Journal // 22nd July 2024

On this day I…

So, it’s been a minute since we last spoke.

How’ve you been?

Since my last post on Wednesday, I’ve developed a new obsession. Frankly, it’s one that I should have had years ago but just never got around to it.

Beyond that, everything else has been much the same. Working at the bar and not getting home until 2 am (Though Saturday's shift was a private hire so I didn’t get home until 3:30 am), which exacerbated the issues I have with working late.

Anyway…

The new obsession.

- BEOWULF -

Beowulf is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature - Wikipedia.

The manuscript depicted was written around 975 and 1025 AD, and the story itself was passed on verbally, as was the way back then, and we think that the poem itself was created in the 5th or 6th century.

This now sits in the British Library and is the oldest known work of epic poem in the English language (Anglo-Saxon).

I bought a copy of J. R. R. Tolkien’s translation of the poem many years ago, I can’t remember when exactly but the intent was to read it. I didn’t.

Weird to think that this manuscript is older than the Magna Carta. Also at the British Library.

“Hwæt! We Gar-Dena in gear-dagum, þeod-cyninga, þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon!”

That brings us to now. I have been recently reading books while also listening to them via Audible. This, just works for me, as I can get through lots of books in a shorter space of time.

You might be thinking that it’s cheating. Okay, maybe it is. But as I can retain the information after reading I see it as a different tool. I’d rather spend 10 minutes reading a book like this to then discover that it’s shit than waste 30 minutes doing the same with just an Eyes On read.

Tolkien’s translation of Beowulf is, however, not in Audible’s library of books. So I bought the Penguin Classic version which is.

It’s a relatively short read, only taking a few hours and then you get the introduction. Yes, the introduction is after the poem. Because it gives away a lot of the story, they put it after so as not to spoil it. I’m sure Stephen King would hate that.

The introduction is another one-hour read/listen and I have listened to it all week. Over and over.

Now, since this has become a new obsession I have, naturally, bought more on the subject. Other translations of the poem, one with a side-by-side comparison of the Old English and the New English. Another by Seamus Heaney.

I have recently found out that Heaney and Tolkien are the two most regarded translations.

So, I’ll be spending some time reading, rereading, studying, and studying studies of Beowulf.

Also, given the cultural significance of the work, I have to wonder why we were not taught about Beowulf in English class in school.

I’m a Professional Photographer who dabbles in Writing and Documentary Film Making.

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