Robert Nye may not be a household name, but the story Beowulf has helped him become more recognizable after he transformed it into an easy-to-read form of Beowulf: A New Telling. Robert Nye is also a respected British author and poet; his other works include, Merlin, Falstaff, and Mrs. Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Beowulf: A New Telling is a short novel that tells the story of Beowulf in a similar but new way. With Nye’s simple but effective story, middle schoolers and ages up are able to get a basis of what Beowulf is about and learn about an epic hero in a different way. Robert Nye makes an old story accessible for most ages. Nye starts off the story with a boy named Scyld Scefing who becomes the mighty king of the Danes. When Scyld died, his son ruled and his son, Helfdene, ruled and had a son named Hrothgar. Hrothgar ruled and built a great hall called Heorot. One
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This is an eighth grade version of the original story which helps middle schoolers get a basis of what Beowulf is about. Robert Nye has the whole story laid out, so the reader does not have to interpret what something means like they do in Beowulf. For example, in Beowulf it say, “[Hrothgar’s] misery leaped the seas, was told and sung in all men’s ears” (Raffel lines 64-66), but in Beowulf: A New Telling, it says, “Hrothgar’s poets took the story of Grendel with them wherever they went” (Nye pg. 18). Raffel’s version, although it may not be hard to figure out for some people, can be very confusing for eighth graders when it says “leaped the sea” and “sung in all men’s ears”. The news did not actually leap, and nobodies’ ears were sung into; Raffel just used personification and a hyperbole to convey the message. Nye’s line is very easy to understand which makes it a great book for people who cannot fully comprehend Beowulf with all of its literary
This is an eighth grade version of the original story which helps middle schoolers get a basis of what Beowulf is about. Robert Nye has the whole story laid out, so the reader does not have to interpret what something means like they do in Beowulf. For example, in Beowulf it say, “[Hrothgar’s] misery leaped the seas, was told and sung in all men’s ears” (Raffel lines 64-66), but in Beowulf: A New Telling, it says, “Hrothgar’s poets took the story of Grendel with them wherever they went” (Nye pg. 18). Raffel’s version, although it may not be hard to figure out for some people, can be very confusing for eighth graders when it says “leaped the sea” and “sung in all men’s ears”. The news did not actually leap, and nobodies’ ears were sung into; Raffel just used personification and a hyperbole to convey the message. Nye’s line is very easy to understand which makes it a great book for people who cannot fully comprehend Beowulf with all of its literary