Beowulf: Then and Now
Instructor
Leona Dufour
leonadufour@aol.com
Co-host
Sue Kingsland
sue@midcoastseniorcollege.org
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Here are some links that I hope will deepen your enjoyment of Beowulf. The last two give ear to the sounds of Old English.
Article from medieval.eu: https://www.medieval.eu/beowulf-dated-to-ad-550/
Abstract of journal article: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/784075/pdf
Below are four links that will provide local color to the story of Modthryth.
- The first is a dual language edition of “The Wife’s Lament.”
- Other translation of the same poem.
- Another translation of the same poem.
- “The Husband’s Message,” translated by Michael Burch.
Burton Raffel’s version of the story of Modthryth whom he translates as Thrith:
…But Trith was too proud,
An imperious princess with a vicious tongue
And so fierce and wild that her father’s followers
Averted their eyes as she passed, knowing
That if anyone but their king watched where she walked
Her hands would shape a noose to fit
Their necks. She would lie, her father’s lieutenants
Would write out her warrants, and he who had stared
Would end his life on the edge of an ancient
Sword. And how great a sin for a woman
Whether fair or black, to create fear
And destruction, for a woman, who should walk in the ways
Of peace, to kill with pretended insults. ( ll 1931-1943)