Review: Beowulf

Beowulf by Unknown
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A quick and enjoyable read. I can't comment on Heaney's transation compared to the original as I haven't read it, but I did find myself thinking of 'Farmer Giles of Ham' during the latter part of the book when Beowulf is fighting the dragon who is plaguing the land, I'm sure Tolkien was inspired by this tale; as he himself wrote about Beowulf. I have also read John Gardner's 'Grendel', a retelling of Beowulf from the perspective of the monster Grendel which was fantastic, so was vaguely familiar with the plot.

It was worth reading the introduction afterwards as well (I always avoid introductions before reading the text like the plague) it set the story in a historical setting, addressing themes which permeate the text such as the onset of Christianity, the dragon, the changing worth of gold, the history of the text itself.

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