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Beowulf
- Narrated by: Royce Pierreson, Roy McMillan - introduction
- Length: 4 hrs and 40 mins
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Publisher's summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
This Penguin Classic is performed by Royce Pierreson, star of Line of Duty, Our Girl and The Witcher. This definitive recording includes an introduction by Michael Alexander.
Beowulf is the greatest surviving work of literature in Old English, unparalleled in its epic grandeur and scope. It tells the story of the heroic Beowulf and of his battles, first with the monster Grendel, who has laid waste to the great hall of the Danish king Hrothgar, then with Grendel's avenging mother and finally with a dragon that threatens to devastate his homeland.
Through its blend of myth and history, Beowulf vividly evokes a twilight world in which men and supernatural forces live side by side. And it celebrates the endurance of the human spirit in a transient world.
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"Alexander's translation is marked by a conviction that it is possible to be both ambitious and faithful [and]...communicates the poem with a care which goes beyond fidelity-to-meaning and reaches fidelity of implication. May it go on...to another half-million copies." (Tom Shippey, Bulletin of the International Association of University Professors of English)
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Beowulf
- By: Seamus Heaney
- Narrated by: Seamus Heaney
- Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
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New York Times best seller and Whitebread Book of the Year, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney's new translation of Beowulf comes to life in this gripping audio. Heaney's performance reminds us that Beowulf, written near the turn of another millennium, was intended to be heard not read.
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Why, oh, why is it abridged?
- By Tad Davis on 09-25-08
By: Seamus Heaney
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Odin
- Ecstasy, Runes, & Norse Magic
- By: Diana L. Paxson
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Odin: Ecstasy, Runes, and Norse Magic is the first book on Odin that is both historically sourced and accessible to a general audience. It explores Odin's origins, his appearances in sagas, old magic spells, and the Poetic Edda, and his influence on modern media, such as Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Each chapter features suggestions for rituals, exercises, and music so that listeners can comprehend and become closer to this complicated god.
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Too Much Wicca
- By Christopher M. on 11-03-21
By: Diana L. Paxson
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Asian Journals
- India and Japan (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell)
- By: Joseph Campbell
- Narrated by: Fred Stella
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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At the beginning of his career, Joseph Campbell developed a lasting fascination with the cultures of the Far East, and explorations of Buddhist and Hindu philosophy later became recurring motifs in his vast body of work. However, Campbell had to wait until middle age to visit the lands that inspired him so deeply. In 1954, he took a sabbatical from his teaching position and embarked on a year-long voyage through India, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and finally Japan.
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What a journey!
- By Anonymous User on 08-11-18
By: Joseph Campbell
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The Song of Roland
- By: Michael A. H. Newth - translator
- Narrated by: Greg Marston, Summe Williams, Julian DouglasSmith
- Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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The Song of Roland is acknowledged today as the first masterpiece of French vernacular literature and one of the world’s greatest epic poems. Written down around the year 1090, The Song of Roland finely crafted verses tell of the betrayal and defeat of Charlemagne’s beloved nephew at the Pass of Roncevaux in the Pyrenees and of the revenge subsequently sought on his behalf.
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Excellent production
- By Tad Davis on 11-09-11
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The Greek Way
- By: Edith Hamilton
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Based on a thorough study of Greek life and civilization, of Greek literature, philosophy, and art, The Greek Way interprets their meaning and brings a realization of the refuge and strength the past can be to us in the troubled present. Miss Hamilton's book must take its place with the few interpretative volumes which are permanently rooted and profoundly alive in our literature.
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...Not as Good as The Echo of Greece
- By The Masked Reviewer on 11-04-16
By: Edith Hamilton
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Mythology
- By: Edith Hamilton
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Since its original publication by Little, Brown and Company, in 1942, Edith Hamilton's Mythology has sold millions of copies throughout the world and established itself as a perennial best-seller in its various available formats. Mythology succeeds like no other audiobook in bringing to life for the modern listener the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths and legends that are the keystone of Western culture - the stories of gods and heroes that have inspired human creativity from antiquity to the present.
