Beowulf

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A tale to stir the blood - Rated
Beowulf was a Scandinavian prince and a hero of his people who went with a party of warriors to the aid of an old friend of his father in Denmark when the old man's kingdom was scourged by the monster, Grendel. He vanquished Grendel in a great hand-to-hand battle but, after feast and celebration, Grendel's mother attacked the king's hall and it seemed the grief would be renewed. Again Beowulf saved the day, tracking the monstrous demon-mother to her under-water lair and giving battle. Then he returned to his own people where he eventually became king and in his old age, when his own land was under attack by a ferocious dragon, he had to fight another super-human battle in which he was the mortally wounded victor.

This epic poem was written down about 1000 years ago in the old English (Anglo-Saxon) language by a monk of the Christian church who was recording events, already legend, that happened somewhere around the 600 AD. We should be grateful to that scribe for preserving some small segment of what might have become part of England's mythology if the new, middle-eastern religion had not swept the land and buried it in the first millennium. The poem is marbled with a strange mix of the old northern European culture and the religion of its documentor. There are many obvious small comments and references to the new, middle-eastern religion that the monk added as he wrote down the tale, presumably to make it palatable for or to claim it for Christianity. In any case, he made a fine job of it and the old culture shines through. And this translation by Benedict Flynn, read by Crawford Logan is wonderfully moving. I've read and enjoyed other translations but this is the one that has really stirred the emotions. Excellent. Highly recommended.