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Beowolf |
Beowulf is the great poem of the Angles, fifth century German marauders who crossed the North Sea to attack the weakened Roman outposts along the boggy east coast of England. Passed from tribe to tribe by memorists and singers, the story tells us about a world of earthen forts and famine, of plagues, wild beasts, and the savage wars by which these violent, superstitious, and imaginative people triumphed, giving their name to the land and to its muscular new language.
A note on the translation: There are many wonderful translations of Beowulf, but the old Morris and Wyatt version included here is still the closest to a word for word rendering that preserves the two part line, the archaic idioms and the dark obscurity of the language. The interlinear notation is by the original translators.
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Immortal Poets: Their Lives and Verse, by Christopher Burns |