Rosemary Sutcliff - Beowulf: A New Verse Translation

Pros: A masterful translation of an eternal classic...
Cons: None

This review is the eighth in an ongoing series of Write-Offs, orchestrated and organized by myself and the ever patient and wise mshawpyle. Our goal in these Write-Offs is to provide multiple points of view on a pertinent piece of writing, in...

Pros: A worthy effort, poetic and earthy
Cons: Colloquial elements are flat and ill-chosen

Sorry — sudden Anglo-Saxon tic, there.

Welcome to this week's Write-Off, another in the ongoing (some of you will doubtless mutter, 'Interminable') series of reviews by my gallant and learned young friend Chris Conti (caconti here on...

Pros: Vigorous language, suspense, action
Cons: Not light beach reading

"Beowulf" is one of those works people have a dim recollection of, something a teacher once showed them, or even perhaps made them read. Usually the translations are in prose and do little more than skim over the plot--Germanic warrior-hero in...

Pros: Quality book, classic story, masterful translation
Cons: Makes you hanker for a mug of mead

Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney

Beowulf is one of the oldest extant works in English, and a glorious, thrilling epic poem in its own right. Heaney's new translation does justice to the history, the spirit, and the poetry of...

Pros: Beautifully written and amazing detail
Cons: Lengthy and complicated

Seamus Heaney's new edition of Beowulf is beautifully written and offers more detail and insight than earlier editions. An Irish poet, Heaney has bestowed upon Beowulf a deliciously lyrical writing style. There is none of the roughness and primitivity...

Pros: Appealing to those not interested in old poetry
Cons: Notes on language and literary provenance would be of interest

When I came to lines 24-25 and read
".... Behaviour that's admired
is the path to power among people everywhere,"
I said how beautiful the words and how true the concept.

Beowulf has all the elements of great stories...

Pros: 'Forthright' and clear
Cons: traductore, tradittore

Beowulf was written, it says in Heaney's introduction, "sometime between the middle of the seventh and the end of the tenth century of the first millenium." That it is unknown even when the poem was written indicates the...

Pros: Clear and Exciting
Cons: Introduction interesting but too detailed to my taste

After drudging through the old versions back in high school I was a little hesitant to try this new translation, but I was more than pleasantly surprised. Although the introduction seemed to drag after a while, it was very interesting because it related...

Pros: great action
Cons: hard to understand in some places

____I first read this poem when I was in high school. I didn't like it then, but I guess that's because like any kid I rebelled against anything I was forced to do.But Seamus Heaney did such a great job in writing this newest version of the poem. It...

Pros: Great reworking of classic poem...
Cons: ...but that means the ending's no surprise!

In the wake of the death of Ted Hughes, Ulsterman Heaney has become the foremost poet in Britain; his rendition of classic the Old English Epic Beowulf proves just how skilled he is.
Over the course of the poem, Heaney draws spectacular vignettes of...

Pros: entertaining and fairly easy to follow
Cons: very long with over 3000 lines

Beowulf is one of the most famous pieces of literature to date. It is also one of the oldest. the timeless tale of Good (Beowulf) vs. Evil (Grendel and other foes Beowulf encounters) is entertaining for all. Reading the original translation of the...

Pros: The Details
Cons: Grendel is Scary!

To tell you the truth I had never really read much in the way of poetry until I picked up this book. It was a pre-assigned group reading book for my English 10 and personally I was ready to vomit after hearing that it was a book of poetry. The first...