Beowulf: A Verse Translation (A Norton Critical Edition)
Winner of the Whitbread Prize, Seamus Heaney’s translation "accomplishes what before now had seemed impossible: a faithful rendering that is simultaneously an original and gripping poem in its own right" (New York Times Book Review).\ The translation that "rides boldly through the reefs of scholarship" (The Observer) is combined with first-rate annotation. No reading knowledge of Old English is assumed. Heaney’s clear and insightful introduction to Beowulf provides students with an...
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Winner of the Whitbread Prize, Seamus Heaney’s translation "accomplishes what before now had seemed impossible: a faithful rendering that is simultaneously an original and gripping poem in its own right" (New York Times Book Review).
Beowulf\ A Verse Translation \ \ By Seamus Heaney \ W. W. Norton & Company\ Copyright ©2001 Seamus Heaney\ All right reserved.\ ISBN: 0393975800 \ \ \ \ \ Chapter One\ \ \ So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by\ and the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness.\ We have heard of those princes' heroic campaigns.\ There was Shield Sheafson, scourge of many tribes,\ a wrecker of mead-benches, rampaging among foes.\ This terror of the hall-troops had come far.\ A foundling to start with, he would flourish later on\ as his powers waxed and his worth was proved.\ In the end each clan on the outlying coasts\ beyond the whale-road had to yield to him\ and begin to pay tribute. That was one good king.\ Afterwards a boy-child was born to Shield,\ a cub in the yard, a comfort sent\ by God to that nation. He knew what they had tholed,\ the long times and troubles they'd come through\ without a leader; so the Lord of Life,\ the glorious Almighty, made this man renowned.\ Shield had fathered a famous son:\ Beow's name was known through the north.\ And a young prince must be prudent like that,\ giving freely while his father lives\ so that afterwards in age when fighting starts\ steadfast companions will stand by him\ and hold the line. Behaviour that'sadmired\ is the path to power among people everywhere.\ Shield was still thriving when his time came\ and he crossed over into the Lord's keeping.\ His warrior band did what he bade them\ when he laid down the law among the Danes:\ they shouldered him out to the sea's flood,\ the chief they revered who had long ruled them.\ A ring-whorled prow rode in the harbour,\ ice-clad, outbound, a craft for a prince.\ They stretched their beloved lord in his boat,\ laid out by the mast, amidships,\ the great ring-giver. Far-fetched treasures\ were piled upon him, and precious gear\ I never heard before of a ship so well furbished\ with battle tackle, bladed weapons\ and coats of mail. The massed treasure\ was loaded on top of him: it would travel far\ on out into the ocean's sway.\ They decked his body no less bountifully\ with offerings than those first ones did\ who cast him away when he was a child\ and launched him alone out over the waves.\ And they set a gold standard up\ high above his head and let him drift\ to wind and tide, bewailing him\ and mourning their loss. No man can tell,\ no wise man in hall or weathered veteran\ knows for certain who salvaged that load.\ Then it fell to Beow to keep the forts.\ He was well regarded and ruled the Danes\ for a long time after his father took leave\ of his life on earth. And then his heir,\ the great Halfdane, held sway\ for as long as he lived, their elder and warlord.\ He was four times a father, this fighter prince:\ one by one they entered the world,\ Heorogar, Hrothgar, the good Halga\ and a daughter, I have heard, who was Onela's queen,\ a balm in bed to the battle-scarred Swede.\ The fortunes of war favoured Hrothgar.\ Friends and kinsmen flocked to his ranks,\ young followers, a force that grew\ to be a mighty army. So his mind turned\ to hall-building: he handed down orders\ for men to work on a great mead-hall\ meant to be a wonder of the world forever;\ it would be his throne-room and there he would dispense\ his God-given goods to young and old—but\ not the common land or people's lives.\ Far and wide through the world, I have heard,\ orders for work to adorn that wallstead\ were sent to many peoples. And soon it stood there,\ finished and ready, in full view,\ the hall of halls. Heorot was the name\ he had settled on it, whose utterance was law.\ Nor did he renege, but doled out rings\ and torques at the table. The hall towered,\ its gables wide and high and awaiting\ a barbarous burning. That doom abided,\ but in time it would come: the killer instinct\ unleashed among in-laws, the blood-lust rampant.\ \ \ Continues... \ \ \ Excerpted from Beowulf by Seamus Heaney Copyright ©2001 by Seamus Heaney. Excerpted by permission.\ All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.\ Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site. \ \
List of IllustrationsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsOld English Language and PoeticsTranslator's IntroductionThe Text of Beowulf1Contexts79The Beowulf Manuscript81Genesis 4.1-16: Cain and Abel84Hall-Feasts and the Queen85Grettir the Strong and the Trollwoman86The Frisian Slaughter: Episode and Fragment89"What has Ingeld to do with Christ?"91History of the Franks [Hygelac's Raid into Frisia]93[Genealogy of the Royal Family of Wessex]93On the Wars between the Swedes and the Geats94Genealogies of the Royal Families in Beowulf95The Kingdoms and Tribes of Beowulf96Map: The Scandinavian Setting of Beowulf97Beowulf's Name98Criticism101Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics103The Interlace Structure of Beowulf130The Structural Unity of Beowulf: The Problem of Grendel's Mother152The Beowulf Poet's Sense of History167The Tomb of Beowulf181The Christian Language and Theme of Beowulf197Archaeology and Beowulf212The Philologer Poet: Seamus Heaney and the Translation of Beowulf237Glossary of Personal Names248Selected Bibliography251
