Beowulf

Beowulf. [Translated by Francis Barton Gummere].This is a short but beautiful book, and the Gummere translation really captures the feel of the Old English. Beowulf tells the story of a mysterious young warrior who saves the Spear-Danes from the terrible monster Grendel and his venomous mother. Long a mainstay of English Literature 101 courses at universities around the world, it is not only one of the oldest, but one of the most exciting English folktales ever invented. (Summary by Caeristhiona)

(2 hr 52 min)

Chapters

Chapter 01	16:59	Read by Kara Shallenberg
Chapter 02	18:12	Read by Kara Shallenberg
Chapter 03	13:57	Read by Karen Savage
Chapter 04	18:44	Read by Jim Mowatt
Chapter 05	26:04	Read by Peter Yearsley
Chapter 06	32:13	Read by Cynthia Lyons (1946-2011)
Chapter 07	25:28	Read by Denny Sayers (d. 2015)
Chapter 08	21:02	Read by Kirsten Ferreri

Reviews

Old English takes some getting used to

(4 stars)

The readers are great but I must admit that it takes all my concentration to understand this poetic story in Old English. It's a classic and I'm happy I listened to the whole thing though. I don't think I would ever have been able to force myself to actually read it cover to cover so I'm thankful to LibriVox..

very well read

(3.5 stars)

love stories

great greatest greater still.

(2 stars)

Roger

from the start I never got hooked by the story. a couple of the readers did fine however old English can be very difficult for some people as it was here.

(2 stars)

terrible reading. absolutely terrible. No flow whatsoever. robot would have been better.

Satisfactory Readings

(4 stars)

Andrea Garcia

Beowulf was a great story though it ran on at many points. The readings were satisfactory. The different style readings at different paces for every section in this particular audio book took some getting used to. This audio book successfully got me through fully reading Beowulf in one weekend for my literature class. It was a tremendous help.

hard to follow who says what

(3 stars)

Boymom

while I truly appreciate the people who give their time to read and record, this is a difficult book to do. the articulation is great but the voice fluctuation is rare and it just sounds like words being said at random. with 4 different readers or so 1 was actually good to follow.

English language and literature student, among everything else.

(4.5 stars)

I would like to point out the fact, that these 8 narrators, their voices, and interpreting of the poem, all of this stands firm behind my enormous motivation for studying. Thank you for giving me my needed motivation, and even studying one year of college studies up front. #inlove