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(More customer reviews)Beowulf is the oldest existing poem in any modern European language. Written in Old English & dating from around the 8th century, just one copy survived Henry VIII's dissolution of the Catholic monasteries.
The well known story is pretty straightforward; when Hrothgar (a Danish king) is confronted with Grendel, a monster who has taken to attacking his hall Herot, Beowulf of the Geats (Southern Sweden) comes & slays Grendel. Subsequently, Beowulf must slay Grendel's mother and towards the end of his own life, must battle a dragon.
Everyone who has ever taken a survey of English Literature course probably started with Beowulf.One can only hope that they read this 1963 translation by Burton Raffel. He has taken this great epic & provided it with a worthy translation.
Here is a sample:
..And after that bloody Combat the Danes laughed with delight. He who had come to them from across the sea, Bold and strong-minded, had driven affliction Off, purged Herot clean. He was happy, Now, with that night's fierce work; the Danes Had been served as he'd boasted he'd serve them; Beowulf. A prince of Geats, had killed Grendel, Ended the grief, the sorrow, the suffering Forced on Hrothgar's helpless people By a bloodthirsty fiend. No Dane doubted The victory, for the proof, hanging high From the rafters where Beowulf had hung it, was the monster's Arm, claw and shoulder and all.
GRADE: A+
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The epic poem of war and adventure.Beowulf is the earliest extant poem in a modern European language.It was composed in England four centuries before the Norman Conquest.But no one knows exactly when it was composed, or by whom, or why.As a social document this great epic reflects a feudal, newly Christian world of heroes and monsters, blood and victory and death.* Burton Raffel's modern language translation from the original Old English remains the most celebrated introduction of the poem to students and the general reader alike* Includes a glossary of terms
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