The Beowulf poet often uses alliteration, and both Heaney and Raffel include numerous instances of it in their translations. Many examples of alliteration used by the translators show in the scene where Grendel kills and eats one of the sleeping men as Beowulf waits to attack. Heaney’s version of this moment reads:
Mighty and canny,
Hygelac’s kinsman was keenly watching for the first move the monster would make.
Nor did the creature keep him waiting but struck suddenly and started in; he grabbed and mauled a man on his bench, bit into his bone-lappings, bolted down his blood and gorged on him in lumps, leaving the body utterly lifeless, eaten up hand and foot. (735-744)
Some notable examples of alliteration in this passage, though certainly not the only ones, include “Hygelac’s kinsman was keenly watching,” “struck suddenly and started in,” and “bit into his bone-lappings, bolted down his blood.” Heaney uses alliteration in nearly every line of this section, and it is …show more content…
morally; evil, abominable, foul,” while “drear,” or dreary, is “cruel, dire, horrid, grievous.” This paints an entirely different image in the reader’s head than Musa’s version does. The woods are no longer just threatening, but now evil, cruel, and horrid. As a result, Ciardi’s translation of this section has more of an effect because the description better explains the fear that Dante feels just by remembering the woods he woke up in. Beowulf also contains many instances where the text can be interpreted differently by the reader depending on which translation they’re reading. This is likely due to the fact that the Anglo-Saxon language offers many different choices for modern English translators to make in their interpretations. John D. Niles gives many examples of how this can cause
Mighty and canny,
Hygelac’s kinsman was keenly watching for the first move the monster would make.
Nor did the creature keep him waiting but struck suddenly and started in; he grabbed and mauled a man on his bench, bit into his bone-lappings, bolted down his blood and gorged on him in lumps, leaving the body utterly lifeless, eaten up hand and foot. (735-744)
Some notable examples of alliteration in this passage, though certainly not the only ones, include “Hygelac’s kinsman was keenly watching,” “struck suddenly and started in,” and “bit into his bone-lappings, bolted down his blood.” Heaney uses alliteration in nearly every line of this section, and it is …show more content…
morally; evil, abominable, foul,” while “drear,” or dreary, is “cruel, dire, horrid, grievous.” This paints an entirely different image in the reader’s head than Musa’s version does. The woods are no longer just threatening, but now evil, cruel, and horrid. As a result, Ciardi’s translation of this section has more of an effect because the description better explains the fear that Dante feels just by remembering the woods he woke up in. Beowulf also contains many instances where the text can be interpreted differently by the reader depending on which translation they’re reading. This is likely due to the fact that the Anglo-Saxon language offers many different choices for modern English translators to make in their interpretations. John D. Niles gives many examples of how this can cause