Beowulf

HAVE finished reading Beowulf: A Translation And Commentary by JRR Tolkien.
The book, which was edited by Tolkien's son Christopher, was published by HarperCollins in 2016.
It is really three books in one: JRR's prose translation of the Old English poem, his commentaries on the difficulties and controversies surrounding such a translation, and his rendering of the main part of the story into modern English as Sellic Spell.

Tolkien's Beowulf … three books in one

Beowulf is written in Old English but contains no characters who are English - perhaps it would be better to say none who are Anglo-Saxon.
Instead the a story is set in Scandinavia, telling a mythical duel between Good and Evil against the factual background of the sixth century.
I found the first part of the book heavy going. Although JRR did not try to compose his own poetic version of the tale, he kept many poetic turns of phrase in what reads to me as cod Ye Olde Englishe.
Much more interesting is the second part, where Christopher publishes, with explanatory material where necessary, JRR's detailed notes on problems thrown up by translating a language no longer spoken or fully understood.
There are many insights into warrior mores that the unknown author of the poem evidently believed were commonplace among his likely audiences.
And finally there is Sellic Spell, a freehand retelling of much of the story in a fluent style that I read at one sitting. If only JRR had felt confident enough to perform this service for the whole poem ...