Daily Wisdom: After 88 Years, Tolkien’s Translation of Beowulf to Be Published

Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien was largely responsible for the resurgence of interest in the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, so it’s only fitting that his translation from 1926 is finally being published. Tolkien’s son Christopher, who edited the work said:

“It is as if he entered into the imagined past: standing beside Beowulf and his men shaking out their mail-shirts as they beached their ship on the coast of Denmark, listening to the rising anger of Beowulf at the taunting of Unferth, or looking up in amazement at Grendel’s terrible hand set under the roof of Heorot.”

Tolkien’s Beowulf will be available on May 22.