Beowulf: The Oldest English Epic

by Unknown, Charles W. Kennedy

This new poetic translation brings the earliest extant English poem closer to the modern reader. Kennedy offers a translation in alliterative verse, based on Klaeber's text, of the Old English Beowulf , and provides a brief critical introduction which reviews literary and cultural discussions of the poem.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, School, English Literature

101 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1940

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Unknown" when the author or editor (as applicable) is not known and cannot be discovered. If at all possible, list at least one actual author or editor for a book instead of using "Unknown".

Books whose authorship is purposefully withheld should be attributed instead to Anonymous.

Reviews

[Cheryl]

I've long been trying, on & off, to find the translation we read in high school almost a half century ago. This might be it. There is some strong rhythm just where I expected/remembered it, in the first part of the 'chapter' in which Beowulf kills Grendel's mother.

If any of you are experts on the epic, please comment or send to me a PM!

[Alexander Rolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The kids and I got a chuckle out of this "Beowulf...bore himself according to discretion. Drunk, he slew no hearth-companions." Impressive! Fortunately the children don't drink, but all the same I hope Beowulf inspires them to conduct themselves with more discretion at the feast in our mead-hall.

[Sevgi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beowulf has eaten 1,5 months of my life and I not only read it but also got full of Anglo-Saxon culture. Beowulf is an epic about a dedicated warrior. With this feature it can seem to be interesting for boys, generally. However, no. It's not that simple. Wars, challenges, battles aren't enough to show an interest to this book. You should like history, you should like to learn about religions, conflicts, and most importantly SYMBOLS!. Yeah, we have a warrior who is very handsome with his hairy body(sad but true in the context!) but we also have Pagan and Christian Culture synthesized in the events. We have "dangerous figures" attributed to women. Ahem, women are very genius in the book. We have monsters, each of which are symbolizing something! It has lots of translations but I have this verse translation and it was good with the help of our English Literature teacher. If you have a patient, read this one or one of other early translations and look it up when you see a word unknown(Yeah, sorry, there are lots of words like that). Otherwise, believe me, you will miss lots of things hidden.


NOTE IMPORTANTE : Every color, every piece and every people symbolize something in Beowulf, so if you should decide to challenge with this book, you will need a help. From Bible or some history books(But generally, Bible) If you skip this detail, you will have wasted your time. And I will have already told you. Not my fault. Enjoy your reading!


Sincerely,
Sevgi the Bookworm.

[Wesley Nygard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A musical rendition, far more memorable than whatever "accessible" trash I read in high school, and mandatory reading for all those who would claim English, German, or Scandinavian heritage

[Caralyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the story, but found that the translation lacked clarity in a number of places. I suspect that this is the result of the book seemingly being aimed at other academics who study epics. Lay person that I am, I had to puzzle out what was happening several times when I would have liked to read it in a fluid manner befitting an epic poem. Will be trying out other translations to see if I like them better.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me just admit it - I thought the first 3/4 of this book was rather boring.

The pacing was lousy, for this reader at least. You'd have a few pages with exciting action. Then you'd have more pages where the exciting action is recounted to someone else. Then you'd have more pages with celebrating and speech making. Interspersed throughout, there was a ridiculous amount of time spent describing everyone's armor and swords. Every once in a while, a woman showed up to pour mead. More exciting action, more talking about it, and then Beowulf goes home and retells the story again.

Time passes, some idiot robs a dragon, and the dragon gets very angry. This last part of the story is great fun to read, and the pacing issues are mostly resolved. I found myself emotionally invested in what happened to Beowulf. You see how this simple story was an archetype for so many stories to come. It was the last part of the book that bumped this up to a four star read for me.

I'm not sure I read the right translation. The story is interesting enough that I will keep an eye out for a cheap copy of the Tolkien or Heaney translations.

[Melora · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently read Tolkien's Beowulf, and I loved it, but I chose this version of Beowulf for my 7th grader and 10th grader to read. This is a modern translation, which avoids the need for footnotes (although I suppose some explanations will still be necessary at the points where the central narrative pauses to include the stories of other heroes, feuds, and battles). Kennedy's Introduction is also good. Unlike Tolkien's, this is a poetic translation, strongly alliterative, and I think it is an ideal version to Listen to. Charlton Griffin read the Audible version I have, and he did a Wonderful job. He managed enough differentiation in the voices (tricky, since they are all Male Warrior types) that it was easy to follow who was speaking, and his reading marvelously captured the rhythms of the poem.