I remember taking a course on translating Old English (the West Anglo-Saxon dialect) - it's essentially another language and it's actually easier if you're somewhat familiar with German. And the syntax is almost incomprehensible unless you can figure out the declenations of all the nouns involved... O_o
But Beowulf is pretty amazing thematically, especially as the point of time it was composed. One of the things about it though, that's a bit strange, is how it can be divided into three parts: Beowulf vs. Grendel, Beowulf vs. Grendel's mother, and Beowulf vs. the dragon; and there's very little (in the original Old English) that expresses how these events might even be causally connected, particularly how Beowulf's last battle is even related to the battles between him and Grendel, and then Grendel's mother.
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regna
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Date: 2010-12-03 21:56 (UTC)But Beowulf is pretty amazing thematically, especially as the point of time it was composed. One of the things about it though, that's a bit strange, is how it can be divided into three parts: Beowulf vs. Grendel, Beowulf vs. Grendel's mother, and Beowulf vs. the dragon; and there's very little (in the original Old English) that expresses how these events might even be causally connected, particularly how Beowulf's last battle is even related to the battles between him and Grendel, and then Grendel's mother.