The Best Translations of Beowulf (with excerpts!)

I’ve been asked many times for my opinion on the best translations of Beowulf, and here they are! Five interesting takes on the most famous Old English poem. Apologies for the background music, our neighbours decided to disrespect the sanctity of my filming environment and kept dragging a large sheet of corrugated metal across the pavement outside. I had to drown it out with ambiance. How many different ways can one woman pronounce Scyld’s name? Idk, but I’m gunning for the record! The Old English is Scyld Scēfing (Shild Shay-fing), and the Anglicised variants really threw me. Links (making sure living authors get royalties): Seamus Heaney’s ’Beowulf: A New Verse Translation’ [] Thomas Meyer’s ’Beowulf’ [] Maria Dahvana Headley’s ’Beowulf: A New Translation’ [] R. M. Liuzza’s ’Beowulf’ [=sr_1_1?crid=1QAM1AKVUDCBZ&keywords=Liuzza beowulf&qid=1674673465&s=books&sprefix=liuzza beowulf,stripbooks,138&sr=1-1] ’Klaeber’s Beowulf’ [=sr_1_1?crid=217E704T546ZI&keywords=klaeber’s beowulf&qid=1674673510&s=books&sprefix=klaeber s beowulf,stripbooks,109&sr=1-1] Music is Suonatore de Liuto by Kevin MacLeod. #oldenglish #beowulf #booktube #englishliterature #anglosaxon #gradschool #medievalenglish