Beowulf: A New Verse Rendering

“Hear the song of spear-Danes from sunken years, Kings had courage then, the kings of all tribes, We have heard their heroics, we hold them in memory.” So begins a dark, but sturdy epic full of warriors, dragons, monsters of the deep, mead halls, and mounds of treasure. Beowulf is the great Norse epic poem, and one of the great inspirations for J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. In this bold and truly innovative translation, Douglas Wilson reproduces the alliteration and stresses of the original, though being more dynamic with particular wording. This is without question the most musical translation of Beowulf, one which many readers will return to again and again if they wish to get an idea of the feel of the original Anglo-Saxon.