Beowulf

A Translation and Commentary

Fiction & Literature, Poetry, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Cover of the book Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkien, HMH Books
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Author: J.R.R. Tolkien ISBN: 9780544442795
Publisher: HMH Books Publication: May 22, 2014
Imprint: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Language: English
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
ISBN: 9780544442795
Publisher: HMH Books
Publication: May 22, 2014
Imprint: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Language: English

New York Times bestseller

“A thrill . . . Beowulf was Tolkien’s lodestar. Everything he did led up to or away from it.” —New Yorker

J.R.R. Tolkien completed his translation of Beowulf in 1926: he returned to it later to make hasty corrections, but seems never to have considered its publication. This edition includes an illuminating written commentary on the poem by the translator himself, drawn from a series of lectures he gave at Oxford in the 1930s.

His creative attention to detail in these lectures gives rise to a sense of the immediacy and clarity of his vision. It is as if Tolkien entered into the imagined past: standing beside Beowulf and his men shaking out their mail-shirts as they beach their ship on the coast of Denmark, listening to Beowulf’s rising anger at Unferth’s taunting, or looking up in amazement at Grendel’s terrible hand set under the roof of Heorot.

“Essential for students of the Old English poem—and the ideal gift for devotees of the One Ring.” —Kirkus

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

New York Times bestseller

“A thrill . . . Beowulf was Tolkien’s lodestar. Everything he did led up to or away from it.” —New Yorker

J.R.R. Tolkien completed his translation of Beowulf in 1926: he returned to it later to make hasty corrections, but seems never to have considered its publication. This edition includes an illuminating written commentary on the poem by the translator himself, drawn from a series of lectures he gave at Oxford in the 1930s.

His creative attention to detail in these lectures gives rise to a sense of the immediacy and clarity of his vision. It is as if Tolkien entered into the imagined past: standing beside Beowulf and his men shaking out their mail-shirts as they beach their ship on the coast of Denmark, listening to Beowulf’s rising anger at Unferth’s taunting, or looking up in amazement at Grendel’s terrible hand set under the roof of Heorot.

“Essential for students of the Old English poem—and the ideal gift for devotees of the One Ring.” —Kirkus

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