Beowulf: A Prose Translation Penguin Classics (Penguin Classics)

Rating:
Summary: Epic Poem Becomes Clumsy Narrative
Review: This is an extremely poor translation of Beowulf for anyone who wants more than just a narrative summary. Wright has, by his own admission, eliminated most of the poetic language from the original poem. The poetic, metaphor-like kennings seemed to him puzzles and word games which barred the reader from the real meanings of the narrative. The appositives used in place of actual names and pronouns he found "long-winded," and the poetic descriptions pretentious. Wright, apparently believing readers not intelligent enough to understand creative language, has given us a translation of Beowulf in the form of highly simplified prose, with few poetic descriptions or language that will "distract the reader" from the narrative. What remains is a clumsy, awkwardly worded translation which offers little to replace the poetry Wright has hacked out of it. Any lover of language will be deeply disappointed by this translation.