A Sea-Crossing
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- Genre/Type Descriptor(s)
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Translation from Old English
Poem or Poetry - Language(s)
- English
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- Translator
- Heaney, Seamus
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- Serial Title
- Sunday Times
- Location Details
- Issue of July 26, 1998, page 7
- Date
- 1998
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- Relationships
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Collocates with -> The Return to Geatland, Heaney, Seamus (1998)Collocates with -> Paths to Power, Heaney, Seamus (1998)(Upstream) Extracts from and revises -> Sea Interlude, with Hero, Heaney, Seamus (1995)(Downstream) Revised and incorporated into -> Beowulf, Heaney, Seamus (1999)
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- Descriptive Notes
One of three translation extracts published, together with a short essay, on pp. 6-7 of the July 26, 1998, issue of the Sunday Times (London). "A Sea-Crossing" translates Beowulf, ll. 194-228 (mistakenly stated to be 193-228), presenting it as a segment of 34 lines (so 1 line shorter than in the original Old English). Heaney would later make considerable revisions to the Sunday Times version as he incorporated it into his full 1999 translation, including a fuller rendering of ll. 224-28 to reconcile the translation's line count with the original.
The translation begins:
When he heard about Grendel, Hygelac's thane
Was on home ground, over in Geatland.
There was no one else like him alive.
In his day, he was the strongest man of all
And the biggest presence. He ordered a boat
To be fitted out. He announced his plan:
To sail the swan's road in search of the war-king,
The famous prince who needed defenders. (7)And ends:
Their voyage was over and the Geats jumped
Eagerly ashore. There was a clash of mail
And a thresh of gear. They thanked God
For the easy crossing they had been granted. (7)- Notes on Prior Documentation
Not mentioned specifically in MO2, but MO2 1987(c) references Heaney's "many other fragmentary translations" in advance of his 1999 full translation.
- Authentication
BAM (from digital copy accessed via The Sunday Times Historical Archive, GaleCengage).
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- Last Updated
- 04/02/2022