Beowulf Translated by Seamus Heaney

In World Literature, we read a condensed story version of this classic legend. I read a translated version for a college class at Western years ago, but I wanted to read it again to see how the version we read for class compares to the original.

This is the classic tale of a Scandinavian hero (Beowulf), who volunteers to fight a monster (Grendel)  and his monster mother, in order to save the Danes. Later, Beowulf dies but not before he slays a dragon. Obviously, he is one tough dude. I really enjoy reading this epic tale with my classes because everyone loves to hear stories about bravery, and Beowulf is a very intersting character to read about and discuss. Plus, the story is pretty awesome.

The original text was writted some time between the seventh and the tenth century. It is an epic poem written in Anglo-Saxon or Old English. This version is a bilingual edition, so it was great getting to read the English on one page and reading the Old English text along with it. My college professor spoke Old English quite well, and I still remember how cool it was to hear the words just roll off her tounge. Hearing different languages spoken aloud is always somewhat magical to me, especially when I can recognize certain words. While I'm not nearly as fantastic as my professor was--and I didn't want to embarrass myself by trying (and failing) to pronounce the original text--I did manage to find a clip of the original Old English so my students could hear a bit of it before we started reading. I did practice reading the original Old English aloud to my dogs, and even though I'm sure I'm far from perfect, it was fun trying it out...

Overall, I am very happy with the version that we teach. I still think, though, that students would enjoy this complete version. It includes more of a history of some of the characters and feuds, and more details about the action of the story itself. For those who have never read it, I suggest trying it out. Even though the poem is over three thousand lines long, it is easy to follow and put down and pick up again since Heaney includes story summaries in the margins. As Colin Campbell writes in a review of Heaney's work, "This newborn translation makes accessible to everyone the first supremely great poem to be written in the English language."