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Beowulf: A New Translation | 
| Creator: Seamus Heaney
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £5.39
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New (34) Used (19) from £2.44
Avg. Customer Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 4573
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 112
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5 x 0.5
ISBN: 0571203760
Dewey Decimal Number: 811
EAN: 9780571203765
ASIN: 0571203760
Publication Date: October 2, 2000
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Amazon.co.uk Review
What could be a more promising poetic project than the greatest of early English poems, Beowulf, newly translated by arguably the greatest of living poets writing in English, Seamus Heaney? The literary pedigree of this great fabular epic in the hands of Nobel Laureate Heaney matches Ted Hughes' award-winning rewrite of Ovid's Metamorphosis, Tales from Ovid. Heaney has chosen the plain, prosaic yet subtly cadenced vernacular of his Northern Irish roots as the poetic voice into which he renders this famous Anglo-Saxon fabular epic of a dragon-slaying Danish warrior. The result is an engaging evocation of the highly alliterative, densely metaphorical texture of Anglo-Saxon verse, which is famously hard to capture in modern English poetic forms."It's narrative elements may belong to a previous age but as a work of art it lives in the present," writes Heaney of this tale of monstrous, murderous Grendel, heroic, kingly Beowulf, blood-feuds, dragon-slaying and spiritual grace. The very plain-spokenness of Heaney's translation makes it admirably easy to read and understand, whilst rendering an often true translation at a galloping narrative pace. Heaney's Beowulf opens up one of the most famous founding epics of European literature to a modern world of new readers. --James Barry
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| Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...
 Fantastic October 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In a way I think this is better than a modern fantasy like Tolkien's because it feels more authentic: because it actually comes from the authentic Anglo-Saxon Dark Ages. The story isn't told by an abstract narrator; the storyteller is a person who gives you his opinions, and he sounds not like an Oxford don but like a real character from war-torn ancient times. Listen to Seamus Heaney's voice in the dark and you could really be listening to this bard in a smoky mead-hall.
P.S. There are three CDs of about 45 minutes each. I didn't realize until I later bought a book of the poem that this CD version is slightly abridged. I hope this won't put you off, because Heaney's voice is so good. However, I should mention that there is now also an unabridged audiobook of Beowulf: a translation by Benedict Flynn from Naxos. This version is nine and a half minutes longer.
 Epic stuff! April 10, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This was my first encounter with Beowulf, (I haven't seen the film either). I chose the bilingual edition to see what the Old English looked like and although I could barely recognise a word, it did help to see the shape, metre and style of the original. Heaney's translation is easy to read, very straight-forward in language, and the accompanying essay helps you see how much work goes into preserving some of the form of the original in the modern translation.
With the original and Heaney's version printed side by side, it affected the way I read it. I tended to readi it aloud to myself (but in my head), trying to see the translation's cadence resonating with the original's two parts to each line. This was novel for me and enjoyable for one who doesn't normally do poetry!
As a story, you can see why it survives, but there is too much pontificating on the glories of war, fighting and serving the king and not enough action; Beowulf's dispatching of Grendel seemed to be little more than arm-wrestling and was over in a couple of pages.
I'm glad I read it and am sure I will refer to it again.
 Monotonous April 2, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I was very much looking forward to listening to 'Beowulf' read by its illustrious author/translator. Audiobooks read by their authors must be as credible as anything can be - or so I thought. Whilst I am not denying the skill displayed in this beautifully poetic translation, the soft Irish tones of Seamus Heaney are not for me, atleast, not after the first 20 minutes of listening. The descriptive passages are luxurious, the battle scenes full of action, the characters heroic yet vulnerable. So where is the enthusiasm in the reader's voice, where the awe, the admiration for the story? I am sure no teacher or casting director would have ever freely chosen Mr Heaney as The Narrator for any performance or playreading. Seamus Heaney has indeed given us a brilliant and admirable translation, but I strongly recommend that he restricts his professional activities to the written and not the spoken word.
Englands Oldest Legend!!!!!! March 20, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
originally told round the bonfire and in small halls until it was finally written down in the 7th century(ish) after it was brought to england by the invading anglo-saxons/english. This is the oldest surviving written text in english history (to be found in the British library) This tells the story about a Swedish warrior who goes back to his native Denmark to defend the people against a man eating monster called Grendal. But dont forget about gredals mother or the flame throwing dragon. A story of germanic honour, courage and loyalty. Read it here in both modern and olde english. Fantastic stuff, i couldnt put it down. A true classic.
Beowulf BY Heaney? March 3, 2008
Although I should've known before buying it, the translation seems to have too much of Heaney's personality in it to be considered an honest translation (though I have of course not read the original). This is only normal when the translator is a great poet, the author anonymous and the original language dead.
In a way, this adds so much value to the text but it wasn't what I was looking for. If you want a dry, perfect translation, this is not it; but this is also not dull for a moment so it depends if you want to be a scholar or a reader when you pick it up.
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