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A brilliant and faithful rendering of the Anglo-Saxon epic from the Nobel laureate.

One of the most universally studied of the English classics, Beowulf is considered the finest heroic poem in Old English. Written ten centuries ago, it celebrates the character and exploits of Beowulf, a young nobleman of the Geats, a people of southern Sweden.
Beowulf first... Read Full Overview

"Accomplishes what before now had seemed impossible: a faithful rendering that is simultaneously an original and gripping poem in its own right." -- New York Times Book Review "Excellent ancillary materials in this critical edition make a potentially alienating text and culture... Read Full Overview

The first major poem in English literature - Translated by Howell D. Chickering with the Old English on facing pages

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No Fear Literature puts the world's finest books at your fingertips With the complete original text on the left-hand page, and an easy-to-follow translation on the right to... Read Full Overview

This early Anglo-Saxon poem tells the epic tale of a young Scandinavian swordsman as he saves cities, and kills dragons.Records of this work survived into the modern age from as long ago as the early 800's AD. It is one of the first written stories in the English language. The... Read Full Overview

R.M. Liuzza's translation of Beowulf, first published by Broadview in 1999, has been widely praised for its accuracy and beauty. The facing-page translation is accompanied in this edition by genealogical charts, historical summaries, and a glossary of proper names.... Read Full Overview

"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... Read Full Overview

J. R. R. Tolkien, author of LORD OF THE RINGS and THE HOBBIT, in his famous 1936 lecture, BEOWULF, THE MONSTERS AND THE CRITICS, said, "BEOWULF is among my most valued sources. It is a work of genius, rare and surprising in the period, and it is worth studying. In BEOWULF we... Read Full Overview

This new poetic translation brings the earliest extant English poem closer to the modern reader. Kennedy offers a translation in alliterative verse, based on Klaeber's text, of the Old English Beowulf, and provides a brief critical introduction which reviews literary and cultural... Read Full Overview

The translation that "rides boldly through the reefs of scholarship" (The Observer) is combined with first-rate annotation. No reading knowledge of Old English is assumed. Heaney's clear and insightful introduction to Beowulf provides students with an understanding of both the... Read Full Overview

"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."... Read Full Overview

The greatest surviving Old English poem rendered into modern prose Beowulf stands at the head of English literature; a poem of historical interest and epic scope. Although the first manuscript of Beowulf dates from around the year 1000 CE, it is thought that the poem existed... Read Full Overview

The finest literary work passed down to us from Anglo-Saxon times, Beowulf celebrates the existence of heroism in a dark world of feuds, violence, and uncertainty. Set in the legendary Scandinavian past, Beowulf comes to the aid of the Danish king Hrothgar by killing the terrifying... Read Full Overview

A widely celebrated translator's vivid, accessible, and elegantly concise rendering of an ancient English masterpiece

PBS Recommended Translation for Spring 2013