Identities in Seamus Heaney’s Translation of Beowulf

Eleonora Nakova Katileva

doi:10.17561/grove.v27.a4

Abstract

The present article sets out to prove the hypothesis that the Modern English translation of Beowulf by Seamus Heaney reflects his Irish political and cultural roots. His interpretation aroused the interest of critics by its use of Hiberno-English and dealing with linguistic structural tasks in a different way for the first time. By considering specific examples from the original and the translated version of the poem, the present article analyses the linguistic choices made by Heaney in his translation of the Old English version of Beowulf taking into account its critical reception and the author’s personal opinions and experiences. It sets out to establish the roots of this translation in Heaney’s upbringing in rural Ireland by observing specific memories from his own childhood, family members, politics and surroundings. The article also compares this translation to previous ones to provide the reasons for the uniqueness of Heaney’s rendering and establish its importance in today’s literary scene.

Highlights

In Seamus Heaney’s own words, poetry is “the most apt interpreter” of our “inner world of ... feelings and thoughts”, because it is a “source of images” and “of possible meanings” that has “a sure claim on our understanding” (Heaney, Beowulf 20-23)
Joseph McGowan points out the importance of poetry, which he completes with his cultural background: Heaney “credits poetry” in threefold manner: for making possible “this spacewalk” by which the rural student becomes world-famous poet; for “encouraging [him]self to 'walk on air against your better judgment'”; and “ because poetry can make an order as true to the impact of external reality and as sensitive to the inner laws of the poet’s being as the ripples that rippled in and rippled out across the water in that scullery bucket fifty years ago” .The poet is gifted with an artistic craft which in Heaney’s case is developed in a country with dual history and personality. (n.p.)
For Seamus Heaney, the cultural aspects of Anglo-Saxon life must be maintained in the translation in order for it to be successful

Summary

Introduction

In Seamus Heaney’s own words, poetry is “the most apt interpreter” of our “inner world of ... feelings and thoughts”, because it is a “source of images” and “of possible meanings” that has “a sure claim on our understanding” (Heaney, Beowulf 20-23). Feelings and thoughts”, because it is a “source of images” and “of possible meanings” that has “a sure claim on our understanding” (Heaney, Beowulf 20-23) It can be interpreted, that for him translating poetry was not a tiresome venture but one full of possibilities and choices. It is a way to express inner feelings and ideas and even though there is not much freedom for the translator, he always manages to leave a personal mark His complete translations and adaptations into Modern English are Sophocle’s Philoctetes (The Cure at Troy) and Antigone (The Burial at Thebes), the Irish poem Buile Suibhne (Sweeney Astray), The Midnight Court by Brian Merryman (The Midnight Verdict), Treny by Jan Kochanowski (Laments), and a song cycle by the Czech Leos Janácek (Diary of the One Who Vanished). They all prove that he was as prolific a translator as a poet, so it is worth researching how he developed this task

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion