Going old school
Posted by Alex McPeakOctober 1st, 2007
I started reading epic poems last year, starting with The Iliad, The Odyssey and The Aeneid. And the longbeards are afraid of violence on televsion! Jesus, some of the battles in The Iliad alone are enough to make even a frequent browser of Consumption Junction turn a shade of green, not to mention that god-awful blinding scene with the cyclops in The Odyssey.
In keeping with that tradition, I’ve started reading Beowulf, that sleeping agent for high school seniors. This is Seamus Heaney’s translation, with the unitelligble Anglo-Saxon on opposing pages.
The thing I remember from high school was Beowulf ripping Grendel’s arm of its socket. Well, that and the impossible collection of consonants in all the names.
But just like my experiences with those old Greek and Roman poems, I’ve found myself gripped not just by Beowulf’s violence, but it’s story, it’s early vision of Christianity and it’s tragic tone. It makes me realize, finally, why it and others like it are taught. It is the basis for many of the stories that still get told and re-told in novels and on film today - a young hero seeking to prove himself and, ultimately, his fall in old age.
I should note that none of this was prompted by the new animated movie coming soon, which was co-written by Sandman and Stardust writer Neil Gaiman. Voice talent include Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, and Angelina Jolie (as Grendel’s mother).
Not sure how I feel about it or the accompanying game (I hate that every movie has to have a game co-released at the same time). When I read about Beowulf’s underwater fight with Grendel’s mother, I did NOT picture anything that looked like Angelina Jolie.
Regardless of whether they ruin the movie or not (which will be the second one for this holiday season - after trampling on Asimov’s grave, Will Smith is going to ruin another great story, Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend) the poem is definitely worth revisiting, even if it put you to sleep back in high school.
