Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet who is always winning lots of awards for scribbling stuff. We haven't read much of his poetry, but awards are usually really shiny, and we like shiny things. He won like a ton for his verse translation of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf (which was made into a movie, so the story must be pretty good). But his translation of Beowulf is truly wonderful because it openly embraces the violent and gross. Just look at these lines chronicling Grendel's retreat after having his arm ripped off:"hasped and hooped and hirpling with pain.../The bloodshot water wallowed and surged, /There were loathsome upthrows and overturnings /Of waves and gore and wound-slurry." Awesome!
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