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Beowulf: A New Verse Translation

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 251 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Corey's Perspective 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I read the book Beowulf: A New Verse Translaion (Bilingual Edition). this book is about the epic battles of our hero, Beowulf. He fights three major battles, one against the contorted Grendel, another against Grendel's demented mother, and finally he fights this dragon that "is guarding the night".

I love the fact that the book gives two translations, English and Old English. This translation is good because it is easier to understand than some. Seamus Heaney does a terrific job of recapturing this poem. He also puts little foot notes on the side to further explain the text. I really like this because I get distracted sometimes and they help me get back on track. I think that if you love epic battles then you will love this book. I think that you should be about 14 or 15 to read this book and better understand it with no questions asked.

Editorial Review:

Seamus Heaney's translation of "Beowulf" is a work that is both true to the original poem and an expression of something fundamental to Heaney's own creative gift. One of the great classics of European Literature, the poem is about encountering the monstrous, defeating it, being exhausted by it and then having to live on, physically and psychically exposed, in that exhausted aftermath. There are obvious parallels to be found in the history of the twentieth century and Heaney's "Beowulf" cannot fail to be read partly in the light of his Northern Irish upbringing. But it also transcends such considerations, revealing psychological and spiritual truths that are both permanent and liberating.

Beowulf (Signet Classics) (Old_english Edition)

Anonymous

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 52 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Far better than the movie .... 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The translation is easy to follow and read. I did lose the narrative thread at points toward the end. This may not be the translator's fault. There are beautiful passages scattered throughout.

The story is about a hero who kills monsters. Beowulf is proud. He brags about himself at the drop of a hat. However, he is the strongest and best fighter in the world. His search for fame for himself and his family is his purpose in life. There are great passages here about God, the world, and man's place in it. When he fights the dragon, Beowulf knows he is too old to defeat it, but yet he tries anyway. The pursuit of fame drives him. but he knows he is the best man for the job. The poem also gives great snapshots of life at that time.

The book is a great look on how the author viewed life at that time. I enjoy other epics better: this poem definitely drags at times. However, this poem is definitely worth the read for the stirring action, the examples of bravery, the world view of the people at that time, and Beowulf, himself, is a tragic character unmatched in literature.

Editorial Review:

The epic poem of war and adventure.

Beowulf is the earliest extant poem in a modern European language. It was composed in England four centuries before the Norman Conquest. But no one knows exactly when it was composed, or by whom, or why. As a social document this great epic reflects a feudal, newly Christian world of heroes and monsters, blood and victory and death.

* Burton Raffel's modern language translation from the original Old English remains the most celebrated introduction of the poem to students and the general reader alike
* Includes a glossary of terms

Beowulf: A Verse Translation (Norton Critical Editions)

Amazon Price: $12.37 Usually ships in 24 hours By: W.W. Norton & Co. Amazon Marketplace: 170 new & used starting at $4.85

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Winner of the Whitbread Prize, Seamus Heaney's translation "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). 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 poem's history in the canon and Heaney's own translation process. "Contexts" provides a rich selection of material on Anglo-Saxon and early Northern culture. "Criticism" features eight essays carefully chosen for their relevance to undergraduate readers, including a full discussion of the Old English poem that lies behind Heaney's translation. Contributors include J.R.R. Tolkien, John Leyerle, Jane Chance, Roberta Frank, Fred C. Robinson, Thomas Hill, Leslie Webster, and Daniel Donoghue. A Glossary of Proper Names and a Selected Bibliography are included.

About the series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehensive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.

A Guide to Old English, Sixth Edition

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

For more than thirty years, A Guide to Old English has been the standard introduction to Old English language and literature. This updated sixth edition retains the structure and style of the popular previous editions, and includes two new, much-requested texts: Wulf and Eadwacer and Judith. The book consists of two parts. Part One comprises an introduction to the Old English language, including orthography and pronunciation, inflexions, word formation, an authoritative section on syntax. This is followed by an introduction to Anglo-Saxon studies, which discusses language, literature, history, archaeology, and ways of life. Sound changes are treated as they become relevant in understanding apparent irregularities in inflexion. Part Two contains verse texts, most of them complete, which fully reveal the range that Old English poetry offers in mood, intensity, humour, and natural observation. Full explanatory notes accompany all the texts, and a detailed glossary is provided. The new edition of this highly-acclaimed Guide will be welcomed by teachers and by anyone wanting to gain a greater understanding and enjoyment of the language and literature of the Anglo-Saxons.

