The text of this edition of Beowulf is based on the highly regarded Donaldson prose translation of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem.
Accurate and literally faithful, the Donaldson translation conveys the full meaning and spirit of the original.
"Backgrounds and Contexts" provides readers with the historical, linguistic, and literary settings of Beowulf, including Robert C. Hughes on the origins of the Old English language, E. Talbot Donaldson’s presentation of the major features of Old English poetry, new material on Beowulf’s tribes and genealogies, three maps, and a facsimile illustration of the manuscript.
"Criticism" collects seven new and wide-ranging interpretations of Beowulf by Fred C. Robinson, Roberta Frank, John D. Niles, Michael Lapidge, Joyce Hill, Helen Bennett, and Nicholas Howe.
A Glossary of Proper Names and a Selected Bibliography are included. Maps and illustrations
Nicholas Howe is Director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies and Professor of English at The Ohio State University. He is the author of The Old English Catalogue Poems: A Study in Poetic Form, Migration, and Mythmaking in Anglo-Saxon England, Writing the Map of Anglo-Saxon England, and of the forthcoming Yale Guide to Old English Literature.
E. Talbot Donaldson was Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at Indiana University. His books include Piers Plowman: The C-Text and Its Poets, Chaucer’s Poetry: An Anthology for the Modern Reader, and, with George Kane, the definitive edition of Piers Plowman: The B Version. He was a founding editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature.
