Beowulf: Verse Translation (Penguin Classics)
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Product Description
Product Description
Beowulf is the greatest surviving work of literature in Old English, unparalleled in its epic grandeur and scope. It tells the story of the heroic Beowulf and of his battles, first with the monster Grendel, who has laid waste to the great hall of the Danish king Hrothgar, then with Grendel's avenging mother, and finally with a dragon that threatens to devastate his homeland. Through its blend of myth and history, Beowulf vividly evokes a twilight world in which men and supernatural forces live side by side. And it celebrates the endurance of the human spirit in a transient world.
"Alexander's translation is marked by a conviction that it is possible to be both ambitious and faithful [and] ...communicates the poem with a care which goes beyond fidelity-to-meaning and reaches fidelity of implication. May it go on ... to another half-million copies." - Tom Shippey, Bulletin of the International Association of University Professors of English
Book Information
Beowulf is the most important Old English poem and perhaps the most significant single survival from the Anglo-Saxon period.
Though its composition was completed in England in the eighth century, the poem is set in the heroic societies of a fifth-century Scandinavia. Against this background of feuding and feasting, the hero Beowulf kills Grendel and Grendel's mother, but in killing the Dragon is himself killed.
We have here something more than merely a heroic poem of historical interest: Beowulf has a truly epic quality and scope, and this verse translation successfully communicates the poem's artistry and eloquence. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
Attend! We have heard of the thriving of the throne of Denmark, how the folk-kings flourished in former days, how those royal athelings earned that glory. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Attend! We have heard of the thriving of the throne of Denmark, how the folk-kings flourished in former days, how those royal athelings earned that glory. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm sorry, but I think Seamus Heaney's translation is vastly inferior to this one. For Michael Alexander, a sword bites flesh; for Heaney a sword cuts flesh. For Heaney (when the dragon is rising in fury like the Kraken from the depths) there's "a rumble underground". It sounds to me as though Heaney's house is probably built above the Northern Line.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I too have come to prefer this translation (Michael Alexander's) against Seamus Heaney (no disrespect to an undoubtedly great poet).
It is poetic. It has readability (not easy to obtain with a poem such as Beowulf). Also if you're buying you need an edition with a good introduction and a 'person' key at the end (or somewhere in the book).
The 'monster' bits are quite easy to read but the different names and clans mentioned get a bit confusing when talking about people and not Grendel, his mother or the Worm and in many ways the digressions of the poem are at the core of what it's about so whichever translation you use get an edition with (and use) the reading aids mentioned above.
It is poetic. It has readability (not easy to obtain with a poem such as Beowulf). Also if you're buying you need an edition with a good introduction and a 'person' key at the end (or somewhere in the book).
The 'monster' bits are quite easy to read but the different names and clans mentioned get a bit confusing when talking about people and not Grendel, his mother or the Worm and in many ways the digressions of the poem are at the core of what it's about so whichever translation you use get an edition with (and use) the reading aids mentioned above.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
Terrible formatting with non-standard text size, and the lines of the poem are indented in such a way to render it unreadable. The explanatory notes at the end of the book are not hyperlinked to the text; in fact, there are not even any footnote numbers in the text.
If you download the sample, you can only see the first half of the introduction, so there is no way you can tell how bad the text of the poem is.
This is the third Penguin book I have bought for my Kindle, and each one has the same problems. Why does Amazon allow Penguin to offer such shoddy products, and then allow them to charge something close to full print price for clearly inferior editions?
If you download the sample, you can only see the first half of the introduction, so there is no way you can tell how bad the text of the poem is.
This is the third Penguin book I have bought for my Kindle, and each one has the same problems. Why does Amazon allow Penguin to offer such shoddy products, and then allow them to charge something close to full print price for clearly inferior editions?
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Beowulf Penguin classic
I happened to see the CGI film of Beowulf earlier in the year and it prompted me to read the "original", translated of course! Read more
Published 29 days ago by Paula B
A good read on norse and warrior culture.
This book presents a good atmosphere fairly early on.I read this in the hope of furthering my knowledge of norse culture and this definitely laid the foundations. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Odin's Mead
How to Alienate People
I know for this review I have chosen an odd title, so let me explain. Beowulf is not hard to read, is not boring as most people would have you believe, and also is not very long. Read more
Published on 11 Nov 2007 by M. Dowden
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