Revisiting Beowulf

Hwæt!

As an English major, I had to read Beowulf in college about five or six times, but my enjoyment of the story never seemed to diminish -- until I saw Neil's dreadful movie version.

In honor of the actual story, I thought I would read it again, but this time comparing the version I used in school (Howell Chickering's dual language edition) with a more recent translation by Seamus Heaney, which is supposed to be more lyrical and metrical and closer to what Anglo-Saxon poetry really sounded like. (I'm no expert, but I did translate "The Wanderer" for a linguistics class, and I spent a semester being really proud of myself for doing so.)

And just for kicks and giggles, let's add John Gardner's contribution, the modern novel Grendel.

*****

(still reading -- will edit when finished. Thanks for stopping by!)