Interesting. I am *not* under the impression that Armitage's SGGK is highly regarded by people who are intimately familiar with the original as well as having opinions on modern poetry. The response I recall (and with which I concur) is that it is a pretty weak translation and artistically wishy-washy, neither matching up to Heaney's Beowful in artistic quality nor giving a reliable translation or really doing the alliterative structure any justice (in order to write alliterative-syllabic prose he has opted to vary wildly in formality and register, which IMHO is adorable but not either artistically impressive as a piece of modern poetry nor a good tribute to the original).
no subject
Date: 2014-11-25 07:01 pm (UTC)