Beowulf: Summary and book reviews of Beowulf by Seamus Heaney, plus links to an excerpt from Beowulf and a biography of Seamus Heaney.

Composed toward the end of the first millennium of our era, Beowulf is the elegiac narrative of the adventures of Beowulf, a Scandinavian hero who saves the Danes from the seemingly invincible monster Grendel and, later, from Grendel's mother. He then returns to his own country and dies in old age in a vivid fight against a dragon. The poem is about encountering the monstrous, defeating it, and then having to live on in the exhausted aftermath. In the contours of this story, at once remote and uncannily familiar at the end of the twentieth century, Seamus Heaney finds a resonance that summons power to the poetry from deep beneath its surface. Drawn to what he has called the "four-squareness of the utterance" in Beowulf and its immense emotional credibility, Heaney gives these epic qualities new and convincing reality for the contemporary reader.

Media Reviews

The Independent (UK) - Blake Morrison Anglo-Saxon verse is celebrated for its alliterative riffs, its ringing and singing, and ... Heaney does it full justice ... Beneath the battledress, Beowulf is a peacemaker, a man who eases trouble. This fine translation is worth our trouble too.   Financial Times - Andrew Motion Heaney's introduction does everything it should to dust down and exhibit the poem, exploring its origins, investigating its form and establishing its structure ... Heaney has caught the balance of these things brilliantly; he has made a masterpiece out of a masterpiece.   The Guardian - James Wood Heaney has turn to Beowulf, and the result is magnificent, breathtaking ... Heaney has created something imperishable and great that is stainless - stainless, because its force as poetry makes it untouchable by the claw of literalism it lives singly, as an English language poem   The Observer (UK) - Michael Alexander The translation itself rides boldly through the reefs of scholarship ... Beowulf, an elegy for heroism and a critique of feud and fratricide, is alive and well.   Evening Standard - Claire Harman Heaney's excellent translation has the virtue of being both direct and sophisticated, making previous versions look slightly flowery and antique by comparison. His intelligence, fine ear and obvious love of the poem bring Beowulf alive as melancholy masterpiece, a complex Christian-pagan lament about duty, glory, loss and transience... Heaney has done it (and us) a great service.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by Tyler
Beowulf: A Deeper Look
This is a story that has withstood the test of time and has rightfully established itself as a work of literary art. Everyone can appreciate what Beowulf has gone through, and even if the movie is more exciting, it deserves everyone to give it a...   Read More

Rated of 5 by jane
adventure
Was a good adventure book. Gave me the chills thinking about the long adventure that they had went through. It was a hard time in it and they had gone through this adventure fighting monsters, Kings, and still live!

Rated of 5 by Miss America
I like totally read this book and watched the movie to it. And it was like really awesome and everything, you know. I just thought like wow! people could actually write in the 8th century. Reading Beowulf was like an etreme adventure into wherever...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Will
This is the greatest work of literature produced onto paper in the 8th century. Why would it not be one of the grandest adventure stories ever?

Rated of 5 by Sam Miller
Mythical heroes, demon-like monsters, omnipotent kings, and virulent feuds.

All of these qualities combined would seem to make an action-packed story line for a captivating novel; however, this is not the case in Beowulf, translated by...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Emily Jordan
I think that this was the best poem ever. please launch it on your website so i can read it over and over again.

...1 More Reader Reviews

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• Short Stories & Essays
  
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• Magical or Supernatural Elements