Translating Beowulf: Modern Versions in English Verse Hardcover – February 17, 2011 9781843842613

Translations of the Old English poem Beowulf proliferate, and their number continues to grow. Focusing on the particularly rich period since 1950, this book presents a critical account of translations in English verse, setting them in the contexts both of the larger story of the recovery and reception of the poem and of perceptions of it over the past two hundred years, and of key issues in translation theory. Attention is also paid to prose translation and to the creative adaptations of the poem that have been produced in a variety of media, not least film.
The author looks in particular at four translations of arguably the most literary and historical importance: those by Edwin Morgan [1952], Burton Raffel [1963], Michael Alexander [1973] and SeamusHeaney [1999]. But, from an earlier period, he also gives a full account of William Morris’s strange 1898 version.

Hugh Magennis is Professor of Old English Literature at Queen’s University Belfast.

Table of Contents

Preface
Beowulf and Translation
Approaching the Poetry of Beowulf
Reception, Perceptions, and a Survey of Earlier Verse Translations of Beowulf
Edwin Morgan: Speaking to his Own Age
Burton Raffel: Mastering the Original to Leave It
Michael Alexander: Shadowing the Old English
Seamus Heaney: A Living Speech Raised to the Power of Verse
Other Post-1950 Verse Translations
Epilogue
Bibliography