Your weekly poem, June 2: “Beowulf” translated by Seamus Heaney, continued
A poem selected by our director Nicholas Allen, Baldwin Professor in Humanities
Dear friends,
I had promised we would read this week of Beowulf’s fight against Grendel, that hand-to-hand hall-wrecking that is a foreboding of the longer destruction brought by time and circumstance. That grim premonition is forestalled by one practice alone, of society built on truth and friendship, that “fair witness” the poet calls for at the end of the sequence that describes all hands set to the rebuilding of Heorot, its doors replaced on their hinges, the benches pulled back together, the warriors gathered in “nothing but friendship.”
This society is far from us, across seas that even Beowulf might have hesitated to sail. So, instead of the struggle in the hall we will read of the aftermath, in which the poet speaks with a simple clarity that we can still hear:
Hence, understanding is always best
and a prudent mind. Whoever remains
for long here in this earthly life
will enjoy and endure more than enough.
Critical then is true fellowship and mutual understanding, the fabric that clothes us in community against the destructive and the monstrous.
Our foray into the northern wilds will come to a close next week as we finish Beowulf. Like you, I expect, I would like some time to gather my thoughts and energy for the many challenges before us in the days and weeks ahead. I hope then that you will understand if I give these weekly poems a rest for a while, even as I thank you for the many notes and kind comments that you have sent me, or called out from porches and sidewalks. Truly Athens can be a special place. In compensation (or revenge, our children might say), I am going to record some videos of me talking about some favorite authors, which we will share periodically over the summer, so you won’t be free of me altogether.
In the meantime, please do think about supporting the Willson Center in a way that is meaningful to you. We need your help more than ever and we thrive by your friendship. Our best days are ahead, mindful as we are, always, of those who suffer on the journey.
Be well,
Nicholas
Director, Willson Center for Humanities and Arts
Baldwin Professor in Humanities
University of Georgia