Beowulf - Seamus Heaney

Advantages: A refreshing look at an ancient epic
Disadvantages: Will most likely remain obscure

...Okay. I'll accept that. But, Beowulf deserves the kind of serious attention that would prompt people to want to make bad jokes about it (unimportant things are ignored; only important things are held up in jest). Beowulf is an old poem--often considered the first in English. This is technically not true, for linguistic and other reasons (where the demarcations of English beginnings fall are debatable; also there is the fact that there are older ...
...and intended as oral history. Beowulf consists of 3182 existing lines. Scholars also disagree on the 'British heritage' of the poem, many believing it more likely to be an import from Anglo-Saxon European homelands than a composition original to the Britain. The tale does portray two leaders, Hrothgar, leader of the Danes, and Beowulf, leader of the Geats, a Swedish tribe. These are interconnected through generations of family intermarriages, and ... Read review

Advantages: Brings an ancient masterpiece alive
Disadvantages: Can be hard going

Beowulf was one of the first poems ever to be written down in a language that was recognisably English. In the original it is virtually incomprehensible to all but scholars and although translations have been available for many years it is this version by the award winning poet Seamus Heaney that has catapulted it back into the mainstream. Beowulf is a classic Nordic Saga, which tells the tale of the heroic Beowulf who tackles three great monsters. ...
...feel, structure and rhythm of the original while rendering it in a language, which is accessible to every English speaker. He can truly be said to have resurrected Beowulf and brought it alive for the general reader. The introduction is a fascinating description of the process of translation. ... Read review

Advantages: challenging, vivid, intense.
Disadvantages: Hard reading.

Beowulf was a hero amongst his people, a mighty warrior and a champion. he set off to rid a land of a terrible monster plauging its noble house and devouring human beings.... thus begins the tale. I do not know how anyone could dismiss this work as irrelevant or pointless - but many do. It is hard to read and takes a lot of time and effort - not everyone can give that. Not all fiction should be easy and consumable without effort. This text is a ...
...that in his translation of beowulf he has managed a wonderful juggling act, offering a narratorial voice that is accesible, keeping many of the traditional rhyming styles used by the original writer, and keepign the whole thing flowing. It is an impressive peice of craftsmanship. Oddly enough, the thing I found myself valuig the most was the author's notes at the begining and the footnotes accompanying the text - these are great, don't ignore them ... Read review

Advantages: Easy access to Britain's earliest 'Classic'
Disadvantages: Encouraging people to read it in the first place!

...my family to read this Beowulf translation. The plot of the tale is easy to follow yet gripping as the reader's empathy with Beowulf is deep.JRR Tolkein was a Anglo-Saxon expert and so any lover of Lord of the Rings will love to discover some of his influences (for example Beowulf is the 'ring bearer' of the Geats). It is easy to read but never in a patronising way.It just manages to epitomise the simplicity of the vocabulary used yet keeps the ...
...this version apart from the others.He handles the language with great care; it is not literal but perhaps this prevents it from becoming as stilted as other i have read. Finally, if you cannot read Beowulf in the original you may as well read GOOD poetry and this is IT. ... Read review

Advantages: better than other versions
Disadvantages: worse than it should be

Academics in the humanities do not often contribute to the world in ways as dramatic or evident as their brethren working in the sciences. English professors can't discover how the universe might have been born through the precise use of adjectives, and history professors can't conjure up quarks and muons by looking at dusty tomes. But an Oxford medievalist named J.R.R. Tolkien did the world a real service when he delivered a lecture to members ...
...Critics." Tolkien delivered "Beowulf" from the hands of linguists, historians and archaeologists, bringing it to the poets and the readers of poetry who cherished and challenged the poem in the decades to come. Almost 70 years after Tolkien's speech, people are still reading "Beowulf" for the value of its poetry. This despite gruesome images of a monster getting ripped apart by a man's bare hands, despite the bog, and despite the poem's tale of ... Read review