Within the classic format of book reviews typically this paper would begin with an explanation of who the author was, why and where the story was written, and which audience the story was intended for. Beowulf lacks all of this. There is no historic documentation of who the writer was. We can guess where it was written based on the language it envelops and the style of poem, but as to when, scholars and historians can only guess… even that has a lengthy span of between 650-1025 (xii). We can assume because of the alliteration and graphic depictions that sprawl the pages it was intended for a mature audience… probably a drunken one at that.
Beowulf is an adventure in the sincerest definition of the word. A graphic, violent, blood thirsty, superhero …show more content…
From his fierce eyes/ an evil light flared like two flames./ He saw the young men in the mead-hall, sleeping/ close together, a troop of kinfolk,/ and his heart laughed; before dawns light/ he intended to tear the life from each body/ and devour the flesh in a gruesome feast…(47-49)
When I begun to read the story, I had no prior knowledge of this text in a personally accountable way. I knew of the movies, and of the story itself, but I had on no occasion experienced it. I have never read a more descriptive bout of alliteration to the point that I could encase myself into the story. “From his fierce eyes an evil light flared like two flames.” (49) “…gnawed bones, drank blood gushing from veins, gorged and gobbets of flesh…”(49) The alliteration that is so prominent in the text makes it feel like a poem in the general sense, beyond the Epics of that …show more content…
Like the original author, our translator keeps true to the alliteration to retain the reader at pace with the story. For someone who is novice, this is a welcome takeaway instead of being quite literal with it. “To someone who has the music of the Old English text resounding in his ear, the disadvantage of this is all those pesky little prepositions and definite articles running around, trying to pull the lines into too regular a rhythm of anapests or dactyls.” (xxv)
Beyond the structure and sound, Beowulf tells a story in the fashion that reminds me of when Orson Welles accidently convinced a nation we were under attack from aliens. To hear the story of Beowulf in all its glory as an adolescent would surely put Grendel in the local forest, waiting for the evening to fall before he tromps through for his midnight snack. Description is the way this tale around the fire gets into your conscious. Vivid
Beowulf is an adventure in the sincerest definition of the word. A graphic, violent, blood thirsty, superhero …show more content…
From his fierce eyes/ an evil light flared like two flames./ He saw the young men in the mead-hall, sleeping/ close together, a troop of kinfolk,/ and his heart laughed; before dawns light/ he intended to tear the life from each body/ and devour the flesh in a gruesome feast…(47-49)
When I begun to read the story, I had no prior knowledge of this text in a personally accountable way. I knew of the movies, and of the story itself, but I had on no occasion experienced it. I have never read a more descriptive bout of alliteration to the point that I could encase myself into the story. “From his fierce eyes an evil light flared like two flames.” (49) “…gnawed bones, drank blood gushing from veins, gorged and gobbets of flesh…”(49) The alliteration that is so prominent in the text makes it feel like a poem in the general sense, beyond the Epics of that …show more content…
Like the original author, our translator keeps true to the alliteration to retain the reader at pace with the story. For someone who is novice, this is a welcome takeaway instead of being quite literal with it. “To someone who has the music of the Old English text resounding in his ear, the disadvantage of this is all those pesky little prepositions and definite articles running around, trying to pull the lines into too regular a rhythm of anapests or dactyls.” (xxv)
Beyond the structure and sound, Beowulf tells a story in the fashion that reminds me of when Orson Welles accidently convinced a nation we were under attack from aliens. To hear the story of Beowulf in all its glory as an adolescent would surely put Grendel in the local forest, waiting for the evening to fall before he tromps through for his midnight snack. Description is the way this tale around the fire gets into your conscious. Vivid