Beowulf

The main purpose of this review is to compare the three free versions of Beowulf available for kindle. Which I actually did before, but then Amazon decided to re-version all the common domain books or something, so here we are...This version is a translation by Lesslie Hall. It's a very good re-telling of the poem--but it's hard to tell the difference between the margin notes and the text. Compared to what the formatting was when I read this version, this is great, with some linked notes, side-notes and foot-notes distinguished by different margin alignment, line numbers appearing in a reasonable location, and the text appearing as a poem. It's still a bit of a mess, though. And the text size is absurdly large. I did find it the best translation, however.Another good thing about this version is the extras, which includes discussion, historical information, glossary, and a summary of the tale so you know what's going on. All of these feature active links within the text.The next free version is Beowulf. It's the Gummere version, which isn't as good of a translation, but it's properly formatted, has a few linked notes, and only the bare minimum of extras (like story summary or glossary). It would probably be best if you just want to read the story, but not enjoy it.The last version is a translation by William Morris and A.J. Wyatt: The Tale of Beowulf Sometime King of the Folk of the Weder Geats. It has more discussion and extras than the Gummere, but less than this one, and the text seems to be okay, although I didn't read as much of it.Anyway, I hope this has all been helpful and informative and that you find the version of Beowulf that is right for you.

(I had to order 2 of these, since the first one was full of notes and highlighting.) This unassuming little paperback is the best Beowulf translation ever written. Far superior to Heaney's. I once taught this book to a class of disaffected high school seniors, who were subsequently inspired to research Anglo-Saxon armor and weaponry, write comparisons with contemporary horror films and have animated class discussions about the limitations of heroism. Raffles' feel for his material is sheer genius.

Beowulf itself is one of the classics of epic poetry. This translation uses alliterative verse similar to the Old English original, and uses some words that are now (or perhaps always were) very obscure. I read this aloud to my son, who is very into monsters and knights and such, as bedtime reading and he loved it, despite the archaic language. So, as a translation of a poem intended to be recited aloud, it succeeds.("You're reading Beowulf to a four year old?" said Relative X "It's above his grade level! And it's so violent!" Well, it's no more violent than many of the "kid's shows" Relative X lets him watch on TV., and maybe he'll learn some good vocabulary words, and he gets an appreciation that there are good stories to be found even in the old dusty books without pictures!)The Kindle edition was formatted terribly, with the subheads in the same font and indentation as the actual poem. The end notes were also laid out very poorly.Thus, 4 stars for the translation, 2 for the layout and an average of 3 stars.

Translated by Francis Barton Gummere (I mention it because Amazon displays all the reviews under different Beowulf editions) this book was harder than I thought. I am not a native English speaker but I have read essays about kennings and time ago I had seen that animated movie of Beowulf (whose cgi I didn't like that much) thus I was a bit prepared to read Beowulf... but not, I failed. The alliteration was quite musical, epic, it sounds stately when each line is read slowly in your mind, but in exchange was harder to understand the story. It doesn't help that other stories are mixed in between.Nevertheless I liked it. As a whole I think it is a sum of many parts not blending well, a hydra. But the parts that make it are quite beautiful. The lines speak about swords that melt through blood, warriors that are brothers and make promises that involve kingdoms, the frigid sea and demigod strenght through decades of life. Grendel biting and mocking men. Each line in its alliteration lives in itself and dies in itself. Maybe in its original day this beauty was crystalline and made a whole story that I couldn't see. In another point there are Norse or Germanic Gods but not quite, and there is the Christian God, but not quite. Because the God in which Beowulf and his kinsmen believe is one a strong one that loves his warriors. So we have a book that, in reference to religion, is a bit a godless one, and that makes it interesting too, because it is pure human heart and will winning the battle.