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Good reading of classical myths
- By Kathi on 03-18-13
By: Edith Hamilton
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Beowulf: A New Translation
- By: Maria Dahvana Headley
- Narrated by: JD Jackson, Maria Dahvana Headley
- Length: 4 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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A man seeks to prove himself as a hero. A monster seeks silence in his territory. A warrior seeks to avenge her murdered son. A dragon ends it all. The familiar elements of the epic poem are seen with a novelist’s eye toward gender, genre, and history - Beowulf has always been a tale of entitlement and encroachment, powerful men seeking to become more powerful, and one woman seeking justice for her child, but this version brings new context to an old story.
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Ridiculous
- By Corinna D. Girard on 01-02-21
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Greek Mythology
- A Captivating Introduction to Greek Myths of Greek Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, and Monsters
- By: Matt Clayton
- Narrated by: Dryw McArthur
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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This comprehensive collection introduces you to Greek mythology and will also captivate your attention and imagination, so you can relive the tales of the most fabulous Greek gods, goddesses, heroes, and monsters.
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Listen before reading the actual works
- By Paul on 07-11-18
By: Matt Clayton
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Beowulf
- By: Anonymous
- Narrated by: Svanur Thorkelsson
- Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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The Old English epic poem Beowulf, recorded in its original Saxon dialect for the first time. Performed by Icelandic poet, playwright, professional storyteller and performer Svanur Thorkelsson, Audible’s production gives listeners the opportunity to experience how it might have felt to hear bards recite sections of the 3000-line poem from memory in Anglo Saxon dining halls. Audible’s Beowulf recaptures the heroic style and vast scale of what can be considered ‘England’s first native audiobook’.
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Recorded in Anglo-Saxon, not Modern English
- By Christopher Mclaughlin on 10-15-20
By: Anonymous
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Beowulf
- By: Stephen Mitchell
- Narrated by: Stephen Mitchell
- Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Stephen Mitchell's marvelously clear and vivid rendering recreates the robust masculine music of the original. It both hews closely to the Old English and captures its wild energy and vitality, not just as a deep "work of literature" but also as a rousing entertainment that can still stir our feelings and rivet our attention today, after more than a thousand years. This new translation - spare, sinuous, vigorous in its narration, and translucent in its poetry - makes a masterpiece accessible to everyone.
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Great translation, weak reading
- By Tad Davis on 10-24-17
By: Stephen Mitchell
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Beowulf: A New Translation
- By: Maria Dahvana Headley
- Narrated by: JD Jackson, Maria Dahvana Headley
- Length: 4 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
A man seeks to prove himself as a hero. A monster seeks silence in his territory. A warrior seeks to avenge her murdered son. A dragon ends it all. The familiar elements of the epic poem are seen with a novelist’s eye toward gender, genre, and history - Beowulf has always been a tale of entitlement and encroachment, powerful men seeking to become more powerful, and one woman seeking justice for her child, but this version brings new context to an old story.
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Ridiculous
- By Corinna D. Girard on 01-02-21
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Beowulf
- By: Seamus Heaney
- Narrated by: Seamus Heaney
- Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
New York Times best seller and Whitebread Book of the Year, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney's new translation of Beowulf comes to life in this gripping audio. Heaney's performance reminds us that Beowulf, written near the turn of another millennium, was intended to be heard not read.
-
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Why, oh, why is it abridged?
- By Tad Davis on 09-25-08
By: Seamus Heaney
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Beowulf
- By: Anonymous
- Narrated by: Crawford Logan
- Length: 2 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The oldest long poem in Old English, written about AD 1,000, Beowulf tells the story of a great warrior of southern Scandinavia, in both youth and maturity. The monster Grendel terrorizes the Scyldings of Hrothgar's Danish Kingdom until Beowulf defeats him. As a result, he has to face her enraged mother. Beowulf dies after a battle against a fierce dragon.
