January 18, 2007
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Listening to Beowulf
The first eight years of our marriage were years sans television. We did a lot more listening than watching in those days. Friday nights would find us laying on the floor in the dark and listening to radio drama. PBS audio broadcasts of Star Wars and BBC dramas swept us into other galaxies. I was reminded of those evenings this week when an audio version of Beowulf arrived in the mail. I’ve only read one translation, Seamus Heaney’s, and thrilled in his grasp of the greatness of language. [I'd love to have another son, so I could name him Seamus (SHAY mus)]. We will soon re-read Beowulf and Lynne gave me the idea of listening to this epic. The great Nobel prize winner reads his translation with his native Irish brogue.
We sat down and listened to one section, submitting our whole attention to the poem. My husband, who was not familiar with any part of the story, was captivated and stirred by the language. So even if you don’t know this classic, you will delight in hearing it. The muscular potency of Heaney’s translation is unrivaled in the world of literature. Anglo-Saxon poetry stressed alliteration (matching sounds at the beginning of words) instead of rhyme (matching sounds at the end of words). Heaney brings this across in his glorious translation:
Suddenly then
the God-cursed brute was creating havoc:
greedy and grim, he grabbed thirty men
from their resting places and rushed to his lair,
flushed up and inflamed from the raid,
blundering back with the butchered corpses. (p. 11)
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 Father’s embrace. (p.15)The DVD Beowulf and Grendel is available at Amazon. It may or may not be worth watching. At any rate, it ought to be a crime to watch the DVD without having read (visual or audio) the book. But this audio book could very well be one of the best listening events of the year.
Even better: combine two senses by reading along while listening.
One of my favorite lines:
He is hasped and hooped and hirpling with pain, limping and looped in it. (p.65)
Comments (5)
I am combining two senses by reading and listening along to Scripture during my devotions. Got the idea from Janie.
Your Beowulf excerpts are wonderful! Always an interesting visit twith magistramater
Dana in GA
OOH!! I have been looking for a boys middle name and if you don’t have too many objections, would love to use Seamus! Of course it will be mispronounced but thats ok. It would be Ezekiel Seamus Pineau. Of course thats only if my husband agrees LOL!! We love different names. So far we have a Dante Micah, Silvan Alexander and Talitha Elizabeth.
You know, we rented the modern version of Beowulf and Grendal and I like the poetry so much better. I love being able to play it all in my head and not have any preconceived images running around. I still remember the first time I read ‘Beowulf’ in High School and fell in love with it. It had an older translation and a newer one side by side and I found myself drawn back again and again to the older version. I always thought of Grendal as a literal beast in my mind but the movie portrays him as a savage man. I haven’t watched the whole thing but what I did watch was pretty good and the best thing was they tried to keep the poetry.
Kcaarin
Mercy it has been such a long time since I read old Beowulf and Grendal. But most beautifully you took me back to our early days when we listened to the radio and read to each other (in between text books and childrens stories). We loved the short wave and would pick up the BBC and the Netherlands radio with it’s glorious music. Scrabble was the game of choice on many nights and there was always a jigsaw puzzle to solve (but that we still do!) TV is a thief to be reckoned with. I think I feel inspired! Thanks
Great post, Magistra…It looks like I will be tapped to teach English Lit next year since a certain expectant father will be going off to get all legal-ized…and this is the text they have…Yay!
I will begin purchasing texts to annotate this spring and summer as I complete my education! Now I may have to get a audio version!
B
I decided on the Julian Glover adaptation when our family read this a few years back. He performed it as a one-man show, and so he did make a few minor cuts with the side plots. But it was perfect for our (then) 5th and 6th graders. The book has wonderful color plates done by artist Sheila Mackie in the ancient Anglo-Saxon style. It would be fun to take a second look at Beowulf, comparing my copy to the Heaney translation you mentioned. Thanks for the prompt to get my book out again! I’ve enjoyed skimming it over this evening.
Poiema