In the text, we see that beowulf is not yet a king, but, a king to come. Complete beowulf old english text, translations and dual. Poet john drydens categories of translation have influenced how scholars discuss variation between translations. Movie in the movie grendels mother is a siren, who lures beowulf and hrothgar in to keep the evil alive book in. Track down a copy of brights old english, snagging the student edition of beowulf edited by george jack, and getting an old english dictionary i like the mart edition by j. It is hoped that the essay may prove useful as a contribution to bibliography, and serve as a convenient reference book for those in search of information regarding the value of texts and translations of beowulf. Try one of the apps below to open or edit this item. The mere wife is an epic retelling for too long the old english poem has long been perceived as a masculine text, says maria dahvana headley. Compare and contrast seamus heaneys translation of beowulf to the robert zemeckis film beowulf. The story of heroic beowulf and his battles with the monster grendel and also with grendels mother not to mention the dragon is rather awesome. Beowulf is asleep in heorot after slaying grendel when he has a nightmare about grendels mother, awaking from it to see that she has silently murdered many of the men in heorot. It is the intention of our compare bible verses by translation pages to allow users to study bible verses using more than one translation and version.
Modern versions in english verse magennis, hugh on. The best bet, of course, is to read it in the original. When beowulf was composed, england was changing from a pagan to a christian culture. Davis has written many books of fiction, but his most notable previous credit is don quixote. Here are examples of how to specify the url at each bookstore for the 1973 michael alexander book which has an isbn of 0140442685. This prezi will compare two translations of beowulf, as well as provide background information and fun facts. Best beowulf english translation other than tolkiens. Some of you have probably picked up on a few of the most obvious similarities, but there might be a couple that you overlooked. A new beowulf translation has come flowing out of the fiendinfested mist. Beowulf questions and answers discover the community of teachers, mentors and students just like you that can answer any question you might have on beowulf.
This activity encourages students to examine the role translation plays in interpreting the epic poem beowulf by using different translations of specific passages. Any cinematic rendition of a popular book, epic, or legend would, undoubtedly, bring about various inconsistencies and differences from the original. Beowulf modern english translation by anonymous translated by frances b. Beowulf reflects both pagan and christian traditions. Oct 30, 2018 compare two translations of beowulf compare how two different translators have rendered one of the following passages from beowulf. The embassy to achilles lines 318327 in his introduction to lattimores reissued version of the iliad in 2011, richard p. Beowulf sails to denmark 194224 beowulf fights grendel 790818 beowulf fights grendels mother 153769 beowulf and wiglaf kill the dragon 26722708. Next, groups of students compare new translations of the passage with the old english poem using the checklist previously created. A verse translation 9780140449310 by michael alexander. Analysis of 2 translations of beowulf essay 653 words. The measure used in the present translation is believed to be as near a reproduction of the original as modern english affords. By the time beowulf was written, the anglosaxons had also converted to christianity. The new translation, a finalist for forewords 2012 book of the year award. Purchase online the reason my edition is referred to as the collected beowulf is because it was originally published in three comicformat issues.
All of the online bookstores referenced in this list allow searching for a book by isbn number. In fact, the main point of using two different kinds of media such as writing and cinematography would make it difficult for the messages, the metaphor, and even the style to be delivered as compared from the original into. Compare two translations of beowulf essay academicscope. Heaneys performance reminds us that beowulf, written near the turn of another millennium, was intended to be heard not read. Talbot donaldsons prose translation or with alan sullivan and timothy murphys alliterative verse translation. In fact, here youll find two versions of this translation. Of all english translations of beowulf, that of professor garnett alone gives any adequate idea of the chief characteristics of this great teutonic epic.
The present work is a modest effort to reproduce approximately, in modern measures, the venerable epic, beowulf. The book is beowulf, seamus heaneys modern english translation. Analysis of 2 translations of beowulf freebooksummary. This volume presents multiple translations, the original old english text, special dual text feature and beautiful illustrations. Tolkien contributed on translating beowulf as a preface entitled prefatory remarks on prose translation of beowulf to the 1940 edition of c. This was all well and good except, but he was home sick and bored and decided hed read on his own. This is by far the best translation of beowulf way better than seamus heaneys as it preserves the alliteration of the original form. Against this heroic background of feuding and feasting, beowulf first kills the monster grendel and her mother, and later defends his people against a dragon in a battle that leaves them both mortally wounded. In the text on the hand, the men were asleep when he attacked and he only attacked wiglaf. At last count some 65 english translations of beowulf have been published.
