Beowulf: An Updated Verse Translation

(Paperback)

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Description

Beowulf is the rare work of literature that has achieved mythical status. The date of its original composition is debated -- sometime between the seventh and eleventh centuries -- and its very continued existence after so much time, makes it a miraculous survivor of the ravages of history, according to Frederick Rebsamen.

Reviews

"Reads very well and comes to life, especially when read aloud....It will have a permanent place among Beowulf translations." -- Fred Robinson, Yale University

"There are lots of translations of Beowulf floating around, some prose, some poetry, but none manages to capture the feel and tone of the original as well as this one....A very impressive and sometimes inspired piece of work. It fills a need and fills it admirably." -- Dick Ringler, Professor of English and Scandinavian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"[This] translation is a truly splendid job....The verse flows with little punctuation but entire clarity." -- Richard Wilbur

"No self-respecting college professor will want his students to be without it....Renditions in modern English haven't taken the poetry of the original very seriously--but what a shock now that someone has! With the subtle rules of alliteration, stress, and pause in place--and with a translator bold enough to invent his own vigorous and imaginative compound nouns--the poem suddenly takes flight and carries us to the highest mountains of achievement." -- Booklist

Author Bio

Frederick Rebsamen was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Arkansas, and his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.