Customer Reviews

Beowulf

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Beowulf easily makes my list of top three favorite literary works--aside from being the defining epic poem of the English language and the most important work of the Old English canon, it is also a thought-provoking tale about the conflict between good and evil, and the role that fate plays in our lives. Simply put, Beowulf is a "must-read."

Why, though, should anyone read the Gummere translation? The Gummere was the third translation of the poem I came across--I read the Burton Raffel translation in high school, and picked up the Seamus Heaney translation as an undergraduate. I love both of those translations, particularly the Heaney--if you are looking for a translation which is a beautiful work of poetry in and of itself, I recommend Heaney's rendering. However, the Gummere translation excels it at capturing the feel of the Old English, and particularly the alliterations which pervade the original Anglo-Saxon text. Gummere also manages to preserve the mid-line pause (lines in Old English poetry are split by caesuras) of the original. The literary calisthenics necessary to pull this off make the Gummere translation a bit more demanding to read than other translations, but the rewards far outweight the extra investment it requires.

Much as I love the other versions of Beowulf mentioned in this review, I was excited to see that Gummere is circulating. I hope that many more people will read it and enjoy it as much as I do.

"Beowulf" is the original action/adventure story; monsters, heroes, dragons, warriors - "Beowulf" has it all.

The Gummere translation, while old, uses the same "alliteration" technique as hte original text, in which the second half of each line begins with the same letter as the first half -- which was used to help reciters remember the verses before they were written down. Because of this, the Gummere translation gives a much better sense of how the original Old English verses sounded.