[Michael Juster]

Where do I start? I have company on this point by the way. When I was teaching at Emerson College, we did half a segment on Anglo Saxon because I wanted them to try using the rhythms and the alliteration. Without attribution, I gave them the opening 50 lines of the Raffel version, the Heaney version, and the Sullivan/Murphy version, and broke them into smaller groups to do a ranking of the versions with an explanation of their thinking.
Murphy/Sullivan was the top choice for 14 of the 15, Heaney was second for everyone except one iconoclast who liked Heaney's best, and they all agreed (in a class that agreed on little) that Raffel was far inferior to the other two.
Why? Raffel was one of the pioneers in generic free verse translations of classics, and he banged out a ton of them because he didn't have to work very hard to get something that satisfied his standards. There is almost no attempt to duplicate the alliteration and rhythms of the original, and the use of language (word choice/sentence structure) is so slack that it robs the text of the gorgeous violence that is at its core.
My preference is also for Sullivan/Murphy. Undoubtedly I'm blinded by friendship and general admiration for the Dakota duo, but I do think they did a terrific job with a tough text. The Heaney version has its moments, and there are a few individual passages where I prefer the Heaney, but you can almost feel him rebelling against his initial assumptions as he proceeds, and the text gets more oddly Latinate and more Heaneyesque as it goes on.
A rational teacher could assign Heaney, but in my book assigning the Raffel Beowulf these days when you have two far better choices is a disgrace. But if you want to know what I really think...

[Michael Juster]

Oops--I'm still inept with these computers. This comment was intended to be a response to a question from Maryann Corbett in Rose's "Clueless" post. Sorry.

[Maryann Corbett]

Thanks, Michael. I take some comfort in knowing that Raffel was chosen for me by my undergrad medieval lit prof, in a time when there was no Heaney or Sullivan/Murphy.

Now to find Rose another translation of things like "The Wanderer."

Maryann

[David Landrum]

I first read Beowulf in a translation done by Charles W. Kennedy, copyright 1940. It was a little archiac in its diction but readable and teachable. I like Heaney's translation (his introduction to it, the story of how he translated it, is a work of art in itself, thorouoghly enjoyable). Don't know the Sullivan/Murphy translation. Will check it out.

[Gail White]

I have to admit that although Raffel is a local boy (teaches at ULL), I like his translation the least.
For an enjoyable read by him, try "Beethoven in Denver."