“Barbara M said: Rated: 3 stars
I had never read Beowulf and did not really know the story except that it was an epic poem with no known author. Although I have studied literature in college, this was not among my classes so I felt this was an opportunity. When I realized that this was translated by Seamus Heaney and that he was the reader of this audio, it seems like the perfect match.
I can't say I love it. I do understand why people consider it difficult and I had to do some research after listening to the 2 disc recording. Although listening to, or reading aloud, is the perfect thing for poetry, I wished I'd had the hard-copy to read along with. The most helpful piece I found in my research was "Seamus Heaney's Beowulf" by Bruce Murphy in the Poetry Review Dec 2000 found through the Literary Reference Center database. It was here that I learned the most about the piece itself. Murphy pointed out some areas of difficulty inherent in the poem that I found to be true. "The Germanic penchant of Anglo-Saxon for compound words (on average in Beowulf there is a compount every other line)." I definitely found the compound words confusing in the reading and would probably have liked seeing the print to help me out.
Murphy also pointed out that this is "a nineteenth-centry folkloric conception of what a Germanic epic about a might hero. . ought to sound like." Murphy puts it another way "The Beowulf poet himself was living in England, writing in Anglo-Saxon about Scandinavian characters, and using Germanic myths as background." No wonder I was confused! Thank you Murphy for explaining why!
There are two distinct parts of the story; the first part when Beowulf comes to the Danes (from Geat-land) to challenge Grendal, is then attacked by Grendal's mother and vanquishes her, and is then awarded riches. The story then jumps ahead 50 years with very little description of what happened in between. Now Beowulf is old and the ruler of the Geats (a group I'd never heard of before this poem). There is a dragon who is enraged because someone has stolen from the treasure hoard that he guards (so that's where all those fantasy dragons come from !!) and he's burning down structures and killing Beowulf's people. Beowulf knows he will have to fight the dragon and he also knows that he is likely to die trying. Though the dragon is killed, the end of the poem is Beowulf's funeral. The final statement made me feel better because it described Beowulf as having been a kind and generous king. All that, of course, took place in the 50 year gap between epic battles so we have to take their word for it.
What I didn't find in my research (at least not yet) is an explanation of the strong Christian slant in Heaney's translation. I say it is in his translation but I haven't read others so it could be there too. Considering Heaney's background as Irish Catholic, I wonder how much of that had an effect on his translation. I was expecting more of a pagan slant to the story or at least nothing more than early vestiges of Christian teachings in a pagan land. If I'd had the hard-copy I would have seen if the reference to a single god was God with the Christian capital G. I had expected to hear about gods; plural not singular.
This was a wonderful learning experience and I'll be more aware now of allusions (at the very least) to the poem. I do understant that Heaney's translation is superb and I don't doubt that for a minute.
Brad B said: Rated: 4 stars
I read Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney. Barbara M just left a great little synopsis about it above so I won't rehash it here. This was my third time reading Beowulf, the first time with the Heaney version. The story never gets old for me, I even liked the movie they just made.
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