{"id":15414,"date":"2021-05-26T19:29:32","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T23:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=15414"},"modified":"2021-05-26T19:38:09","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T23:38:09","slug":"beowulf-a-new-translation-and-commentary-by-andrew-p-boynton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=15414","title":{"rendered":"‘Beowulf: A New Translation and Commentary,’ by Andrew P. Boynton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A lone Geatish widow   a death-wail\nbraided for Beowulf.   Bound hard, \nshe sang sorrowfully   of how she in full \ndreaded the dark days   that soon would come, \na flock of the slain,   the fear of the folk, \nthralldom and shame\u2026.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Andrew P. Boynton<\/strong> is a friend of mine on Facebook, so I may be prejudiced, but I was greatly impressed by his recently released Beowulf: A New Translation and Commentary.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boynton, unlike some modern translators who’ve opted for rhymed verse or prose, has taken up the challenge of recreating Old English alliterative poetry (very similar to Norse). Lee Hollander took the same approach to Eddic poems. This is difficult to do in modern English, which lacks the flexibility of diction the old languages possess. One way to increase your options is to employ obscure words (something Hollander did too). However, these words are explained here in the copious notes. Tolkien fans (and Tolkien\u2019s influence is a constant presence) will welcome the word \u201cmathom,\u201d though Boynton uses it to mean \u201ctreasure,\u201d which is not quite how Tolkien used it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I found Boynton\u2019s Beowulf<\/em> vigorous and enjoyable, though sometimes difficult to follow (the notes help). Seasoned fans of the poem will find it very satisfying. The Commentary seems to me (as an amateur) very good; the best modern scholarship is referenced, and Tolkien is there in abundance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I will make this one recommendation \u2013 the paper version is probably better for most readers. I got the ebook, and this particular work is awkward to use in that format. It\u2019s set up for facing pages \u2013 the translation on one side, the original Old English text on the other. That means the pages are tied to one another, so you can\u2019t adjust typeface size as in an ordinary Kindle book. The print was quite small for me, so I had some trouble reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Otherwise, I recommend Beowulf: A New Translation and Commentary.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A lone Geatish widow   a death-wail braided for Beowulf.   Bound hard, she sang sorrowfully   of how she in full dreaded the dark days   that soon would come, a flock of the slain,   the fear of the folk, thralldom and shame\u2026. Andrew P. Boynton is a friend of mine on Facebook, so I may be prejudiced, … Continue reading ‘Beowulf: A New Translation and Commentary,’ by Andrew P. Boynton<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11,15],"tags":[3721,302,3720],"class_list":["post-15414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","category-reviews","tag-andrew-p-boynton","tag-beowulf","tag-beowulf-a-new-translation-and-commentary"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15414"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15417,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15414\/revisions\/15417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}