Please consider looking some day at The Heliand, an 9th c. Old Saxon paraphrase of the Gospels into one contiguous story, with a mind towards making Christ more 'palatable' to a Northern pagan warrior culture. I have taught it numerous times as a lead-in to a course on the Icelandic Sagas, esp. Njal's Saga, which records that nation's conversion to Christ in 1000 A.D.--Heidi's mentioning that Christianization was not an overnight thing is very evident in Njal's Saga, but The Heliand(trans. by Fr. Ronald Murphy, S.J.) provides many interesting inculturating attempts by its author: the Christmas shepherds are horse-guards, the Apostles follow the Great Chieftain Christ as a warrior band sworn like Beowulf's men to Beowulf; Peter is slightly better as a sword wielder at Gethsemane; the concept of 'truuea'(unflinching loyalty) is put the test, but Peter's failure is not hidden to win listener-points. Very useful when reading Beowulf. Very enjoyable and provides an insight on the lengths our ancestors in the Faith went to win the hearts and minds--imaginatively yet without compromise--of our pagan ancestors.
The Heliand is a great read! Christ and the apostles as an Anglo-Saxon comitatus/war band is one of my favorite images from the literature of that period.
I laughed out loud when David said Please don’t unsubscribe because we’re doing Beowulf! This is exactly why I’m a subscriber 🙌🏻 I struggled to understand all that was happening in the story, it’s my first time reading Beowulf, but I still enjoyed the language and because it’s so short I’m rereading it to grasp more!
David, you guys mentioned so many books here that I want to add to my shelf. Is it possible for you to link a few for us? I’m wanting to add your top 2 favorite children’s versions, another favorite translation for anyone, and the essay one Sean mentioned at the end. Thanks!
I am reading the William Ellery Leonard translation because it is what’s at hand. In the introduction, he says that any reference to Christians or Christianity were added by monks so the poem could be preserved in the monasteries, so these references should be removed.
It means that, he believes that Christian elements were not original to the poem but were only added by the monks in order to preserve the poem. So references to Christianity should be removed because they were not part of
I am so excited for this series! Would you mind repeating the children’s versions you like? We are studying from the Fall of the Roman Empire through the Middle Ages next year and I would love good recommendations (my children will be 13 down to 8 then and are not quite ready for the full text, but it might tempt my boys to read the full translation).
Also, Sean have you ever watched the Star Trek Voyager Beowulf episode? I have always been partial to literary Star Trek holodeck episodes, and that one is a particular favorite of mine.
Morpugo is also the one Heidi said she had read to her kids. Sean also mentioned one by James Rumford that he said has great illustrations, and also one by Rosemary Sutcliffe.
This was a great episode. I am so excited about this series. I have taught Beowulf for five years now, but there is always so much more to learn. I was thinking about what Heidi said about his boasts. Something that helps me with Beowulf's boasting to Unferth is to consider it in terms of the type-scene. I think it is Chickering who identified the challenge from a retainer as a type-scene in Old English. The hero arrives and a retainer will challenge him, he has the right to answer and even the right to be what may seem "rude" in answering, and eventually the retainer acknowledged the hero's value and offers him a gift. In this case, Unferth essentially slanders Beowulf by telling a false version of the Breca swimming match, and so Beowulf has the right to answer this slander firmly. He is affirmed by Hrothgar and Unferth does eventually admit his superiority and offer him a sword. I think it also helps that Unferth has the sin of Cain on him (like Grendel!). Unferth has been involved on a kin-slaying, which makes him suspect. I am looking forward to hopefully hearing you all talk about the idea of the sin of Cain in Beowulf. It is such a controlling idea, and seems more important to the Beowulf poet than the idea of Original Sin on the Garden. Or perhaps he sees it as emblematic of original sin? I ordered the Tolkien, so I don't know yet if he stresses it as much as Heaney's translation.
The only children's version I know is the one by Ian Serrailier and I absolutely love it: the illustrations, the alliteration, all of it. But he doesn't translate "Hwaet!", which never bothered me until this moment!
Thank you very much for this wonderful discussion. I am an English teacher at a charter school, and when I teach this poem to my 12th grade students (who are neither Anglo, nor Saxon, but 99% Latino or African American),, I assign the students to compare and respond to different translations and journal about their personal responses and which one they connect to the most. The translations that I use include the traditional one by Burton Raffel, which is in their assigned textbook, the Seamus Heaney translation you discussed, and selections from a very recent translation by a woman named Maria D. Headley, which is extremely contemporary and slangy in its word choice. (For example, in her translation of the first word "Hwaet", instead of using "Lo" or "So," she starts with "Bro!") Thank you again, and I look forward to learning more about the Tolkien translation
I need to put in a plug for my personal favorite version of Beowulf: "Bea Wolf" by Zachary Weinersmith. My kids have listened to Beowulf enough times that this alliterative graphic novel adaptation involving gangs of kids and a great tree house was a tremendous hit.
