tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2410716623228444076.post4862823503896132631..comments2024-03-14T06:20:59.015+00:00Comments on The Notion Club Papers - an Inklings blog: Review of JRR Tolkien - Beowulf: a translation and commentaryBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2410716623228444076.post-56997789989204910102014-06-04T14:46:48.820+01:002014-06-04T14:46:48.820+01:00@dl - Maybe - but I have never yet responded deepl...@dl - Maybe - but I have never yet responded deeply to poetry in translation - and I have failed to learn Old English (I did try, for a few weeks). <br /><br />I shall have to stick with Middle English which I studied age 14-16, hence can read and pronounce reasonably well. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2410716623228444076.post-79249660739820379322014-06-02T19:31:00.220+01:002014-06-02T19:31:00.220+01:00I pity you- Beowulf is the real thing, about as re...I pity you- Beowulf is the real thing, about as real as it gets. Not as sophisticated as the Iliad, but about people and a spirit closer to us, and fully embracing of the heroic. Try the Donaldson prose translation- it reads more poetically than the poetic translations. <br /><br />Beowulf is possibly unique in that it is not explicitly Christian, but contains important Christian themes, reconciling the Christian and the heroic. Beowulf is the prototype of the Christian knight. <br /><br />The sense of loss and devastation you find in Beowulf and the short poems the Seafarer and the Wanderer could be simply pagan- in an environment of constant warfare ruined forts and halls would not be unusual- but the idea it comes from the departure of the Romans is interesting. I know the English think of themselves as Romans, or heirs of the Romans, to some extent but how much? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com