[Translated into Modern English by Burton Raffel]

 Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty Hills and bogs, bearing God’s hatred,

 Grendel came, hoping to kill

Anyone he could trap on this trip to high Heorot.

 He moved                 quickly through the cloudy night, Up from his swampland, sliding silently  Toward that gold-shining hall.

He had visited Hrothgar’s 

 Home before, knew the way ―

But never, before nor after that night,

 Found Heorot defended so firmly, his reception

So harsh. He journeyed forever joyless,

 Straight to the door, then snapped it open,

Tore its iron fasteners with a touch

 And rushed   angrily over the threshold.

He strode quickly across the inlaid

 Floor, snarling and fierce: his eyes

Gleamed in the darkness, burned with a gruesome  Light. Then he stopped, seeing the hall

Crowded with sleeping warriors, stuffed

 With rows of young soldiers resting together. And his heart laughed, he relished the sight,

 Intended to tear the life from those bodies

By morning; the monster’s mind was hot

 With the thought of food and the feasting his belly                    Would soon know. But fate, that night, intended

 Grendel to gnaw the broken bones Of his last human supper. Human  Eyes were watching                 his evil steps,

Waiting to see his swift hard claws.

 Grendel snatched at the first Geat

He came to, ripped him apart, cut

 His body to bits with powerful jaws,

Drank the blood from his veins and bolted

 Him down, hands and feet; death

And Grendel’s great teeth came together,

 Snapping life shut. Then he stepped to another Still body, clutched at Beowulf with his claws,

 Grasped at a strong   wakeful sleeper ―

And was instantly seized himself, claws

 Bent back as Beowulf leaned up on one arm. That shepherd of evil, guardian of crime,

 Knew at once that nowhere on earth

Had he met a man whose hands were harder;

 His mind was blooded with fear ― but nothing  Could take his talons and himself from that tight

 Hard grip. Grendel’s one thought was to run

From Beowulf, flee back to his marsh and hide there:

 This was a different Heorot than the hall he had                                                         empted.

But Hygelac’s follower remembered his final  Boast and, standing erect, stopped The monster’s flight, fastened those claws

Had been caught, he was trapped. That trip to Heorot  Was a miserable journey for the writhing monster!

The high hall rang, its roof boards swayed,

And Danes shook with terror. Down

The aisles the battle swept, angry

And wild. […]

TASK B.  Do the tasks on Beowulf  Poem:

1. Find antonyms in the text to: love, slowly, kindly,            crowded, weak, sleeping, loose, advance

2. Reorder the events according to the story:

a)      Beowulf and his followers remained on night guard;

b)      Beowulf returned to his King Hygelac;

c)       Beowulf found Grendel’s mother and killed her;

d)      The monster approached Beowulf;

e)      Grendel’s mother came to revenge her son;

f)        One night a gigantic monster killed Hrothgar’s warriors;

g)      Beowulf mortally wounded Grendel escaped

h)      The court left the palace;

i)        Beowulf came across the sea to Denmark;

j)        Hrothgar ordered a large palace to be built.

   3. Explain the meaning of the words:  formulae, caesura,                     rhyme, alliteration, stanzas

*** Extra task for some inspired students (optional):

Translate the poem into Ukrainian with rhythm, rhyme and alliteration.