Book 67: Beowulf

NUMBER: 67
TITLE: Beowulf
AUTHOR: Seamus Heaney (translator)
STARTED: September 26, 2005
FINISHED: October 9, 2005
PAGES: 213
GENRE: Literature

FIRST SENTENCE: The poem called Beowulf was composed sometime between the middle of the seventh and the end of the tenth century of the first millennium, in the language that is to-day called Anglo-Saxon or Old English. [From the introduction]

SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] 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 beginning of the twenty-first 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.

REASON FOR READING: Assigned in ENG 205: The Literature of Fantasy

THOUGHTS: This was one of the better class reads I've been assigned. I was not in love with the story, nor did I hate it. It was just there for me. Beowulf, as a character, did not pull me in any direction. For me, the poem lacked a depth and complexity that I need to care about it. There was a massive debate in my class whether Beowulf was cocky or magnanimous. I could have cared less either way. I thought the character was appropriate in the situation.

For me, the strength of the epic was Grendel's mother. I saw her as a monster with human emotions.

MISCELLANEOUS: Chain mail is cool.

KEEP/SHARE/CRINGE(?): Selling back.
RATING: 6/10 [Good]

CR: "We're a peaceful nation" by Brigitte Mral
RN: Munitions of the Mind by Philip M. Taylor