Hwæt, y’all. Happy that so many of you are joining in. I’ll be going through the comments as I have time over the next week, and I’ll address some of the bigger issues that come up in next week’s piece. Meanwhile, please continue the conversation as you go through the poem over the next few days, and don’t worry too much about “spoilers”; the poem is a thousand years old, after all ;)
This is great, John. I read part of it two years ago, and tried my hand at translating it too (!). I don't know if this is available outside the UK, but on YouTube there is a BBC programme about it, which includes part of a brilliant rendition by the actor Julian Glover (with everyone dressed as Anglo-Saxons). Here's the link: https://youtu.be/1C0sFXU0SLo?si=xmiLHbSH3SwNOUeE
You cast me back to my English major in college when I read Beowulf and then to John Gardner's Grendel. You are a favorite John. Such scholarship that digs deep. And, ah, Seamus Heaney!
I don't have time for the full read along this time, but I'm perusing your guides and I think I shall have to listen to Old English whenever you post it. Wow, just wow! Thank you for this incredible resource.
I bought the Heaney book back in 2000 in the "bilingual" edition: Old English on the left, Heaney's translation with margin notes on the right. I read it then, but now, nearly a quarter century older, I am much more in tune with the wistful, elegiac tone of the poem. Heaney's introductory essay is a masterpiece by itself!
Yes, that’s a lovely essay--though he refers to Grendel’s presence as “dog’s breath in the night,” which I find funny, because my dog sleeps next to me, and I find her breath kind of soothing.
I was just about to sit down with my copy of the text, and my audiobook hold magically came through from the library! So I plan to listen to Heaney's narration, then sit back down with the physical text this weekend to give it another going-over.
I am always weirdly happy when a translator keeps the kenning 'whale road' in their version. I don't know what it is about that particular phrase, but I love it. I actually bought some beautiful purple and blue wool yarn specifically because the brand's name for it was 'whale road'. It made a lovely- and very warm- scarf.
Your question about the Christian elements and how it looks back to the pagan past reminds me of the Icelandic Njáls Saga, and how it talks about that transition from a pagan past to a Christian future, and how that transition affected the feuding families.
Yes, and Njáls Saga gives us that transition quite dramatically. There are a number of analogues between the sagas and Beowulf, though the sagas are considerably later. We are reading Egil’s Saga and Laxardal in my course this semester. By the way, I think that Heaney audio version is slightly abridged--just something to be aware of as you’re going through it.
Thanks for the heads up on the audiobook! It didn't say it was abridged at all, so I assumed it was the whole thing. And you're making me wish I could take your class, because I would love an analysis of Njáls Saga and Laxardal.
One question: I assume the rings worn by the men indicated the clan they belonged to and the king they served; did they also indicate a certain status or rank within the clan?
Yes, rings reflect status and wealth, and it is the sign of a good leader that he is able to give them away. By the way, these are probably rings that are worn around the arm--fancy arm bands.
This wonderful introduction inspires me to read along as much as I can. I was browsing Heaney’s introduction online and appreciated how he put himself in a lineage from Anglo-Saxon poetics via Hopkins. I loved my grad school Anglo Saxon class and still have my paperback of Bede, but Lord knows what became of my Beowulf (!). Do keep up the read-alouds!
The audio reading of the Old English was just amazing John. Really enjoyed that. Love the scholarship and work that has gone into this. Looking forward to sitting down with the poem and getting immersed in it.
John - I have read the preface and translator's introduction as well as the poem up to line 1060. I will start off with by saying the selection of the Norton Critical Edition was really inspired. The translation is masterful but the additional materials really add to the experience and it is a beautiful book as well.
I thought that Heaney's methodology of using the language of Ulster as a working base for his translation was pretty ingenious. I have no idea what translation I read in high school but it was challenging to get through. Whatever he has done here works. Translation is a true art form in itself.
I read quite a bit of it aloud to myself which I particularly enjoyed. I attempted to read it in the meter Heaney describes in his introduction but for the life of me I couldn't get it right. There is a comment in the front matter that says "The very features that the Anglo-Saxons found aesthetically pleasing can make the poetry seem foreign today." I ended up reading it in a meter that felt comfortable for me but I doubt it was accurate.
The poem itself is really beautifully rendered. Heaney's language transports the reader and I find myself in the boats with the warriors and in the smoky dimness of the mead halls. Grendel's stench as he approaches through the moors overpowers the senses and Beowulf's raw strength and courage as he faces the monster inspire the faintest heart.
Truly exquisite literature. Thanks for sharing it with us. Looking forward to the next section.
