Lofty Prose in a New Translation of Beowulf

To describe Ben Reinhard’s approach to his new verse translation of Beowulf, the back cover offers the following keywords: “literal fidelity. . . a noble and somber style of its own. . . detailed explanatory notes that ground the poem in traditional criticism and the Catholic intellectual tradition.” In my study of this enjoyable rendering of the venerable epic, Reinhard meets this hype in maintaining a style that is noble and somber.