Beowulf by Seamus Heaney

Presents a new translation of the Anglo-Saxon epic chronicling the heroic adventures of Beowulf, the Scandinavian warrior who saves his people from the ravages of the monster Grendel and Grendel's mother.

The tag goodreads has is that it's by “Anonymous” but the translation is by Seamus Heaney and his name is on the spine, so I've filed it under “author a-i” for that reason.

I really liked this book, but then again I was reading it because I wanted to and not because a teacher was making me.

This is a great story and Seamus Heaney does a masterful translation. What is especially nice is the translation on one page and the original Old English on the other, complete with copious footnotes and definitions of arcane terms.

Even if you don't like Beowulf this is a fantastic book to have for learning Old English. Then again, I don't think I've met anyone learning OE that didn't like Beowulf...

And if you've never read Beowulf, but are interested, this is the edition to get. I can assure you it is much, much better than the movie.

Finished in a day, what else can I say? Fantastic translation. I haven't approached Beowulf since school, and back then I was just reading it to write a report. I remember wrestling through it, feeling myself unable to focus... this book was the direct opposite of that.

Loved it! Absolutely loved it. Love the translation. It has now made me want to come back to the original, and also compare to other versions.