Seamus Heaney reads from Beowulf

Get down to the mead-hall and hear a marvelous reading by Seamus Heaney, (Episode 2, BBC Radio 4, iPlayer) from his translation of Beowulf (without harp).

Episode 1

Inspiring version, but I was surprised by Heaney's pronunciation of Geats. I would have expected something like "Gay-ats" or "Gé-ats" rather than "Geets".

More episodes to come

There seems to be some uncertainty.

If you prefer recitation in Anglo-Saxon, with harp, try Benjamin Bagby (YouTube).

More by Benjamin Bagby

Hwaet! Opening Lines

Dramatic stuff, but we can benefit from both approaches.

I once recorded 16,000 lines of Beowulf in my own "Anglo-Saxon" idiolect, on an old Telefunken reel-to-reel tape-recorder. I used to play it back at night, trying to memorise the epic, as a subliminal way of revision. It didn't work.

Sutton Hoo harp replica

Make your own lyre-harp