Beowulf: Anglo-Saxon/English Parallel Text

By Seamus Heaney

Book Overview

A unique parallel edition of Beowulf with the original Anglo-Saxon and Gummere's celebrated poetic translation on facing pages.

"The whole thing is sombre, tragic, sinister, curiously real. ... . It is laden with history, leading back into the dark heathen ages beyond the memory of song, but not beyond the reach of imagination" - J. R. R. Tolkien.

The epic Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf had "a deep and detailed impact on what Tolkien wrote - from his earliest poem of Middle-earth (1914), right through The Hobbit ... and The Lord of the Rings." - John Garth author of Tolkien and the Great War.

"The story of Beowulf, Grendel, Grendel's mother and the Dragon [is] surely the basic story of all literature ... It is an epic that summons up a world whose trappings have long since disappeared, the trappings of the warrior ethos, and morality of almost prehistoric Germanic times; but the essential 'message' has not changed. It is about courage and resolve, about duty and responsibility, about honour and achievement; but it is also about the transitoriness of things, and the inevitability of death, however glorious the life. It is both a celebration of humanity and an elegy. The poem Beowulf is one of the glories of European literature." - Magnus Magnusson.

Beowulf, the greatest work of Anglo-Saxon literature, and "one of the glories of European literature," is set in the mists of Scandinavia, interweaving history and myth. It has been translated into English over seventy times, has been widely studied, and has influenced the popular imagination through Tolkien's Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

The young hero, Beowulf, receiving reports that a monster has been terrorising the neighbouring Danes nightly in their sumptuous mead hall Heorot, sails to their aid with a small band of warriors. The Danish King Hrothgar, amazed at his courage, honours him with a celebratory feast, after the shadowy monster Grendel strikes. Beowulf, a man of suprahuman strength, though unarmed, fatally wounds Grendel, and later defeats his terrifying mother.

Beowulf returns to Geatland, becomes King, and ruling with wisdom equalling his courage and strength, establishes peace for fifty years. However, an enterprising slave steals a jewelled cup from a sleeping dragon's hoard, whereupon the enraged dragon emerges spewing flames, killing villagers, and destroying homes. Beowulf, defender of his people, seeks the dragon in its lair; however, once the fire-breathing dragon emerges, he is abandoned by all but the young Wiglaf. The two ultimately slay the dragon, but only at the cost of a mortal injury to Beowulf. Beowulf, who has triumphed gloriously in life and died tragically, is given a funeral equal to any of the heroes of The Iliad or The Aeneid.

This dual-language edition will be enjoyable for general readers, and invaluable for students who would like to read Beowulf in either Anglo-Saxon or modern English, while dipping into the other language to deepen pleasure or comprehension. It provides an enjoyable experience of the epic poem Beowulf.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1789433169
• ISBN13: 9781789433166
• Release Date: October 2021
• Publisher: Benediction Classics
• Length: 186 Pages
• Weight: 1.03 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Love this one!!

I was recommended this translation by a friend of mine and it does not disappoint!

Maria Headley’s Translation

Headley’s translation is by far the best version I have read to date. It manages to modernize while not breaking immersion and still staying true to older translations.

Seamus Heany was faithful to the old english

Heaney touches on the problems of honestly translating old english in his serious Introduction, the alliteration with 4 beats per line, etc. I haven't seen any other translator of any poem make any where near as much trouble for other translators. The publisher Farrar Giroux Strauss did a beautiful job with the hardback - a gorgeous book. About the time that he began this task, I ran into Heaney in 1982 at Kitty O'Sheas waiting for someone show.

Unusual but good translation

Frederick Rebsamen's recently revised translation of Beowulf is stands out from the crowd. Having read the poem dozens of times, both in Old English and in translation, I have to say that this is certainly the most literal rendering of the poem in modern English that I've yet read. Rebsamen states in his introduction and notes that he set out to produce a translation that would not only recreate the exciting story of the epic, but would give the reader a feel for the poetry and rhythm of the original. He has succeeded remarkably. Where most modern English editions of Beowulf are set in blank or free verse, Rebsamen follows the original four-stress pattern of Anglo-Saxon poetry and goes so far as to include the caesura or pause in the middle of each line. The language of the original also shows through very clearly. Beowulf includes scores of kennings, and Rebsamen translates many of them literally. The translation is not without flaws, of course. Owing to the lilting, stop and start rhythms typical of Old English poetry and Rebsamen's faithful translation, the phrases sometimes seem to run over one another. The unique style also takes some time to get used to, but it's certainly worth it. Recommended.

Excellent edition

This is a beautiful translation that captures the tone and tenor of Old English. Although it eschews the alliterative line essential to Old English poetry, Heaney's rendering is magically evocative of the somber stoicism and occasionally wry understatement of this seminal poem. The critical commentary provides a nice general scholarly apparatus that helps one contextualize and better appreciate the poem and the achievement of Heaney as a modern day "scop" through whom the original - alas anonymous - poet speaks.

A terrific prose translation

David Wright has provided the reader with an excellent prose translation of the oldest known epic of any Teutonic people and the first important poem in Old English. It deals primarily with two central events in the life of the Geatish hero Beowulf. The first is concerned with his victory over the monster Grendel who had been attacking Heorot, the mead hall of the Danish king Hrothgar (John Gardner published a novel, "Grendel", in 1971, that takes Grendel's side in the story). The next day, Beowulf slays Grendel's mother who is attempting to try and avenge her son. In the second major event, taking place fifty years later, Beowulf fights a dragon; both are mortally wounded. Hygelac, King of the Gelts, is identified with the historical Chochilaicus, who raided the lower Rhine about 512 A. D. A young Beowulf was in that raid. When Chochilaicus was killed in a battle with the Franks about 520, he was succeeded by his son Heardred. This poem shows the importance, in a warrior society, of the relationship between the warrior and his lord. The poem, even though it contains threads of Christian commentary, is also concerned with the pagen view of immortality: the memory of a warrior's heroic acts. Also: that fate can be swayed by courage. "Fate often saves an undoomed man when his courage is good."