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Beowulf lives again!
- By Andrew on 02-13-12
By: Anonymous
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Beowulf
- By: Douglas Wilson
- Narrated by: Joffre Swait
- Length: 3 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
So begins a dark, but sturdy epic full of warriors, dragons, monsters of the deep, mead halls, and mounds of treasure. Beowulf is the great Norse epic poem, and one of the great inspirations for J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. In this bold and truly innovative translation, Douglas Wilson reproduces the alliteration and stresses of the original, though being more dynamic with particular wording.
By: Douglas Wilson
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Beowulf
- By: Anonymous
- Narrated by: Svanur Thorkelsson
- Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
-
Story
The Old English epic poem Beowulf, recorded in its original Saxon dialect for the first time. Performed by Icelandic poet, playwright, professional storyteller and performer Svanur Thorkelsson, Audible’s production gives listeners the opportunity to experience how it might have felt to hear bards recite sections of the 3000-line poem from memory in Anglo Saxon dining halls. Audible’s Beowulf recaptures the heroic style and vast scale of what can be considered ‘England’s first native audiobook’.
-
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Recorded in Anglo-Saxon, not Modern English
- By Christopher Mclaughlin on 10-15-20
By: Anonymous
-
Beowulf
- By: Stephen Mitchell
- Narrated by: Stephen Mitchell
- Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stephen Mitchell's marvelously clear and vivid rendering recreates the robust masculine music of the original. It both hews closely to the Old English and captures its wild energy and vitality, not just as a deep "work of literature" but also as a rousing entertainment that can still stir our feelings and rivet our attention today, after more than a thousand years. This new translation - spare, sinuous, vigorous in its narration, and translucent in its poetry - makes a masterpiece accessible to everyone.
-
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Great translation, weak reading
- By Tad Davis on 10-24-17
By: Stephen Mitchell
-
Beowulf: A New Translation
- By: Maria Dahvana Headley
- Narrated by: JD Jackson, Maria Dahvana Headley
- Length: 4 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A man seeks to prove himself as a hero. A monster seeks silence in his territory. A warrior seeks to avenge her murdered son. A dragon ends it all. The familiar elements of the epic poem are seen with a novelist’s eye toward gender, genre, and history - Beowulf has always been a tale of entitlement and encroachment, powerful men seeking to become more powerful, and one woman seeking justice for her child, but this version brings new context to an old story.
-
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Ridiculous
- By Corinna D. Girard on 01-02-21
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Beowulf
- By: Seamus Heaney
- Narrated by: Seamus Heaney
- Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
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Performance
-
Story
New York Times best seller and Whitebread Book of the Year, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney's new translation of Beowulf comes to life in this gripping audio. Heaney's performance reminds us that Beowulf, written near the turn of another millennium, was intended to be heard not read.
-
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Why, oh, why is it abridged?
- By Tad Davis on 09-25-08
By: Seamus Heaney
-
Beowulf
- By: Anonymous
- Narrated by: Crawford Logan
- Length: 2 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
-
Story
The oldest long poem in Old English, written about AD 1,000, Beowulf tells the story of a great warrior of southern Scandinavia, in both youth and maturity. The monster Grendel terrorizes the Scyldings of Hrothgar's Danish Kingdom until Beowulf defeats him. As a result, he has to face her enraged mother. Beowulf dies after a battle against a fierce dragon.
-
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Beowulf lives again!
- By Andrew on 02-13-12
By: Anonymous
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Beowulf
- By: Douglas Wilson
- Narrated by: Joffre Swait
- Length: 3 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
So begins a dark, but sturdy epic full of warriors, dragons, monsters of the deep, mead halls, and mounds of treasure. Beowulf is the great Norse epic poem, and one of the great inspirations for J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. In this bold and truly innovative translation, Douglas Wilson reproduces the alliteration and stresses of the original, though being more dynamic with particular wording.