The Anglo-Saxon World: An Anthology (The World's Classics)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Fascinating Reading 5 out of 5 stars.
22 of 24 people found this review helpful.

I'm a homeschooled student (in 10th grade). I read this book as part of a course on early European history, and have also referred to it while studying the history of the English language. Most of the translations are very accessible to the modern reader on their own, and Mr. Crossley-Holland's insightful commentary clears up those which are more difficult or obscure. Anyone who has a serious interest in the literature and culture of the Anglo-Saxons will not be disappointed in this book.

beautiful renderings of the elegies 5 out of 5 stars.
20 of 21 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book in an old edition paperback form in Dublin because it contained the major elegies such as the Wanderer and the Seafarer. I ended up being extremely satisifed not only with the beautiful translation of the Wanderer, but with all of the selections and with Crossley-Holland's comments. I was very thrilled to meet him recently at a reading in Seattle, where he was promoting his Arthur trilogy. I'll have to check that out.

Editorial Review:

Crossley-Holland--the widely acclaimed translator of Old English texts--introduces the Anglo-Saxons through their chronicles, laws, letters, charters, and poetry, with many of the greatest surviving poems printed in their entirety.

Beowulf: A Prose Translation, Second Edition (Norton Critical Editions)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The text of this edition of Beowulf is based on the highly regarded Donaldson prose translation of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem. Accurate and literally faithful, the Donaldson translation conveys the full meaning and spirit of the original. "Backgrounds and Contexts" provides readers with the historical, linguistic, and literary settings of Beowulf, including Robert C. Hughes on the origins of the Old English language, E. Talbot Donaldson's presentation of the major features of Old English poetry, new material on Beowulf's tribes and genealogies, three maps, and a facsimile illustration of the manuscript. "Criticism" collects seven new and wide-ranging interpretations of Beowulf by Fred C. Robinson, Roberta Frank, John D. Niles, Michael Lapidge, Joyce Hill, Helen Bennett, and Nicholas Howe. A Glossary of Proper Names and a Selected Bibliography are included.

About the series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehensive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.

Beowulf (Broadview Literary Texts Series)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Accessible and Accurate 5 out of 5 stars.
22 of 22 people found this review helpful.

RM Liuzza's long-awaited translation of the Old English epic is a wonderful way for people who do not read Old English to get to know this poem. Liuzza preserves much of the feel of Beowulf, from the rhythm to the alliteration. Students of Old English will also find the book a useful tool for checking their own understanding of the poem. The appendices in the back are very useful, and it's a beautiful book besides. I can't reccomend it enough, heck, buy it in hardcover.

Editorial Review:

This accurate and fluent new translation of the first full-length heroic poem in English is aimed at readers who have no acquaintance with the Old English language. As well as the text itself and introduction by the editor, the edition includes a range of appendices illustrating the background to the story, the poem, and the time. These documents help the reader see Beowulf as an exploration of the politics of kingship and the psychology of heroism; and a meditation on the bridges and chasms between the pagan past and the Christian present.

Beowulf (Dover Thrift Editions)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Good Story, but Heany's translation is better. 3 out of 5 stars.
7 of 13 people found this review helpful.

So we all had to plow throught this poem wit its unpronounceable names, and far-off places that one on has ever heard of.

So why bother? I think that Joseph Cambell has made the point over and over again that there is more to these stories than mere entertainement. These legends were not only history, but they were also CULTURE, intended to CULTIVATE a civilization. We learn of order, honor, and duty as were read a rough legend as Beowulf. These legends held socitey togeather. We studied them in our English classes, but we should be reading them in our history, philosophy, and relgious classes too. Ther is more to these stories than a good time.

