To read:

Beowulf

Version:  Poem. 

Translator: Probably Francis B. Gummere, 1910. (Until the Tolkien translation is published.) I've been referring to BeowulfTranslations.net, an amazing site; and it turns out there are many more translations than I had thought. But I tend to prefer older translations. This other translation, for example, is from 1826, and it's really beautiful: Translation by J. J. Conybeare.

Why:  Beowulf is a classic.  Secondly, I'm hoping to study Old English someday.  Thirdly, Old English is just fascinating.  Looking at it, the words remind you of Latin and English, but they're very different as well.  On the other hand, when you look at an Old English word and then at its Modern English translation, sometimes there will be an obvious similarity.  And then you realize the depth of the history of English.  The differences between old and modern portray the complexity of the language, while those words that have not changed much are the ways in which you can truly relate to the writers of that older language.  And suddenly, they're not just some manuscripts written by medieval authors, but meaningful words written by real people.  Of course, they always were; but it is easier to know that when you can see a connection between the language they used and the language we use now.

Sorry, I didn't mean for that paragraph to be so long.  ;)  It's a highly interesting topic to me, though.  It's also sad to hear people talk about English as if it's an inferior language, as they sometimes do.

When:  Soon, hopefully.

Why I have not read it before:  I used to think of Beowulf with great timidity, as if it was somehow more vastly aloof than Shakespeare.  Not anymore.  Maybe Moby-Dick has inflated my self-confidence. ;)  Or maybe not.  I haven't yet read The Children of Hurin it its entirety, or even attempted The Scarlet Letter, so I still have a long ways to go.  :P

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If you have read Beowulf, what did you think of it?