By: Douglas Wilson
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Beowulf the Warrior
- Living History Library
- By: Ian Serrailier
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 1 hr
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Beowulf the Warrior is an outstanding modern version of the oldest epic in the English language. Ian Serraillier has retold in verse the story of the hero Beowulf and his three memorable exploits - first, his rescuing of Hrothgar the Dane from the ravages of monstrous Grendel; next, his victory over Grendel's strange and horrible mother; and finally, in Beowulf's old age, his saving of his own people, the Geats, from the horrors of a dragon at the cost of his life. Beowulf's heroism and noble heart communicate to any modern listener.
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Great read
- By Bridget O'Hare on 05-13-20
By: Ian Serrailier
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The Canterbury Tales: The Prioress's Tale (Modern Verse Translation)
- By: Geoffrey Chaucer
- Narrated by: Rosalind Shanks
- Length: 15 mins
- Unabridged
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This is a story from the Canterbury Tales III: Modern Verse Translation collection.
By: Geoffrey Chaucer
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Beowulf: The New Translation
- By: Gerald J. Davis
- Narrated by: John Hanks
- Length: 3 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
The origins, history and authorship of Beowulf are shrouded in uncertainty. This heroic epic probably began, as most do, with a wandering troubadour strumming a stringed instrument, sitting before a hearth-fire, and singing the verses to a spellbound audience arrayed before him. Beowulf is a rousing adventure story, filled with intrepid heroes, monsters and fire-breathing dragons, which can be listened to for the sheer enjoyment of the tale.
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Hard to follow as audio
- By CSterle on 10-14-14
By: Gerald J. Davis
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Beowulf
- By: Seamus Heaney - translator
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 4 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Composed toward the end of the first millennium, Beowulf is the elegiac narrative of the adventures of Beowulf, a Scandinavian hero who saves the Danes from the seemingly invincible monster Grendel and, later, from Grendel's mother. He then returns to his own country and dies in old age in a vivid fight against a dragon. The poem is about encountering the monstrous, defeating it, and then having to live on in the exhausted aftermath.
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Almost perfect
- By Tad Davis on 01-28-13
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Beowulf
- By: Robert K. Gordon, translator
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 2 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Beowulf is considered the finest heroic poem in Old English. It celebrates the character and exploits of Beowulf, a young nobleman and warrior, as he proves his superhuman strength and endurance. He also represents the ideal lord and vassal, rewarding his men generously and accomplishing glorious deeds to honor his king.
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Translator Preferred
- By JerryT on 05-10-05
By: Robert K. Gordon, and others
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Beowulf
- By: Anonymous
- Narrated by: Philip Harburgh
- Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
The epic poem Beowulf has enthralled readers for centuries with its tale of adventure, heroism, and glory in combat. The court of Hrothgar, good king of the Danes, has fallen under attack from the vile giant Grendel. Beowulf, a young hero of the Geats, comes with his band of dauntless warriors to aid the king and prove his might in combat and skill as a leader before ascending the throne of his own land.
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Adequate reading of the best translation
- By Annye Bone on 11-19-23
By: Anonymous
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Paradise Lost
- Penguin Classics
- By: John Milton, John Leonard
- Narrated by: Adrian Schiller
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Paradise Lost, Milton produced a poem of epic scale, conjuring up a vast, awe-inspiring cosmos and ranging across huge tracts of space and time. And yet, in putting a charismatic Satan and naked Adam and Eve at the centre of this story, he also created an intensely human tragedy on the fall of man....
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Subtle voice changes help with understanding
- By Danielle Alysse on 02-07-21
By: John Milton, and others
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: Terry Jones
- Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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A collection of three medieval English poems, translated by Tolkien for the modern-day reader and containing romance, tragedy, love, sex and honour.
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An absolute delight!
