldn't put it down.I highly recommend this book to everyone even if you're not a real big reader.This book is really only about 106 pages long because it's a bilingual book and one half of the book is Old English and the other half English.I thought this book was put together very neatly with the page on the names and the way it had English and Old English and also the family trees at the end of the book.I read this book in two days,but read it very carefully.If you don't read carefully you might not get the full effect of the book.A word of advice don't read the caption type things on the sides of each page.It may ruin the ending if you are in an action scene.The book basically starts out with a decendant of Cain named Grendel.Grendel prowls Herot city looking for prey to pounce on.Then the demon named Grendel takes his anger he has for God out on the warriors in Herot Hall.Beowulf hears of this and seeks out to fight the demon.This is very loosely based.I can't tell you any more or it will ruin it for you.This is just an all around great book.

Rating:
Summary: Don't be fooled...
Review: If you read this new translation of Beowulf sparks you to pick it up like I did, read this first. Beowulf is still confusing and still boring, no matter how good the translation is. Come on, IT'S BEOWULF!!! It'll take a lot more to make this exciting!

Rating:
Summary: A Servicable Translation
Review: There are many things to like in Heaney's Beowulf, not least the format of the book itself - the original text and Heaney's translation are printed on facing pages. Heaney's translation is mostly accurate, clear and readable, except for a few "Irishisms" that may baffle the American reader.

Oddly enough, since Heaney is himself a major poet, I find this translation a bit lacking in poetry, a bit - dare I say it - flat. Heaney keeps the sense and muscular line of the original, but - and here is where I think he goes wrong - he forces the alliteration. In the original, alliteration stirs the blood and slaps you in the face. In translation, Heaney's alliteration is too often weak, and - a far worse sin - too often lowers his diction to the level of the commonplace.

Poetry is, of course, impossible to translate. Heaney has made, if not the best, at least a creditable effort, of an impossible job. As such, he deserves our respect and our thanks.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful, engaging read...
Review: Well, let's face it, certain people wouldn't read Beowulf unless they were strapped in one of those Clockwork Orange chairs with Doctor Mengele dripping Murine in their eyes. But you're not one of those people since you're already here. Even if you only think you're interested in this book, click as fast as you can to lay your mits on a copy of Seamus Haney's potent translation. Reviewers are allowed so many words, aren't they?, so let me give you a snippet: "Off in the moors, down through the mist bands God-cursed Grendel came greedily loping. The bane of the race of men roamed forth, hunting for a prey in the high hall. Under the cloud-murk he moved toward it until it shone above him, a sheer keep of fortified gold." The language is clear and understandable (worthy of a Nobel Prize winning poet), and the simple pull of this ancient tale hauls you along like a Mexican undertow. Satisfaction guaranteed.