160 pp. (numbered [i]-xxii and 23-[160]). A cheaply produced paperback reprinted many times. (In his "Postscript: 1971" to the Introduction, when the book was reformatted in that year with Baskin's illustrations, Raffel celebrates the fact that it is finally being brought out in a form other than inexpensive paperback [xix].) The translation is preceded by Raffel's Introduction (ix-xxii) and followed by Creed's Afterword (121-48), then a glossary of names and genealogical table.

The translation begins:

Hear me! We've heard of Danish heroes,
Ancient kings and the glory they cut
For themselves, swinging mighty swords!

How Shild made slaves of soldiers from every
Land, crowds of captives he'd beaten
Into terror; he'd traveled to Denmark alone,
An abandoned child, but changed his own fate,
Lived to be rich and much honored. He ruled
Lands on all sides: wherever the sea
Would take them his soldiers sailed, returned
With tribute and obedience. There was a brave
King! (23)

And ends:

And then twelve of the bravest Geats
Rode their horses around the tower,
Telling their sorrow, telling stories
Of their dead king and his greatness, his glory,
Praising him for heroic deeds, for a life
As noble as his name. So should all men
Raise up words for their lords, warm
With love, when their shield and protector leaves
His body behind, sends his soul
On high. And so Beowulf's followers
Rode, mourning their belovèd leader,
Crying that no better king had ever
Lived, no prince so mild, no man
So open to his people, so deserving of praise. (121)

[unfinished business: Fry states that portions of this were used in Angel Flores, ed., Medieval Age (New York, 1963)--check.]

• Hugh Magennis, Translating Beowulf: Modern Versions in English Verse (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2011).

GR interprets the description "A New Translation with an Introduction by Burton Raffel, Afterword by Robert P. Creed" all as part of the book's title.

BAM (from reprint).