So glad you’re enjoying it. I wouldn’t worry too much about trying to capture a rhythm when reading aloud; Heaney’s translation seeks to produce a poem in idiomatic modern English, so it should just flow naturally. He doesn’t try to capture the original’s stress patterns. In my opinion, translations that try to do that generally don’t succeed.
I agree. This translation was much better than what I read before in high school. Maybe that’s due to broadened interests, age or the fact that this isn’t a graded time-bound assignment. 😁 However, I agree on this translation being a superior read. And the supporting materials in the Second Critical Edition are very nice to have.
I remember my college roommate (an English major) studying Beowulf in Old English and being fascinated by the language. The first time I read the poem was in seventh grade, and I still have a deep impression of my teacher reading our translation aloud with such passion. Love that you're doing this, John.
I'm most intrigued by the interplay between the pagan and the Christian traditions. Here are Lines 178-189 (I may be off by a line).
After a brief discussion of pagan rites including idol worship to ward off the evil Grendel:
"That was their way, their heathenish hope; deep in their hearts they remembered hell. The Almighty Judge of good deeds and bad, the Lord God, Head of the Heavens and High King of the world was unknown to them. Oh, cursed is he who in time of trouble has to thrust his soul in the fire’s embrace. Forfeiting help; he has nowhere to turn. But blessed is he who after death can approach the Lord and find friendship in the Lord’s embrace."
This section reads to me as if it were tacked on. John, is that a possibility?
Beowulf is about to save the Danes from Grendel based on Beowulf's own strength, giving little credit to the Christian God or any other God. It's almost all Beowulf, the manliest man there ever was with a nod here and there to fate. The impression I get is that Beowulf really does credit himself for all his wins.
So, I see this section as the poet, likely an ecclesiastical sort, covering his tracks (a "CYA").
In effect, he's saying, "Wait! Don't forget, reader, the Danes would have been far better off to be Christian believers so that even if they're killed by Grendel, after death they could go to heaven. But, since they're non-believers, they're out of luck.
It's the Christian emphasis upon the world to come that seems to me so at odds with this blood soaked tale of a mortal hero.
Good points, David. The passage you cite has led to a lot of speculation of exactly the sort you express: the idea that the poem has been “christianized.” Of course, part of the problem with assessing this possibility is determining what we mean by “the poem.” Were there multiple iterations? Did it develop through accretion? We don’t know. I do agree that this passage seems unusually preachy and at odds with the tone of most of the poem. On the other hand, I do think that there is a sincere melancholy on the part of the poet: he obviously admires these people and is troubled that they did not have access to what he sees as the Christian revelation--hence the sadness that accompanies the funerals: there is no sense that they go to a “better place.”
Since this is Denmark and we're talking about dying without the faith or rites necessary for admission to Heaven, my mind turns to your post on Hamlet's indecision (or evil intent) that leads him to spare his Uncle while he's praying.
And of course, Hamlet's father is condemned to his ghostly wanderings because he was murdered without the proper rites.
So do you think the poet of Beowulf was familiar with the legend behind Hamlet?
And, is Hamlet the literary equivalent of Kevin Bacon in terms of degrees of separation?
Now that you mention it, Elsinore and Heorot are both located on the large island that we now call Zealand. I doubt the Beowulf poet would have known the “Amleth” legend, which I think postdates Beowulf, at least in extant texts. (12th century, I think?)
And yes, Hamlet is totally Kevin Bacon. It’s hard to have a literary discussion without that melancholy Dane.
Thank you for bringing me back to Beowulf. The time is right in this perilous year, when the burning of Heorot is freshly relevant. Wintering far from home and my hard copy, I downloaded Heaney’s stirring audiobook so I could be part of your project. I think of all generations listening to these cadences in another age--the kids gripped by the ripping sinews, the grownups by a moral tale. I can’t home in on specific passages and anything I’d say about the funeral would be a spoiler. In a word: thrilling.
Hwæt, y’all. Happy that so many of you are joining in. I’ll be going through the comments as I have time over the next week, and I’ll address some of the bigger issues that come up in next week’s piece. Meanwhile, please continue the conversation as you go through the poem over the next few days, and don’t worry too much about “spoilers”; the poem is a thousand years old, after all ;)
This is great, John. I read part of it two years ago, and tried my hand at translating it too (!). I don't know if this is available outside the UK, but on YouTube there is a BBC programme about it, which includes part of a brilliant rendition by the actor Julian Glover (with everyone dressed as Anglo-Saxons). Here's the link: https://youtu.be/1C0sFXU0SLo?si=xmiLHbSH3SwNOUeE
Thanks, Terry! I’ll check that out.
I'm in the US and am able to access it. Can't wait to spend some time watching! thank you!
Great! Thanks for lettiing me know, Scott. I hope you enjoy it.