Please consider looking some day at The Heliand, an 9th c. Old Saxon paraphrase of the Gospels into one contiguous story, with a mind towards making Christ more 'palatable' to a Northern pagan warrior culture. I have taught it numerous times as a lead-in to a course on the Icelandic Sagas, esp. Njal's Saga, which records that nation's conversion to Christ in 1000 A.D.--Heidi's mentioning that Christianization was not an overnight thing is very evident in Njal's Saga, but The Heliand(trans. by Fr. Ronald Murphy, S.J.) provides many interesting inculturating attempts by its author: the Christmas shepherds are horse-guards, the Apostles follow the Great Chieftain Christ as a warrior band sworn like Beowulf's men to Beowulf; Peter is slightly better as a sword wielder at Gethsemane; the concept of 'truuea'(unflinching loyalty) is put the test, but Peter's failure is not hidden to win listener-points. Very useful when reading Beowulf. Very enjoyable and provides an insight on the lengths our ancestors in the Faith went to win the hearts and minds--imaginatively yet without compromise--of our pagan ancestors.
The Heliand is a great read! Christ and the apostles as an Anglo-Saxon comitatus/war band is one of my favorite images from the literature of that period.
I laughed out loud when David said Please don’t unsubscribe because we’re doing Beowulf! This is exactly why I’m a subscriber 🙌🏻 I struggled to understand all that was happening in the story, it’s my first time reading Beowulf, but I still enjoyed the language and because it’s so short I’m rereading it to grasp more!
David, you guys mentioned so many books here that I want to add to my shelf. Is it possible for you to link a few for us? I’m wanting to add your top 2 favorite children’s versions, another favorite translation for anyone, and the essay one Sean mentioned at the end. Thanks!
I am reading the William Ellery Leonard translation because it is what’s at hand. In the introduction, he says that any reference to Christians or Christianity were added by monks so the poem could be preserved in the monasteries, so these references should be removed.
It means that, he believes that Christian elements were not original to the poem but were only added by the monks in order to preserve the poem. So references to Christianity should be removed because they were not part of
the original.
Well given that most scholars now believe the original poet was an actual Christian monk that seems unlikely.
What does that mean?
I am so excited for this series! Would you mind repeating the children’s versions you like? We are studying from the Fall of the Roman Empire through the Middle Ages next year and I would love good recommendations (my children will be 13 down to 8 then and are not quite ready for the full text, but it might tempt my boys to read the full translation).
Also, Sean have you ever watched the Star Trek Voyager Beowulf episode? I have always been partial to literary Star Trek holodeck episodes, and that one is a particular favorite of mine.
Thanks!!
Morpugo is also the one Heidi said she had read to her kids. Sean also mentioned one by James Rumford that he said has great illustrations, and also one by Rosemary Sutcliffe.
The one I have read is the Michael Morpugo version.
This was a great episode. I am so excited about this series. I have taught Beowulf for five years now, but there is always so much more to learn. I was thinking about what Heidi said about his boasts. Something that helps me with Beowulf's boasting to Unferth is to consider it in terms of the type-scene. I think it is Chickering who identified the challenge from a retainer as a type-scene in Old English. The hero arrives and a retainer will challenge him, he has the right to answer and even the right to be what may seem "rude" in answering, and eventually the retainer acknowledged the hero's value and offers him a gift. In this case, Unferth essentially slanders Beowulf by telling a false version of the Breca swimming match, and so Beowulf has the right to answer this slander firmly. He is affirmed by Hrothgar and Unferth does eventually admit his superiority and offer him a sword. I think it also helps that Unferth has the sin of Cain on him (like Grendel!). Unferth has been involved on a kin-slaying, which makes him suspect. I am looking forward to hopefully hearing you all talk about the idea of the sin of Cain in Beowulf. It is such a controlling idea, and seems more important to the Beowulf poet than the idea of Original Sin on the Garden. Or perhaps he sees it as emblematic of original sin? I ordered the Tolkien, so I don't know yet if he stresses it as much as Heaney's translation.
(I learned this type scene from Chickering's commentary, but he is likely drawing on other scholarship--just to clarify).
The whole discussion of the intersection between pagan and Christian made me think of Kristin Lavransdatter.
Yes, me too!
Me too Megan!
The only children's version I know is the one by Ian Serrailier and I absolutely love it: the illustrations, the alliteration, all of it. But he doesn't translate "Hwaet!", which never bothered me until this moment!
Thank you very much for this wonderful discussion. I am an English teacher at a charter school, and when I teach this poem to my 12th grade students (who are neither Anglo, nor Saxon, but 99% Latino or African American),, I assign the students to compare and respond to different translations and journal about their personal responses and which one they connect to the most. The translations that I use include the traditional one by Burton Raffel, which is in their assigned textbook, the Seamus Heaney translation you discussed, and selections from a very recent translation by a woman named Maria D. Headley, which is extremely contemporary and slangy in its word choice. (For example, in her translation of the first word "Hwaet", instead of using "Lo" or "So," she starts with "Bro!") Thank you again, and I look forward to learning more about the Tolkien translation
I've read the Headley one. I can see where it would work well for high-schoolers.
This was amazing! Can’t wait for more!
I need to put in a plug for my personal favorite version of Beowulf: "Bea Wolf" by Zachary Weinersmith. My kids have listened to Beowulf enough times that this alliterative graphic novel adaptation involving gangs of kids and a great tree house was a tremendous hit.