“The more the poem is read, the less it is read except in translation” — John D. Niles, Rewriting Beowulf: The Task of Translation

Beowulf has been translated and adapted many times (you will find a handy comparison of various translations here). I believe this stems from the impossibility of producing a perfect translation—a translation that would both preserve the form (alliterative verse) and produce a text whose meaning is clear to modern readers (is the text even designed to be read silently?). This produces many compromises, as well as axes of freedom, for the translator (see John D. Niles’s excellent Rewriting Beowulf: The Task of Translation for a discussion on the topic).

The following is a list of takes on the text that I find of personal interest:

• Beowulf: The Epic in Performance, voice and medieval harp by Benjamin Bagby This is a telling of the first half of the poem in Old English, accompanied with an Anglo-Saxon Lyre, and English subtitles. While I regret the omission of the ending, which might have made the story unbearibly long, it is a fantastic way to get first acquainted with the poem and its atmosphere.

• Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney This has become the de facto classic translation of Beowulf by which all others are weighed (which does not mean that it is without strong idiosyncrasies).

• Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary by J.R.R. Tolkien As someone who does not read Old English, I found Tolkien’s commentary particularly insightful as to the various meanings and implications that can be found in the words of the original (and, with them, the compromise inherent to the translation). I also like his Sellic Spell, an attempt at building a Norse folktale that could have evolved into the Beowulf we got.

• Beowulf by Meghan Purvis This is poetry. Splitting Beowulf into different stories and voices, breathing a lot of life and humanity into the text while highlighting its parts (see also her essay on translating Beowulf, as well as her PhD dissertation on the translation process).

• Beowulf: The Script Book by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary This contains two versions (the original as well as the one actually used for the movie) of the screenplay Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary wrote for the 2007 Beowulf movie. I particularly like the first version, which manages to be faithful to Beowulf while being entertaining and having its very own (very horny) voice. One notable element is that they introduced the idea of Beowulf being the father of the dragon, and lying about slaying Grendel’s mother, as a powerful dramatic engine to get to the final third of the story.

• Grendel by John Gardner This tells the tale from Grendel’s perspective, following the establishment of Hrothgar’s kingdom followed by the 12 year of war Grendel imposed on them. An interesting take on what is essentially a few paragraphs in the original poem. Here Grendel is an existentialist in search for meaning who sees civilization establish itself by weaving stories after the fact on top of meaningless actions. While the book is full of character getting into pompous monologues, there are interesting ideas on what might have been, on the power of story-telling, and pleasant ressonance with the original text.

• Bea wolf by Zach Weinersmith and Boulet This is very much Beowulf meets Craig of the Creek. It is not my vision of the text but, still, it is a lot of (alliteration rich!) fun.