Thank you for the excellent article. I once attended a poetry reading where everyone participated with their favorites. I chose to read the section of Beowulf where the stag - driven through the forest - refuses to seek safety in the dark water. I read the Old English phonetically - and dramatically - while my wife, standing behind me, read the modern English translation simultaneously, almost like audible subtitles. The effect was eerie, even to the two of us. Our listeners were captivated. There is something almost hypnotic about the sound of Old English spoken aloud.
I’m now regretting not joining the Beowulf sessions that you did (I’m currently enjoying Gawain). Might you be running those again? Presumably those sessions are no longer available …
Glad to hear you’re enjoying Gawain! As for Beowulf, I’m not sure when we’ll do another round of live sessions (although I wouldn’t rule it out!), but the recordings from the last group are all available here: https://www.deadlanguagesociety.com/t/beowulf-book-club
It's funny, I was just thinking about "The Wanderer" this morning and how much I'd like to read you break it down for us, Colin! It's quite possibly my favorite poem (period, not just in Old English) and it is so sad and beautiful that I wish more people knew it. It also doesn't hurt that it was a favorite of Tolkien.
Nothing in Beowulf can be divorced from the entire story. Each digression plays a role in furthering the plot of the poem, often through foreshadowing by legends that echo the events to come, or the recent history that will immediately play a role.
For instance, the only only way the poet tells us HOW Heorot fell (he says that it does explicitly, but never says what happened) is Beowulf’s speech to Hygelac noting the contentions, the poet’s asides “that’s how nephews are supposed to act, not betraying their uncles etc. …” and then the Hnæf and Hildeburh digression.
I believe the digressions must tie in to Beowulf’s own story as well, though it’s hard to see how. I think the monster fights are some of the most essential parts of the poem, and everything between ties them together.
How would you marry the digressions to the monster fights, Dr. Gorrie? It sounded like you thought the monster fights were the tacked-on portions of the poem instead of the digressions, but I don’t think that that was what you meant.
P.S. “Heald þu nu hruse, || nu hæleþ ne moston” is one of the best lines of Old English verse.
The compounds are where the pleasure lives. My favourite: wordhord onleac, line 259, to speak is to unlock the word-hoard, vocabulary kept like treasure under lock. Hard to read that one flat once you've seen it.
I wonder, then, (as it were) if the author or compiler's intention was to give an account of the decline of the Geats et al, and that the monster fights are there to spice things up a bit. I believe film-makers are prone to such tactics. That Shakespeare chap too, I reckon.
I have always enjoyed the Frederick Rebsamen translation more than any other. Reading it aloud is wonderful. I don’t get the appeal of editions by Seamus Heaney and such, but understand that the general reader wants something easy. To me, these translations are dead. Somewhere in the memory hole of the internet there is a page, perhaps a Listserv, from around 1998 on which scholars discuss the merits of various translations and I was pleased to see Rebsamen’s judged so highly for capturing the poetry of its original tongue and the energy of the story.
Thank you for the excellent article. I once attended a poetry reading where everyone participated with their favorites. I chose to read the section of Beowulf where the stag - driven through the forest - refuses to seek safety in the dark water. I read the Old English phonetically - and dramatically - while my wife, standing behind me, read the modern English translation simultaneously, almost like audible subtitles. The effect was eerie, even to the two of us. Our listeners were captivated. There is something almost hypnotic about the sound of Old English spoken aloud.
I’m now regretting not joining the Beowulf sessions that you did (I’m currently enjoying Gawain). Might you be running those again? Presumably those sessions are no longer available …
Glad to hear you’re enjoying Gawain! As for Beowulf, I’m not sure when we’ll do another round of live sessions (although I wouldn’t rule it out!), but the recordings from the last group are all available here: https://www.deadlanguagesociety.com/t/beowulf-book-club
Amazing, thank you.
It's funny, I was just thinking about "The Wanderer" this morning and how much I'd like to read you break it down for us, Colin! It's quite possibly my favorite poem (period, not just in Old English) and it is so sad and beautiful that I wish more people knew it. It also doesn't hurt that it was a favorite of Tolkien.
Nothing in Beowulf can be divorced from the entire story. Each digression plays a role in furthering the plot of the poem, often through foreshadowing by legends that echo the events to come, or the recent history that will immediately play a role.
For instance, the only only way the poet tells us HOW Heorot fell (he says that it does explicitly, but never says what happened) is Beowulf’s speech to Hygelac noting the contentions, the poet’s asides “that’s how nephews are supposed to act, not betraying their uncles etc. …” and then the Hnæf and Hildeburh digression.
I believe the digressions must tie in to Beowulf’s own story as well, though it’s hard to see how. I think the monster fights are some of the most essential parts of the poem, and everything between ties them together.
How would you marry the digressions to the monster fights, Dr. Gorrie? It sounded like you thought the monster fights were the tacked-on portions of the poem instead of the digressions, but I don’t think that that was what you meant.
P.S. “Heald þu nu hruse, || nu hæleþ ne moston” is one of the best lines of Old English verse.
Your adaptation is wonderful, a miniature Sellic Spell.
This is beautiful.
heading over to listen to The Wanderer now!
(I have a tattoo - handwritten by me - of 'wyrd bið ful aræd')
The compounds are where the pleasure lives. My favourite: wordhord onleac, line 259, to speak is to unlock the word-hoard, vocabulary kept like treasure under lock. Hard to read that one flat once you've seen it.
I wonder, then, (as it were) if the author or compiler's intention was to give an account of the decline of the Geats et al, and that the monster fights are there to spice things up a bit. I believe film-makers are prone to such tactics. That Shakespeare chap too, I reckon.
Great insight
I just subscribed to Ekho, and I am really enjoying the readings. I hope you put Osweald Bera on there eventually!
I have always enjoyed the Frederick Rebsamen translation more than any other. Reading it aloud is wonderful. I don’t get the appeal of editions by Seamus Heaney and such, but understand that the general reader wants something easy. To me, these translations are dead. Somewhere in the memory hole of the internet there is a page, perhaps a Listserv, from around 1998 on which scholars discuss the merits of various translations and I was pleased to see Rebsamen’s judged so highly for capturing the poetry of its original tongue and the energy of the story.