Beowulf

Marc Hudson

Summary

Beowulf is the longest surviving poem of Anglo-Saxon England. Beowulf, a young warrior of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, king of the Danes, in his time of need. He first fights the hellish Grendel, then struggles with Grendel's no less fearsome mother in her hall beneath the cold waters of the mere. More than fifty years later Beowulf, now king of the Geats, must face his final challenge in the shape of a huge and terrifying dragon.
 

 

 
 
But Beowulf is not just an adventure story. Other tales of war, feuding, and loss in less mythical worlds are interwoven with the main plot in such a way as to force readers to ask questions about the heroic code; equally thought-provoking are the juxtaposition of virtuous and vicious characters, the presence of some women who are helpless victims and others who exert a strong influence on men, and above all the fact that the characters are pagan while the poet is clearly (though not insistently) Christian.
 

 

 
 
Marc Hudson's thoughtful modern English version combines readability with detailed attention to both the spirit and the meaning of the original poem.

Available since: 05/01/2015.

Poetry & Theatre

Other books that might interest you

The Strength In Our Scars

Bianca Sparacino

The Strength In Our Scars is Bianca Sparacino's reminder to you: No matter what you're going through, no matter where you are on your healing journey—you are strong.Through poetry, prose, and the compassionate encouragement you would expect from someone who knows exactly what you're working through, Sparacino is here with the words you need. The Strength In Our Scars tackles the gut-wrenching but relatable experiences of moving on, self-love, and ultimately learning to heal. In this book you will find peace, you will find a rock, you will find understanding, and you will find hope.Remember: Whatever is dark within you has also carved light into your soul. Whatever is lost within you has also brought you back home to yourself. Whatever is hurt within you is also healing you in ways you may not understand at that moment in time. This book hopes to show you that.

Show book

The Midnight Court - And Other...

Frank O'Connor

Irish literary heavyweight Frank O’Connor translates the ribald and raucous Gaelic masterpiece in a work originally banned by the Irish government.  As a teacher and translator of Irish verse, Frank O’Connor brought to the world’s attention many fine poems from his native land, few as enduring—and none as controversial—as Brian Merriman’s The Midnight Court. An eighteenth-century masterpiece widely recognized as the greatest comic poem in Irish literature, The Midnight Court is a hilarious and insightful take on the battle of the sexes. In the court of a fairy queen, the men and women of Ireland air their grievances with one another. The competing lists of complaints are as long as they are uproarious, and when the queen rules in favor of the women, all young Irish bachelors are doomed to a terrible fate: marriage.The Midnight Court has now taken its rightful place in the Irish literary canon, but when O’Connor’s English translation was first published in 1945, the Irish government banned it as obscene. In a delicious irony that might have been lifted from one of O’Connor’s short stories, the Gaelic original met with no censure. Here, as it first appeared, is Frank O’Connor’s faithful, funny, and eloquent translation of one of the most important works in Irish literature.

Show book

My Visits with MGM

Edit Villarreal

A wistful look back at a young Hispanic woman’s “MGM” which stands for “My Grandmama”. The narrator often channels “MGM” for advice as she tries to succeed as a second-generation American.An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Yolanda Lloyd, Tony Plana, Rose Portillo, Ruben Sierra and Renee Victor.Directed by Peggy Shannon. Recorded before a live audience in June, 1992.

Show book

Slow States of Collapse

Ashley-Elizabeth Best

In her debut collection, Ashley-Elizabeth Best explores the cultivation of resilience during uncertain and often trying times. It’s a book built around day-to-day conflicts — poems about love, family, grief, power, and longing. Navigating the fault lines of popular culture and traditional poetry to assert that we are all history makers, Slow States of Collapse enters the landscape of personal narrative in an attempt to reconcile life’s little universal griefs.
 
Slow States of Collapse presents a world that is at once both menacing and full of wonder and grace. It’s a poetry of “casual cruelty” and “kisses like / puncture wounds,” of “something too tender to touch” and “the threat of an intense beauty.” In this collection, illness confronts bedside manners while a migrant restlessness also paints remarkable portraits of shifting self-image, and in the process the nature of personal and political power is reimagined.

Show book

African American Women Poets...

Phyllis Wheatley

Race and gender have denied many their rightful place in the canon of humanity’s arts. 
 
In today’s world, in the blink of an electronic pulse, words can be transported across continents and peoples and all too easily lost in the ever-growing mass of disposable culture of ‘me-me-me’ and ‘more- more-more’.  We can all be ‘woke’ be ‘politically correct’ be outraged at a transgression or even a slight.  Everything means something to someone.  
 
But, once again, more modern times miss the reality of what others in previous generations suffered in the battle for equality and recognition.  In America, to be black and a woman over the years this volume covers, was to be chattel, to be bartered, sold, trafficked and used for no more than the whims of others. 
 