Thanks! I’ll watch. I too can see it stateside.
People might be interested in this YouTube recording of Heany reading the poem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaB0trCztM0
And here's Benjamin Bagby performing it in Old English at the 92nd Street Y in New York, accompanying himself on the harp!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WcIK_8f7oQ
Thanks, Jay! I’ll put these links in next week’s post as well.
Wonderful introduction/analysis that will enhance our reading greatly. Thanks for this John.
My pleasure, David. Happy you enjoyed it.
You cast me back to my English major in college when I read Beowulf and then to John Gardner's Grendel. You are a favorite John. Such scholarship that digs deep. And, ah, Seamus Heaney!
Thanks, Mary! And perhaps we’ll get to Gardner’s Grendel here some day. It’s been so long since I’ve read it...
This is so awesome. I am so happy you are doing this. This pictures, the audio, the history, the analysis... so very good.
Thank you, Zina. 🙏
I don't have time for the full read along this time, but I'm perusing your guides and I think I shall have to listen to Old English whenever you post it. Wow, just wow! Thank you for this incredible resource.
Thanks, Kate. After teaching a poem for a couple of decades, I finally feel like I have something to say about it.
My situation too.
I bought the Heaney book back in 2000 in the "bilingual" edition: Old English on the left, Heaney's translation with margin notes on the right. I read it then, but now, nearly a quarter century older, I am much more in tune with the wistful, elegiac tone of the poem. Heaney's introductory essay is a masterpiece by itself!
Yes, that’s a lovely essay--though he refers to Grendel’s presence as “dog’s breath in the night,” which I find funny, because my dog sleeps next to me, and I find her breath kind of soothing.
I was just about to sit down with my copy of the text, and my audiobook hold magically came through from the library! So I plan to listen to Heaney's narration, then sit back down with the physical text this weekend to give it another going-over.
I am always weirdly happy when a translator keeps the kenning 'whale road' in their version. I don't know what it is about that particular phrase, but I love it. I actually bought some beautiful purple and blue wool yarn specifically because the brand's name for it was 'whale road'. It made a lovely- and very warm- scarf.
Your question about the Christian elements and how it looks back to the pagan past reminds me of the Icelandic Njáls Saga, and how it talks about that transition from a pagan past to a Christian future, and how that transition affected the feuding families.
Yes, and Njáls Saga gives us that transition quite dramatically. There are a number of analogues between the sagas and Beowulf, though the sagas are considerably later. We are reading Egil’s Saga and Laxardal in my course this semester. By the way, I think that Heaney audio version is slightly abridged--just something to be aware of as you’re going through it.
Thanks for the heads up on the audiobook! It didn't say it was abridged at all, so I assumed it was the whole thing. And you're making me wish I could take your class, because I would love an analysis of Njáls Saga and Laxardal.
Thank you for the audio clip!
One question: I assume the rings worn by the men indicated the clan they belonged to and the king they served; did they also indicate a certain status or rank within the clan?
Yes, rings reflect status and wealth, and it is the sign of a good leader that he is able to give them away. By the way, these are probably rings that are worn around the arm--fancy arm bands.
This wonderful introduction inspires me to read along as much as I can. I was browsing Heaney’s introduction online and appreciated how he put himself in a lineage from Anglo-Saxon poetics via Hopkins. I loved my grad school Anglo Saxon class and still have my paperback of Bede, but Lord knows what became of my Beowulf (!). Do keep up the read-alouds!
Yes, you can really hear that Hopkins connection when you read Heaney’s translation out loud.
The audio reading of the Old English was just amazing John. Really enjoyed that. Love the scholarship and work that has gone into this. Looking forward to sitting down with the poem and getting immersed in it.
Thanks, Matthew. I look forward to your thoughts on the poem.
John - I have read the preface and translator's introduction as well as the poem up to line 1060. I will start off with by saying the selection of the Norton Critical Edition was really inspired. The translation is masterful but the additional materials really add to the experience and it is a beautiful book as well.
I thought that Heaney's methodology of using the language of Ulster as a working base for his translation was pretty ingenious. I have no idea what translation I read in high school but it was challenging to get through. Whatever he has done here works. Translation is a true art form in itself.
I read quite a bit of it aloud to myself which I particularly enjoyed. I attempted to read it in the meter Heaney describes in his introduction but for the life of me I couldn't get it right. There is a comment in the front matter that says "The very features that the Anglo-Saxons found aesthetically pleasing can make the poetry seem foreign today." I ended up reading it in a meter that felt comfortable for me but I doubt it was accurate.
The poem itself is really beautifully rendered. Heaney's language transports the reader and I find myself in the boats with the warriors and in the smoky dimness of the mead halls. Grendel's stench as he approaches through the moors overpowers the senses and Beowulf's raw strength and courage as he faces the monster inspire the faintest heart.
