Date of Award
Spring 2007
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
English
First Advisor
Dr. Kathleen Hewett-Smith
Second Advisor
Dr. John Marx
Third Advisor
Dr. Louis Schwartz
Abstract
In 2000, Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney published a new translation of the early medieval epic, Beowulf The work was subsequently lauded as a masterpiece. Despite this ensuing surge of interest in Heaney's translation, very few scholars have undertaken the task of a critical analysis of the translation and none have assumed the task of a comparative analysis between the original text and Heaney's version. Most, it seems, have assumed that Heaney's translation is a faithful rendition of the original, and with good reason. Heaney maintains fidelity to the structure, stylistics, and meter of the original, as well as to its length. Yet as one begins to look more closely at both the translation and the Beowulf text, one realizes that Heaney' s translation diverges from the original in ways that seem to be unaccountable.
Recommended Citation
Bell, Jack Harding, "Word Oper Findan : Seamus Heaney and the translation of Beowulf" (2007). Honors Theses. 200.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/200