It was a harsh reality, and yet…., and yet, these women produced verse that sears our souls with the ambition to tell others, to share with us all, what life was like, what was endured and the heartbreak of what their reality was.  They could not be overcome; their voice sought to endure and not be smothered.   
 
Words are powerful weapons, they form ideas, they create movements and manifestos that can change the world.  Many of the women in this volume added to those words, to that desire that the words of their Constitution would someday include themselves.   The fight is not yet wholly won, prejudice and inequality still single them out but the flame of hope, of destiny continues to burn fiercely with their names.   
 
Their poetry is not solely of protest but rich in a range of subjects embracing tenderness, love, family and includes works by Alice Dunbar Nelson, Frances W Harper, Phyllis Wheatley, Zora Neale Hurston, Esther Popel, Clarissa Scott Delany and many others whose voice voices call to us through the years. 
 
01 - African American Women Poets from 1746 to the Harlem Renaissance - An Introduction 
02 - Bars Fight by Lucy Terry 
03 - On Virtue by Phyllis Wheatley 
04 - To a Lady and Her Children on the Death of Her Son and Their Brother by Phyllis Wheatley 
05 - An Hymn to the Morning by Phyllis Wheatley 
06 - An Hymn to the Evening by Phyllis Wheatley 
07 - Bury Me in a Free Land by Frances E W Harper 
08 - My Mother's Kiss by Frances E W Harper 
09 - The Slave Trade Girl's Address to Her Mother by Sarah Louisa Forten 
10 - Burial of Sarah by Frances E W Harper 
11 - Reflections, Written On Visiting the Grave of a Venerated Friend by Ann Plato 
12 - The Natives of America by Ann Plato 
13 - The Angel's Visit by Charlotte L Forten Grimke 
14 - Disappointment by May E Tucker 
15 - Light In Darkness by Mary E Tucker 
16 - Hope by Mary E Tucker 
17 - Drifts That Bar My Door by Adah Isaacs Menken 
18 - Infelix by Adah Isaacs Menken 
19 - Aspiration by Adah Isaacs Menken 
20 - The Coming Woman by Mary Weston Fordham 
21 - In Memorium. Alphonse Campbell Fordham by Mary Weston Fordham 
22 - Aspiration by Henrietta Cordelia Ray 
23 - Life by Henrietta Cordelia Ray 
24 - Scraps of Time by Charlotte E Linden 
25 - Brave Man and Brave Woman by Charlotte E Linden 
26 - What Constitutes A Negro by Eva Carter Buckner 
27 - Thine Own by Josephine Delphine Henderson Heard 
28 - The Black Sampson by Josephine Delphine Henderson Heard 
29 - The Singer and the Song (To Paul Laurence Dunbar) by Carrie Williams Clifford 
30 - The Widening Light by Carrie Williams Clifford 
31 - The Door of Hope by Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer 
32 - Negro Heroines by Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer 
33 - The Voice of the Negro by Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer 
34 - The Angel's Message by Clara Ann Thompson 
35 - Not Dead, But Sleeping by Clara Ann Thompson<p

Show book

Love’s Labour’s Lost (Argo...

William Shakespeare

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic prose and verse read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly remastered stories are now available to download for the first time.
‘Love is familiar. Love is a devil. There is no evil angel but Love.’
Love's Labour's Lost is a comedy about young love, with an unexpected ending.
After vowing to avoid women, the King and three of his friends have to host a princess and her three ladies. The four men fall in love and decide to court the women. In the end, the women must return to their kingdom for a year after which they will marry the king and his friends, providing they remain true to them.
All of the Shakespeare plays within the ARGO Classics catalogue are performed by the Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players. The Marlowe was founded in 1907 with a mission to focus on effective delivery of verse, respect the integrity of texts, and rescue neglected plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and the less performed plays of Shakespeare himself. The Marlowe has performed annually at Cambridge Arts Theatre since its opening in 1936 and continues to produce some of the finest actors of their generations.
Thurston Dart, Professor of Music at London University and a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge, directed the music for this production.
The full cast includes: Derek Godfrey; Gary Watson; Peter Orr; Ian Lang; Robert Eddison; George Rylands; Max Adrian; Toby Robertson; Tony Church; Peter Woodthorpe; Michael Bates; Freda Dowie; Janette Richer; Prunella Scales; Diana Rigg; Susan Maryott; Patsy Byrne.
The Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players, known for their best performances, have once again delivered a captivating rendition of Love's Labour's Lost. The theatre production, directed by Thurman Dart, a Professor of Music at London University and a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge, is a testament to their European influence and commitment to reviving Shakespeare's less performed plays.
For fans of Richard Parsons (GCSE English Shakespeare Text Guide), and Arthur Miller (Incident at Vichy).

Show book