Truly exquisite literature. Thanks for sharing it with us. Looking forward to the next section.
So glad you’re enjoying it. I wouldn’t worry too much about trying to capture a rhythm when reading aloud; Heaney’s translation seeks to produce a poem in idiomatic modern English, so it should just flow naturally. He doesn’t try to capture the original’s stress patterns. In my opinion, translations that try to do that generally don’t succeed.
I agree. This translation was much better than what I read before in high school. Maybe that’s due to broadened interests, age or the fact that this isn’t a graded time-bound assignment. 😁 However, I agree on this translation being a superior read. And the supporting materials in the Second Critical Edition are very nice to have.
I remember my college roommate (an English major) studying Beowulf in Old English and being fascinated by the language. The first time I read the poem was in seventh grade, and I still have a deep impression of my teacher reading our translation aloud with such passion. Love that you're doing this, John.
Thank you, Tiffany. Glad you’re onboard. 🙏
I'm most intrigued by the interplay between the pagan and the Christian traditions. Here are Lines 178-189 (I may be off by a line).
After a brief discussion of pagan rites including idol worship to ward off the evil Grendel:
"That was their way, their heathenish hope; deep in their hearts they remembered hell. The Almighty Judge of good deeds and bad, the Lord God, Head of the Heavens and High King of the world was unknown to them. Oh, cursed is he who in time of trouble has to thrust his soul in the fire’s embrace. Forfeiting help; he has nowhere to turn. But blessed is he who after death can approach the Lord and find friendship in the Lord’s embrace."
This section reads to me as if it were tacked on. John, is that a possibility?
Beowulf is about to save the Danes from Grendel based on Beowulf's own strength, giving little credit to the Christian God or any other God. It's almost all Beowulf, the manliest man there ever was with a nod here and there to fate. The impression I get is that Beowulf really does credit himself for all his wins.
So, I see this section as the poet, likely an ecclesiastical sort, covering his tracks (a "CYA").
In effect, he's saying, "Wait! Don't forget, reader, the Danes would have been far better off to be Christian believers so that even if they're killed by Grendel, after death they could go to heaven. But, since they're non-believers, they're out of luck.
It's the Christian emphasis upon the world to come that seems to me so at odds with this blood soaked tale of a mortal hero.
Good points, David. The passage you cite has led to a lot of speculation of exactly the sort you express: the idea that the poem has been “christianized.” Of course, part of the problem with assessing this possibility is determining what we mean by “the poem.” Were there multiple iterations? Did it develop through accretion? We don’t know. I do agree that this passage seems unusually preachy and at odds with the tone of most of the poem. On the other hand, I do think that there is a sincere melancholy on the part of the poet: he obviously admires these people and is troubled that they did not have access to what he sees as the Christian revelation--hence the sadness that accompanies the funerals: there is no sense that they go to a “better place.”
Since this is Denmark and we're talking about dying without the faith or rites necessary for admission to Heaven, my mind turns to your post on Hamlet's indecision (or evil intent) that leads him to spare his Uncle while he's praying.
And of course, Hamlet's father is condemned to his ghostly wanderings because he was murdered without the proper rites.
So do you think the poet of Beowulf was familiar with the legend behind Hamlet?
And, is Hamlet the literary equivalent of Kevin Bacon in terms of degrees of separation?
Now that you mention it, Elsinore and Heorot are both located on the large island that we now call Zealand. I doubt the Beowulf poet would have known the “Amleth” legend, which I think postdates Beowulf, at least in extant texts. (12th century, I think?)
And yes, Hamlet is totally Kevin Bacon. It’s hard to have a literary discussion without that melancholy Dane.
I put my notes from the first section into a post (https://open.substack.com/pub/lifelonglearn/p/reading-beowulf-part-1?r=i937&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcome=true) which I added to the Great Books section of my blog. I'm adding this volume to my shelf of the Great Books, right beside The Iliad. I'll probably put Gilgamesh on the other side.
Great! I’ll look forward to reading through this.
Thank you for bringing me back to Beowulf. The time is right in this perilous year, when the burning of Heorot is freshly relevant. Wintering far from home and my hard copy, I downloaded Heaney’s stirring audiobook so I could be part of your project. I think of all generations listening to these cadences in another age--the kids gripped by the ripping sinews, the grownups by a moral tale. I can’t home in on specific passages and anything I’d say about the funeral would be a spoiler. In a word: thrilling.
Glad you’re enjoying it! I think that Heaney audio version is slightly abridged--just something to be aware of as you’re going through it.
So that’s what happened to the genealogy. Can’t say I missed it.