- By Shannon Slee on 07-15-18
By: J. R. R. Tolkien
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Beowulf
- By: Julian Glover
- Narrated by: Julian Glover
- Length: 1 hr and 13 mins
- Abridged
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Story
The epic story of this hero’s battle against dragons, monsters, and their mothers is particularly suited to being recorded as an audiobook given that for the first 300 years of its existence it was only ever spoken. The first known (and indeed the only surviving manuscript) of the poem was written in AD 1,000. It survived Henry VIII’s attempts to destroy it (as a religious artifact) and a catastrophic fire that destroyed many other historical British documents.
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Brilliant Beowulf
- By Darryl on 11-29-15
By: Julian Glover
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The Mere Wife
- A Novel
- By: Maria Dahvana Headley
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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From the perspective of those who live in Herot Hall, the suburb is a paradise. Picket fences divide buildings—high and gabled—and the community is entirely self-sustaining. Each house has its own fireplace, each fireplace is fitted with a container of lighter fluid, and outside—in lawns and on playgrounds—wildflowers seed themselves in neat rows. But for those who live surreptitiously along Herot Hall’s periphery, the subdivision is a fortress guarded by an intense network of gates, surveillance cameras, and motion-activated lights.
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Really not good
- By T. Winter on 07-21-18
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The Twelve Caesars
- By: Suetonius
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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The Twelve Caesars was written based on the information of eyewitnesses and public records. It conveys a very accurate picture of court life in Rome and contains some of the raciest and most salacious material to be found in all of ancient literature. The writing is clear, simple and easy to understand, and the numerous anecdotes of juicy scandal, bitter court intrigue, and murderous brigandage easily hold their own against the most spirited content of today's tabloids.
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A pleasure to read...
- By Robyn C. Blaber on 03-13-10
By: Suetonius
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A Tale of Two Cities
- By: Charles Dickens
- Narrated by: Jerry Trant
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille, the ageing Doctor Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. There the lives of two very different men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer, become enmeshed through their love for Lucie Manette. From the tranquil roads of London, they are drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror, and they soon fall under the lethal shadow of La Guillotine.
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Terrible Narration
- By Amazon Customer on 10-23-20
By: Charles Dickens
What listeners say about Beowulf
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 12-16-22
beowulf a classical masterpiece
Beowulf is a true classic worth hearing from the epics of norse and saxon writings.
This translation is a marvelous achievemnt and the narration is superb.
A truly phenomenal experience.
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- Geoffrey W
- 05-20-23
Great, faithful rendition!
Wonderful reading. Great story. This was my first listen of Beowulf and I thoroughly enjoyed everything about my experience. I highly recommend this audiobook.
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- Tad Davis
- 04-10-21
Excellent translation and reading
Of all the translations that are available, my favorite remains the one by Stephen Mitchell. But the audio version of Mitchell’s translation is marred by a weak reading, courtesy of Mitchell himself, who simply doesn’t have the voice for it. Royce Pierreson does have the voice for it, and he does a fine job with Michael Alexander’s (also) excellent translation.
The language is somewhat heightened —dignified, like the story itself — but not in any way archaic or obscure. (One exception: to capture the flavor of Old English, Alexander does, like many translators, preserve some of the kennings of the original: for instance, calling the ocean “the whale-road” or describing Beowulf as “unlocking his word-hoard” when he’s about to speak. (I can’t think of a single translation of the poem that doesn’t keep that last one.) On the whole it goes down smoothly, and the tragic end of the poem comes across with the sadness of an ice-bound ship.
And as always with the Penguin titles, the introduction — here read by Roy McMillan — adds considerable value to the audiobook. The introductions have always been one of the highlights of the Penguin classics, and it was a smart marketing decision to include them.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Luke
- 11-04-24
Good translation, lacking performance
Nice translation, and the narrator does a good job of pronouncing hard words, but this performance ultimately lacks some of the poetry that the original author spent so much time to convey
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