Beowulf
Ratings256
Average rating3.5
Lowkey loved this book even though everybody I know despises it with a passion. Heaney's translation adheres to most of the Anglo-Saxon conventions in the original poem, so I thought that was a winning point right there.
Read this four, five times maybe. Beowulf is sure to drag you into the depths of monster killing and redemption. I would buy the book if I could.
Where Maria Dahvana Headley's translation was sassy, modern and fun, Seamus Heaney's was incredibly thorough and read with great ease. I enjoyed each of these translations, but I would highly recommend this one to someone who is not immediately familiar with this story.
Worth reading for history. Your can see early forms of narrative that are refined in the subsequent centuries. But it's not a FUN read, though you get to see that people were so similar to us even over 1000 years ago.
Apparently Goodreads doesn't distinguish between the different translations of Beowulf, so this is a review for Seamus Heaney's translation: [b:Beowulf 52357 Beowulf Unknown https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327878125l/52357.SY75.jpg 189503]This is an incredible translation that I just had the joy to read for the first time! This translation of Beowulf is amongst the very best out there, and also amongst the ones I have read. It does not aim at giving a word-for-word translated meaning of the Old English text, rather it looks for ways to convey the meaning in the most comprehensible and poetic way possible, while staying true to the epic poem form. If you are looking to make your way through this masterpiece of Anglo-Saxon poetry, this is the translation I would place at the top of the list.
Finished in a day, what else can I say? Fantastic translation. I haven't approached Beowulf since school, and back then I was just reading it to write a report. I remember wrestling through it, feeling myself unable to focus... this book was the direct opposite of that.
Loved it! Absolutely loved it. Love the translation. It has now made me want to come back to the original, and also compare to other versions.
Wiglaf is the only real one around here, the rest of the band is fake af. Wiglaf should've just kept the treasure bc wtf did everyone else do??? Nothing!
Glad I finally read this very old story. It was probably very amazing in its time.
Great translation of an old epic, the commentary didn't interest me too much though. It was more a commentary on the translation and less a commentary on the story (which I would have preferred). Nonetheless I still enjoyed some of the commentary even if it was a bit too dry and I didn't read through all of it.
I also liked Sellic Spell, though I have to admit I am disappointed he didn't retell the whole beowulf story. Altogether a solid read.
Despite this being a school book, I really enjoyed it! The story was fun and exciting and kept me wanting to read more. Of course, it also helped having an English teacher who debriefed us on many of the confusing aspects of the story.
I loved seeing how obviously this inspired Tolkien in creating Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit
I really liked this book, but then again I was reading it because I wanted to and not because a teacher was making me.
The tag goodreads has is that it's by “Anonymous” but the translation is by Seamus Heaney and his name is on the spine, so I've filed it under “author a-i” for that reason.
This is a great story and Seamus Heaney does a masterful translation. What is especially nice is the translation on one page and the original Old English on the other, complete with copious footnotes and definitions of arcane terms.
Even if you don't like Beowulf this is a fantastic book to have for learning Old English. Then again, I don't think I've met anyone learning OE that didn't like Beowulf...
And if you've never read Beowulf, but are interested, this is the edition to get. I can assure you it is much, much better than the movie.