Beowulf: what’s your opinion?

[Finchbearer]

Those of you who have read it, what are you thoughts? What translation/s have you read?

 

[Ned Marcus]

I've read a few translations but don't remember which. It's been a few years so I can't offer a detailed analysis. I've been thinking about rereading it recently. I've enjoyed it each time I've read it.

 

[Genly]

I read it a long time ago and enjoyed it, although you have to be in the mood. A few years ago I was at a college dinner where part of the "entertainment" was a professor declaiming ten minutes of Beowulf in the original Anglo-Saxon. Funny, it seemed like longer than that...

 

[Finchbearer]

I considered reading Tolkien’s translation, but that is essentially an unfinished work, or an imperfect work. Seamus Heaney’s translation is meant to capture more of what the Anglo-Saxons wanted to convey with the poem. Problem is, they are all wildly different, and I want to understand the ‘essence’ of the Anglo-Saxon way of thinking.

Any scholars here to weigh in too?

 

[CupofJoe]

The BBC did an audio version from the Seamus Heaney translation. It was mesmeric to listen to. It might have been Heaney reading it.

 

[Finchbearer]

The BBC did an audio version from the Seamus Heaney translation. It was mesmeric to listen to. It might have been Heaney reading it.

It was probably meant to be listened to rather than read?

 

[CupofJoe]

It was probably meant to be listened to rather than read?

It definitely felt that way. And I think having the author narrate meant that you got those subtle pauses in the reading that he knew should be there. I don't remember it too clearly as it was over 20 years ago but I do have the sensations.

 

[pmmg]

Sadly, I cant claim to have read this. and looking at it, it seems like a lot of work

I do know the story, but I don't think that counts.

Maybe as an audiobook, but not right away.

From just what I know, I always felt this story was kind of un-epic and disjointed. For as big a hero as Beowulf seemed to be, he did not really do that much compared to some other heroes I could name. I do however like the scale of it. The idea of his Hall, as a large building of its time, but not actually that big, is sneaking its way into my story even as I type this.


My suspicion, and that somewhere behind the epic poem, is a true story about someone who actually lived and cut off some other dudes arm.

 

[Rexenm]

I haven’t read the poem, but I have watched the movie, and I have to say it reminds me of an epic ballad. It has that resonance, that makes you say, hey maybe I’ll do that again. It puts me in the mind of Le Morte De Arthur, which is obviously the Merlin saga - but that is like a religious text, rather than Homers Iliad or Odyssey, which is meant to be a poem, or an epic ballad. I wonder, as I sit here, typing away, how long Beowulf is, and wonder if that disfigured dude, is who the tall or short of it represents. I shall get back to you all on that.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I enjoyed it, but... that was a really long time ago. It's high on my need-to-read list, along with Snorri's Edda.

 

[Finchbearer]

I started listening to Beowulf last night as read by Seamus Heaney for his own translation (as suggested by CupofJoe), because, well, I wanted to feel like an Anglo-Saxon sitting around a crackling fire and listening to the local storyteller, although I have a feeling I’d probably be able to read it quicker than listen to it. It was evocative and interesting but I’d have to see the words I think to get a full sense of its meaning.