Beowulf

Seamus Heaney's translation of "Beowulf" is a work that is both true to the original poem and an expression of something fundamental to Heaney's own creative gift. One of the great classics of European Literature, the poem is about encountering the monstrous, defeating it, being exhausted by it and then having to live on, physically and psychically exposed, in that exhausted aftermath. There are obvious parallels to be found in the history of the twentieth century and Heaney's "Beowulf" cannot fail to be read partly in the light of his Northern Irish upbringing. But it also transcends such considerations, revealing psychological and spiritual truths that are both permanent and liberating.