Once youve read a different version of beowulf, theres actually a fairly newly published translation by thomas meyer thats a great read if youre into avantgarde poetry, although i find people who arent into that kind of thing tend to hate it. The account given of german, dutch, danish, swedish, french, and italian. Feb 19, 2017 this feature is not available right now. Beowulf translation comparison by rebekah roorda on prezi. List of translations and artistic depictions of beowulf.
The heaney translation of beowulf is referred to often as heaneywulf for a reason. Rebsamen, for instance, earlier published beowulf is my name 1971, the same story as told by beowulf in prose. Beowulf has been adapted a number of times in cinema, on the stage, and in books. The first complete translation into english was by john mitchell kemble in 1837. Grendels description is written quite differently in both translations. Some similarities are they both have the same characters, beowulf cuts off grendels arm, the people celebrate the death of grendel with drinking, they hang grendels arm for all to see, and beowulf kills both grendel and his mother. That might seem like a small thing, in comparison to the meaning, but so much of the meaning in beowulf is inseparable from the form that to lose the old anglosaxon rhythm is to lose the poem. Poet david breeden has produced an illustrated adaptation available online. Beowulf compare and contrast essay freebooksummary. Immediately after grendels mothers attack, beowulf and some men track her down to her lair. Kembles is a literal, prose translation, rather roughsounding to our ears.
Wrenns book beowulf and the finnesburg fragment, a translation into modern english prose, which had first been published in 1911 by john r. In the book, beowulf is buried and the dragon is burned. For my first effort at translation evaluation, i thought id look at a specific moment of a poem, and see how a translation works at that moment. The demon, grendel, came to king hrothgars mead hall in the middle of the night to attack. The method of treating the various books is, in general, the same. The poem describes the adventures that beowulf faced, and at the same time beowulf tells and explains his amazing stories about how he kills with his own. Essay about comparison of seven beowulf translations bartleby. I got home from work and he told me hed just read it on his own so i could read to his brother, and i could finish the lightening thief myself once he started the second book. Movie book in the movie beowulf is the father of the fire breathing dragon that burns.
The poems many translators seem to have followed the same logic that drives people to open new restaurants. Throughout time there have been multiple analyses of beowulf detailing the similarities and differences between the 2007 film and the various text translations. What is the best translation of beowulf i posted this on another subreddit, but they told me htat it would be better suited to rliterature, and looking there lead me here. Beowulf is an old english epic poem written anonymously around 975 ad. The heynesocin text and glossary have been closely. Apart from straight translations of beowulf you will also find various retellings of the story. Long ago and far away although beowulf was composed in england, the. So i started reading a different book with and continued percy jackson. Welcome to a comparative library presenting excerpts from over 100 english language translations of the epic poem beowulf five particular sections of this legendary tale were chosen as points of comparison, allowing a consistent sidebyside evaluation of every edition. Old english bears little resemblance to modern english and so must be translated for readers today. Tolkien, who upon his death in 1973 left behind reams of lecture notes about the poem, as well as a. It is hard to know quite how beowulf is the origin of arthur hugh clough or simon armitage, but in any case heaney has dug down with his pen to the first stratum of.
New york times best seller and whitebread book of the year, nobel laureate seamus heaneys new translation of beowulf comes to life in this gripping audio. Comparing beowulf translations select one of the following four passages from beowulf 194224, 790818, 153769, or 26722708 and compare seamus heaneys translation in the norton anthology with either e. Tolkiens translation of beowulf is being published on thursday, 88 years after its making. Martin of stanford university was sure enough to compare lattimores translation of ten lines from book nine 9.
