|
''Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary'' is a prose translation of the early medieval epic poem ''Beowulf'' from Old English to modern English language. Translated by J. R. R. Tolkien from 1920 to 1926, it was edited by Tolkien's son Christopher and published posthumously in May 2014 by HarperCollins. In the poem, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats in Scandinavia, comes to the aid of Hroðgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall Heorot has been under attack by a monster known as Grendel. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother attacks the hall and is then also defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland in Sweden and later becomes king of the Geats. After fifty years have passed, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is fatally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants bury him in a tumulus, a burial mound, in Geatland. The translation is followed by a commentary on the poem that became the base for Tolkien's acclaimed 1936 lecture "''Beowulf'': The Monsters and the Critics". Furthermore, the book includes the previously unpublished "Sellic Spell" and two versions of "The Lay of ''Beowulf''". The former is a fantasy piece on Beowulf's biographical background while the latter is a poem on the ''Beowulf'' theme. ==Plot== (詳細はHeorot killing the king's men in their sleep. While Beowulf cannot kill Grendel directly in their first encounter, he still wounds him fatally. Afterwards he has to face Grendel's mother who has come to avenge her son. Beowulf follows her to a cavern beneath a lake where he slays her with a magical sword. There he also finds the dying Grendel and decapitates him. Beowulf returns home to become king of the Geats. After some 50 years, a dragon whose treasure had been stolen from his hoard in a burial mound begins to terrorize Geatland. Beowulf, now in his eighties, tries to fight the dragon but cannot succeed. He follows the dragon to his lair where Beowulf's young relative Wiglaf joins him in the fight. Eventually, Beowulf slays the dragon but is mortally wounded. In the end, his followers bury their king in a mound by the sea. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|