A review by brendini
Beowulf by Anonymous

5.0

Beowulf is a classic of the (old) English language and Heaney’s translation, to my mind, remains the best. Where other translators have sought to provide a literal translation, Heaney seeks here to bring forth the poetic nature of the work. He also makes it less formal, littering the work with “Ulsterisms” and other vernacular that gives it the feel of a story being told in a small rural pub rather than a king’s hall. In so doing, rather uniquely, Heaney has not so much translated this work as he has made it his own.