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The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation
The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation | Seamus Heaney, Greg Delanty, Michael Matto
7 posts | 2 read | 3 to read
More than 70 of today's most celebrated poets, including Seamus Heaney, Robert Pinsky and Molly Peacock, present new translations of Anglo-Saxon poetry that give life to medieval English voices ranging from weary sailors and forlorn wives to farmers and drunken louts.
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Palimpsest
The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation | Seamus Heaney, Greg Delanty, Michael Matto
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Pickpick

I love this Anglo-Saxon anthology of poetry. The editors chose to have poets translate the poems rather than just translators, but remain true to the original. The title refers to trafficking words and exchanging words in translation and “weaving words into ideas...that links writers in English across a span of over a thousand years.” This book has lots of riddles and some more familiar poems like The Seafarer to old charms and biblical stories.

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Severnmeadows
The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation | Seamus Heaney, Greg Delanty, Michael Matto
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Excerpt from Metrical Charm 1: For unfruitful land

#charm #poetrymatters @TheSpineView
#anglosaxon

TheSpineView 😍😍 5y
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Severnmeadows
The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation | Seamus Heaney, Greg Delanty, Michael Matto
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#poetrymatters #Anglo-Saxon #SeamusHeaney

Fascinating book, full of Riddle-Hoards, prayers admonition and allegories, charms, lives of saints, poems of exile and longing, poems about historical battles, people and places.

Emilymdxn Amazing! I LOVE seeing people reading Old English stuff it warms my heart 5y
TheSpineView 😊 5y
Severnmeadows @Emilymdxn The book begins with one of my favourite poems, The Seafarer 🌊 5y
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Severnmeadows
The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation | Seamus Heaney, Greg Delanty, Michael Matto
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TheSpineView 😍 5y
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Graywacke
The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation | Seamus Heaney, Greg Delanty, Michael Matto
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2019 theme 2 : Rome to the Renaissance. A cobbled theme from miscellaneous classics I want to read. Not sure how or if this will actually work out. I'm actually nervous about Apuleius and Plutarch, but think I want to read these Romans. I don‘t have a good plan on what to read to prep me for any of this (ideas welcome!).

Graywacke And then there are translations to choose from. For Plutarch I'm actually using John Dryden...maybe not a good idea. For Beowulf, Seamus Heaney should be really nice. For Dante, I have the Hollanders in mind, but have no real good sense on what's available. For Petrarch, I'm going to try the book by David Young listed. Again, ideas welcome. 6y
Graywacke @batsy now you see why I said June for Beowulf. 6y
Emilymdxn What poems are included in the earliest English poems?? I‘m super interested in the early English stuff, it‘s what my degree was in and i miss it a lot. For Beowulf I‘d say Heaney is the most poetic, beautiful to read translation and I love it, but Swanton is the best for understanding the old English - ideally I‘d say use both. 6y
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Graywacke @Emilymdxn thanks, re Swanton! I can‘t answer the first question because I don‘t own the book yet. 😁 But, any suggestions? 6y
Emilymdxn Wulf and Eadwacer is my favourite poem in old English, probably my fave in any language, but it‘s quite dense as it has a lot of strange references in it and a lot of translations change bits to try and make it simpler - it‘s only 14 lines but might require some criticism to understand! Other ones I love are The Wanderer, the Wife‘s Lament, the Ruin, Andreas or anything by Cynewulf. 6y
Graywacke @Emilymdxn I‘ve copied that post to make it easier to reference. 6y
Lcsmcat @Graywacke The Heaney is amazing! 6y
batsy Haha! But this looks amazing. I too am planning to read the Heaney version of Beowulf 🙌🏽 6y
Graywacke @Lcsmcat looking forward to it, @batsy 👍 6y
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Graywacke
The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation | Seamus Heaney, Greg Delanty, Michael Matto
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The library is teasing me, as if I can make a dent in six weeks. At least I only have to read the Shakespeare once.

batsy What an intriguing stack 🧐 6y
Graywacke @batsy 🙂 I haven‘t properly posted my 2019 themes. They include James Baldwin, Plutarch, Beowulf...and our Shakespeare readalong. This is part of my attempt at some prep. 6y
batsy That's fantastic. I look forward to your posts about your reading. I'm planning to read Beowulf this year, too. 6y
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Graywacke @batsy if you‘re willing and remember, tag me when you post about it. I‘d like to catch your comments. If all goes well (and it never does), I‘ll get there in ... er, June 😕 6y
batsy Haha, for sure! I'm pretty sure you will get there before me 🙈 6y
Liz_M I 😍 Twelfth Night and poor Malvolio and his cross garters! 6y
Graywacke @Liz_M I better get reading or forever wonder what that means 🤭😶🤔 6y
Liz_M 😁 6y
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brendanmleonard
The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation | Seamus Heaney, Greg Delanty, Michael Matto
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Coming up from a writing/world building marathon to do #booksbythesea on #somethingforsept ! A couple of these I need to return to, because they are relevant to said world building, and this is my school copy of Moby Dick. And Word Exchange, which I haven't finished, is a great volume of old old old school poetry.

Shortstack All of these books by the sea today are getting me psyched to spend Christmas in Florida! 8y
Marchpane I have a newer edition of The Fatal Shore with a different tagline. The reference to 'founding' has been removed in favour of "A History of the Transportation of Convicts to Australia, 1787-1868". I wonder if the text has also been revised. 8y
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