SEAMUS HEANEY (TRANS.) - BEOWULF

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It’s hard to recast myself to the person I was when I first read this in high school. My teacher was probably trying to show me something about the elements of a compelling story — character, tension, climax — and just how long those elements have been in the human conversation. I get it now. I love it now. I am present in the windy spareness of this platonic ideal of a story. The only insight I can offer today is that now I feel connected with the monsters in a way I didn’t before. They are characters, too, and constructed with maybe more care than our hero. Read, December 2019.