In fact, the main point of using two different kinds of media such as writing and cinematography would make it difficult for the messages, the metaphor, and even the style to be delivered as compared. Essay about comparison of seven beowulf translations 13 words 5 pages comparison of seven beowulf translations there is not unanimity among beowulf translators concerning all parts of the text, but there is little divergence from a single, uniform translation of the poem. Nov 20, 2012 beowulf as the beewolf hero, murderer and rending of beasts and monsters. In the battle with the dragon viewers learned that he was actually beowulfs son. A senior scholar writing here at the height of his powers and bringing experience and insight to an important topic. Score a book s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book. Here youll find my translation of the old english epic in its entirety. Students first listen to several translations of a passage from beowulf, keeping a running list of how the translations differ and why the differences may exist. The poem recounts the arrival of beowulf to denmark to help with his 14 men warriors to defeat to the ogre grendel. Epic of beowulf essay foreign and english translations and versions of beowulf 1541 words 7 pages. Version 1 beautifully illustrated with images relating to beowulf and the beowulf poets times.
Before going in, unferth bestows the sword hrunting unto beowulf. Beowulf modern english translation by anonymous poetry. An appreciation of seamus heaneys translation of beowulf. Moviebook comparison tabitha turley i would say that the biggest similarity between the book and the movie was beowulfs battle with grendel. Read the original text of beowulf along with a sidebyside translation in plain english. When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Compare two translations of beowulf compare how two different translators have rendered one of the following passages from beowulf.
Foreign and english translations and versions of beowulf from 1805 until the present there have been introduced an abundance of paraphrases, translations, adaptations, summaries, versions and illustrations of beowulf in modern english and in foreign languages due mostly to two reasons. Connections between the hobbit, lord of the rings, and. Beowulf beaw was famed his renown spread widescyldes eafera scedelandum in. Translation, the adaptation of a text for an audience for whom that text was not originally intended, is a tricky business. Beowulf translations the greatest literature of all time. After more than four decades, im reading the hobbit book again, and ive seen several similarities shared by tolkiens works, the culture of the celts, the anglosaxons, and beowulf. Translation by michael alexander, first published on 1973 is very skillfully put together and admirable. Beowulf sails to denmark 194224 beowulf fights grendel 790818 beowulf fights grendels mother 153769 beowulf and wiglaf kill the dragon 26722708 you can pick two from among the following. Of the many outstanding translations, two of which are by burton raffel and seamus heaney, different ways of writing are portrayed. Recently ive been interested in ancient epics and came across a plot summery of beowulf. The first is one that includes commentary on certain passages and words, and the second is a straightforward poetic translation of the original. Beowulf was by no means tolkiens only translation from old english, and he gave a number of them, such as pearl and sir gawain and the green knight, the same treatment that he. Turning his attention to beowulf, davis bases his interpretation on two previous translations, those of john mitchell kemble and john lesslie hall.
He stands up for a cause and belief against great odds. In 2003, the arizona center for medieval and renaissance studies published marijane osborns annotated list of over 300 translations and adaptations. Beowulf came to the danes to help them kill the nasty, vicious demon. Benjamin thorpe translated beowulf in 1865 into verse with caesura, but also with very literal meaning and erratic alliteration. Beowulf compare and contrast by sydney koch on prezi. Aug 27, 2011 this activity encourages students to examine the role translation plays in interpreting the epic poem beowulf by using different translations of specific passages. The delphi poets series offers readers the works of literatures finest poets, with superior formatting. The above is a comparison of several translations of the opening to beowulf. Beowulf the book and the movie beowulf, a hero, which is a savior figure. Apr 18, 2007 i prefer the translations by chickering or klaeber to anything else ive seen. I started reading seamus heaneys beowulf on the way to my first crosscountry meet in 8th grade. Grendels description comparative analysis beowulf is a great piece of anglosaxon literature that can be, and has been, translated in multiple ways. At the beginning of the new millennium, one of the surprise successes of the publishing season is a 1,000yearold masterpiece. Essay about comparison of seven beowulf translations.
This study tool can help people see how different translations and versions have interpreted the original greek and hebrew languages. Jan 10, 20 the book beowulf and the movie beowulf have a few similarities and a good bit of differences. Beowulf is the iconic work of literature in old english. Beowulf compare and contrast essay 14 words 6 pages.