Compare how two different translators have rendered one of the following passages from Beowulf:
• Beowulf sails to Denmark (194–224)
• Beowulf fights Grendel (790–818)
• Beowulf fights Grendel’s Mother (1537–69)
• Beowulf and Wiglaf kill the dragon (2672–2708)
You can pick two from among the following translators:
• E. Talbot Donaldson
• Seamus Heaney
• John McNamara
• Edward L. Risden
• Alan Sullivan and Timothy Murphy
• J.R.R. Tolkien
Begin your paper with a genuine question about how the translations differ. Make that question the last sentence of your first paragraph. The rest of the essay should answer this question. Present your
analysis in a clear and well-organized manner. Each paragraph should deal with a specific element of the translations, explain how that element works, and present its main point in a clear topic sentence.
Draw your conclusions in your final paragraph, briefly summing up your answers to the question posed at the start of the essay.
Your essay should be between 800–1,200 words — not counting the two translations you quote at the start of the paper. Use MLA Format for quotations and citations.
