Beowulf (Signet Classics) Mass Market Paperback – June 3, 2008

I wish I had read this book 50 years ago. Wonderful, masculine, heroic book. Great & understandable translation. According to my research, this is the best translation of this classic book.

The media could not be loaded. This copy was a simple basic copy perfect for school. I can remember reading Beowulf as a high school student. I bought this copy for my brother who is now studying this classic epic poem. This book brought so much joy to me, and I have thought of it often over the years . It is a hard read, but well worth the effort. So much of the human condition, and the comparison of good and evil, is in this classic.

I first read Beowulf, as did countless high schoolers over the years, in my senior English class; the experience was less than memorable, due in part to my teacher's insistence on using an Old English text. When I entered college the most vivid imagery I still had was of Grendel entering the mead hall and tearing the diners limb from limb.Had I been able to also read the text in modern English in that senior class, I would have been well-prepared to tackle the OE with a deeper understanding of how this great work acts as a foundational text for all British literature from Chaucer to the Renaissance and beyond.Burton Raffel's clear translation allows the reader to establish a connection to the allegorical and mythological constructs without having to resort to a "Beowulf for Dummies," just to get a passing grade. I am using this book in a graduate class in Horror Text and Theory, and though I am now able to read the OE with more fluency, the accessibility of this translation situates the text in a more viable position for discussion and critical analysis in an arena populated with 20th and 21st century horror. I would recommend Raffel's Beowulf to anyone as their entree into Old English Lit.; to be read along side the original text. It takes the "horror" out of ready Horror.

A nice little copy!

I haven’t been able to read Beowulf yet but I did receive the book so I’ll rate it off of that. The way the cover was printed is a bit weird and unsymmetrical but nevertheless it came in pretty good condition. It is a bit scuffed but it’s nothing I don’t mind.

This tale isn't (really) about monsters and demons. It's about Danes and Swedes (who knew?) and Goths ('Geats') in multi-national half-pagan / half-Christian Britain.

I needed this book for school and it came in great condition. Nothing was damaged and it was a pretty good read.

Raffel's translation is the most readable, easiest to understand, and most honest translation available. I do not begrudge Seamus Heaney his poetry, but I find that Beowulf has already had to undergo glosses of other types in its recordings without further flowery alterations being performed on the text. The original composition/song would have been understandable and engaging for any of the warriors, villagers, or foreign guests of the Anglo-Saxon tribes: it should be equally as accessible to modern high school students and twenty-somethings. Raffel achieves this, and this translation is a steal while it remains available. If you are interested in Heaney's version of Beowulf, spend the extra money: but know that you are buying Heaney, not Beowulf.