There are two main drawback to this translation. The first is that it is in prose form, rather than the poetic form, so we loose some of the majesty of the tale. The early classics were alays poems, not only toaid in memeory, but to set it apart from normal conversation. This was to be sacred words describing sacred events.

The second problem, is that the translation is very rough and wordy. The essence of poetry is is brevity--quick thoughts quickly spoken. The wordiness almosrt makes this poem a transliteration rather than a translation. It is not converational English, but sounds like it was done by a musty scholar to appease other musty scholars.

I reccomed Seamus Heaney's recent translation. The pome has been given a second birth by this smmmother and even poetric translation. His version is converational, firendly, and has the spark of genius that you woyuld expect from a Nobel lauriate.

Editorial Review:

Finest heroic poem in Old English celebrates character and exploits of Beowulf, a young nobleman of the Geats, a people of southern Sweden. Narrative combines mythical elements, Christian and pagan sensibilities, actual historical figures and events to create a striking work of great power and beauty. Authoritative translation by R. K. Gordon. Genealogies.

Anglo-Saxon Poetry (Everyman's Library (Paper))

Pamela Bradley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Terrific volume of poetry, questionable translations though 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.

Bradley's collection of translated Anglo-Saxon Poetry has (it seems to me) one thing going for it. First, the sheer amount of Old English poetry which is presented here is huge, nearly twice as much as is presented in Kevin Crossley-Holland's "The Anglo-Saxon World".

Many of the poems are hard to find in translation, including "Elene", "Andreas", and a number of the Old English Riddles. Whatever merit this book gains from its size is, sadly, lost by its overly technical and extremeley non-poetic translations (you may forget that what you are reading *was* poetry prior to this translation).

Bradley often decides to render the poetry into prose, leaving the reader with rather cumbersome lines, especially evident in "The Wife's Lament" and "Beowulf" (which he translates completely). My opinion, you ask? Buy this book for its large collection of poetry, but please also buy Kevin Crossley-Holland's The Anglo-Saxon World: An Anthology (Oxford World's Classics), which allows the reader who encounters these delightful and somber works in modern English to realize that they are real and visceral poetry.

Editorial Review:

Prose translations of most of the poetry surviving in the four major codices and other manuscripts in a style accessible to a modern audience and yet close to Old English.

Beowulf the Warrior (Living History Library)

Ian Serraillier

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Very entertaining bedtime story. 4 out of 5 stars.
18 of 20 people found this review helpful.

My children (6 and 7 years old) thoroughly enjoyed listening to how the mighty and brave Beowulf defeated the evil Grendel and his Mother. The book is written very well and lends itself to a great deal of imagery. I was very glad this classic could be written in a manner that small children could understand and enjoy this great story.

Brilliant edition for young readers 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

This handy edition of Beowulf has the virtue of being easily approachable by an average reader, whereas some of the other translations I've seen have almost been like reading the original Anglo-Saxon itself. The translation reads easily yet retains the flavor and rhythms of the ancient epic.

Though it's still a little advanced for my kids (under age 6), it will definitely be bedtime fare in the not-too-distant future. For those unfamiliar with the story, it tells the tale of Beowulf and his battles against awful Grendel, the hideous mother of Grendel, and the terrible fire-breathing dragon. This edition includes a number of illustrations which will certainly help draw younger readers into the story.

If you enjoyed Beowulf and want to know more about the Anglo-Saxon language, you might try A Book For The Beginner In Anglo-saxon: Comprising A Short Grammar and Some Selections from the Gospels. If you just like epic poems, there's also The Laviniad: An Epic Poem which is an epic in the Trojan War cycle written by a modern author and the classic The Ballad of the White Horse by G. K. Chesterton.

Editorial Review:

Master storyteller Ian Serraillier has rewoven in modern narrative verse the story of Beowulf, the oldest epic in the English language. He succeeds in making this classic tale accessible to today's youth.