Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf

In 2000, Nobel-Prize-winning Irish poet Seamus Heaney published one of the most powerful translations of the poetic masterpiece of Anglo-Saxon England, Beowulf.  It is, in my experience, the translation that gives readers unfamiliar with the poem’s very old form of English (ca 850-950 CE) an experience miraculously close to reading the poem in its original language.  The poem itself is an astonishing performance, so don’t miss this opportunity to witness two master poets joining hands across more than a thousand years.  I hope to run a six-week course devoted exclusively to Heaney’s translation, which will take in as well the historical, cultural, theological and literary dimension of the Beowulf-poet’s early medieval moment.  Expressions of interest can be registered (without commitment at this stage) via the “Conact Us” link on the homepage