Beowulf

Okay, lads. What's the best Beowulf translation? I'm trying to decide between Tolkien and Seamus Heaney.

Gardner's 'Grendel'

Only kidding. But you may treat it as a prequel. That book, Sunny Day Real Estate, and puberty were my candid introduction to existentialism. It's engaging to read and leaves you with a Romantic pit in your essential nothingness. I highly recommend it.

As for the Beowulf translation, go with Seamus. The edition we read in AP Lit was by him and it included the original text side by side the translation. Tolkien writes fantasy, I wouldn't suggest it for your first experience with Beowulf.

Watch the CGI movie, when you get the chance. You'll find that it boosts testosterone.

>not learning Old English
leáfa

Do you know of any 100+ yr old translations? I find they're almost always better

>Hundred year old translations are better
This is never the case.

what's your favorite sdre album?

Seriously, how good is Tolkien's translation? Is it leather-bound worthy like Hobbit and the Rings?

What on earth would he use it for? Unless user is going into anthro or linguistics, it seems like a useless skill. Latin or even Greek would be more practical because at least these tie into other disciplines.

Frederick Klæber's translation was begun in 1893 and published in 1922. It was the standard in schools for many years before Heaney. It has undergone edition updates up to today. The best solution is always to read all of them. A student today will enterpret the text differently than a student today.

Don't really have a favorite. To me it's mostly background music these days. Diary had a shaping influence on me during more impressionable years, so I'm partial to that one. One of the songs is 'Grendel', and me being a kid who reads a lot, it became my summer anthem for a year or two.

i'm just gonna pretend you said lp2

>This is never the case

>unironically reading beowulf

I'm sorry, but Tolkien's really isn't as good as Heaney's. I get the want of his to be great, he's already a giant and this adds to his stature in a way that a lot of fantasy scoffers can't deny. Still his is limp and sterile compared to Heaney's, despite his obvious talent and love for the work.

Beowulf is comparable to The Illiad in cultural importance by now.

Were you the one that talked to me about it in my thread about it bumming me out?

>Beowulf is comparable to The Illiad in cultural importance by now.
Quit posting, there is no coming back from that.

It is, regardless of how much you hate it. Fantasy is a huge force in contemporary culture and nearly all of it stems from the idea of the medieval epic and Beowulf.

Klæber is very good, as is Heaney. Tolkien is all right. I like John Porter's literal translation, but it's not for everyone.

>Beowulf is comparable to The Illiad in cultural importance by now
Oh fuck.......... wait a moment.............
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

Read Ariosto and Tasso instead of your shitty Anglo works that fill you with nationalist pride. Once you've completed the Orlando Furioso and the Gerusalemme Liberata you will get why Beowulf is garbage.

>nationalist
But I'm not British?
>you will get why Beowulf is garbage
This is a silly position about a brilliant work. Regardless of your problems with me or English-speaker's ignorance of continentals poetic contributions. I was more interested in Cantar Di Mio Cid as being way into to Chivalric poems, but I may switch to Orlando if you think its better.

IIRC Tolkien is prose and hasn't received that much praise. Tolkien himself didn't find it worthy of publishing. I've also heard occasional critiques of Heany (uses too "casual", modern language here and there), but he's the better choice in this case.

>Beowulf is comparable to The Illiad in cultural importance by now.
It absolutely isn't, you delusional anglo.

beowulf may or may not be heavily influenced by the aeneid

...

The Germanic equivalent to the Iliad would be either the Eddas or the Nibelungenlied.

>Beowulf defeats Grendel through trickery
The 'Eternal Anglo' is NOT a meme