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A brilliant and faithful rendering of the Anglo-Saxon epic from the Nobel laureate.

"Alexander's translation is marked by a conviction that it is possible to be both ambitious and faithful and] ...communicates the poem with a care which goes beyond fidelity-to-meaning and reaches fidelity of implication. May it go on ... to another half-million copies." - Tom... Read Full Overview

One of the most universally studied of the English classics, Beowulf is considered the finest heroic poem in Old English. Written ten centuries ago, it celebrates the character and exploits of Beowulf, a young nobleman of the Geats, a people of southern Sweden.
Beowulf first... Read Full Overview

This early Anglo-Saxon poem tells the epic tale of a young Scandinavian swordsman as he saves cities, and kills dragons.Records of this work survived into the modern age from as long ago as the early 800's AD. It is one of the first written stories in the English language. The... Read Full Overview

"Alexander's translation is marked by a conviction that it is possible to be both ambitious and faithful and] ...communicates the poem with a care which goes beyond fidelity-to-meaning and reaches fidelity of implication. May it go on ... to another half-million copies."... Read Full Overview

The finest literary work passed down to us from Anglo-Saxon times, Beowulf celebrates the existence of heroism in a dark world of feuds, violence, and uncertainty. Set in the legendary Scandinavian past, Beowulf comes to the aid of the Danish king Hrothgar by killing the terrifying... Read Full Overview

The translation that "rides boldly through the reefs of scholarship" (The Observer) is combined with first-rate annotation. No reading knowledge of Old English is assumed. Heaney's clear and insightful introduction to Beowulf provides students with an understanding of both the... Read Full Overview

"Alexander's translation is marked by a conviction that it is possible to be both ambitious and faithful [and] ...communicates the poem with a care which goes beyond fidelity-to-meaning and reaches fidelity of implication. May it go on ... to another half-million copies."... Read Full Overview

A widely celebrated translator's vivid, accessible, and elegantly concise rendering of an ancient English masterpiece