So I finished reading Beowulf today… or at least one translation of Beowulf (it opens with “Listen!”, which is a newer translation, replacing “Hark!”, which is equally a weird translation of “Hwat!”, which apparently nobody really knows what it specifically means).
It’s… hmm. It was neat to read, but I am left wondering if it is both the best example of a written 1,200-year-old English story, and the worst example of a 1,200-year-old English story. It diverges in topic frequently, there’s no dramatic tension, and it still bothers me that Grendel’s mother is never worthy of a name aside from “Grendel’s mother”.
But it was neat to read, and I look forward to analyzing it for the next week or so.
Oh! And I learned the old English “y” was pronounced like “th”, meaning that “Ye Olde Shoppe” signs are actually “The Olde Shoppe”… amazing! I don’t know if that’s universally true, but it is neat.
Anyway. lots of writing tomorrow. Hope everyone out there is staying healthy and safe!