Listen free for 30 days
-
Beowulf
- Narrated by: Svanur Thorkelsson
- Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Poetry
People who bought this also bought...
-
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- By: Simon Armitage - translator
- Narrated by: Simon Armitage
- Length: 2 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the mysterious Green Knight arrives unbidden at the Round Table one Christmas, only Gawain is brave enough to take up his challenge.... This story, first told in the 1400s, is one of the most enthralling, dramatic and beloved poems in the English tradition. Now, in Simon Armitage, the poem has found its perfect modern translator. Armitage's retelling of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight captures all of the magic and wonderful storytelling of the original while also revitalising it.
-
-
Armitage's Triumph
- By Pagespinner on 07-11-17
-
Tales from Ovid
- By: Ted Hughes
- Narrated by: Ted Hughes
- Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From his remarkable debut The Hawk in the Rain (1957) to his death in 1998, Ted Hughes was a colossal presence in the English literary landscape. He was also admired as a performer of his own work. Tales from Ovid, Ted Hughes' masterful versions of stories from Ovid's Metamorphoses, includes those of Phaeton, Actaeon, Echo and Narcissus, Procne, Midas and Pyramus and Thisbe as well as many others.
-
-
Rich mellifluous storytelling
- By Anon on 27-08-19
-
Seamus Heaney II Collected Poems (published 1979-1991)
- Field Work; Station Island; The Haw Lantern; Seeing Things
- By: Seamus Heaney
- Narrated by: Seamus Heaney
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Volume two of the definitive collection of Seamus Heaney reading his own work, recorded in 2009 by RTE. Volume two contains four collections published between 1979 and 1991: Field Work, Station Island, The Haw Lantern and Seeing Things.
-
-
A real shame the poems are not listed
- By J D on 15-05-20
-
The Aeneid
- By: Virgil
- Narrated by: Simon Callow
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The publication of a new translation by Fagles is a literary event. His translations of both the Iliad and Odyssey have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and have become the standard translations of our era. Now, with this stunning modern verse translation, Fagles has reintroduced Virgil's Aeneid to a whole new generation, and completed the classical triptych at the heart of Western civilization.
-
-
Hear it as it is meant to be heard!
- By me,myself,andI on 12-08-19
-
Crow
- From the Life and Songs of the Crow
- By: Ted Hughes
- Narrated by: Ted Hughes
- Length: 1 hr and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From his remarkable debut The Hawk in the Rain (1957) to his death in 1998, Ted Hughes was a colossal presence in the English literary landscape. He was also admired as a performer of his own work. Crow is one of his most significant collections, focusing on the central figure of the crow - predatory, mocking and indestructible. Crow is read here by the author in its entirety and with narrative links not included in the published text.
-
-
Masterpiece to Listen to and Read
- By Jessica on 19-03-17
-
The King in the North: Booktrack Edition
- The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria
- By: Max Adams
- Narrated by: Hamilton McLeod
- Length: 15 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The magisterial biography of Oswald Whiteblade, exiled prince of Northumbria, who returned in blood and glory to reclaim his birthright. A charismatic leader, a warrior whose prowess in battle earned him the epithet Whiteblade, an exiled prince who returned to claim his birthright, the inspiration for Tolkien's Aragorn. Oswald of Northumbria was the first great English monarch, yet today this legendary figure is all but forgotten. In this panoramic protrait of Dark Age Britain, archaeologist and biographer Max Adams returns the king in the North to his rightful place in history.
-
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- By: Simon Armitage - translator
- Narrated by: Simon Armitage
- Length: 2 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the mysterious Green Knight arrives unbidden at the Round Table one Christmas, only Gawain is brave enough to take up his challenge.... This story, first told in the 1400s, is one of the most enthralling, dramatic and beloved poems in the English tradition. Now, in Simon Armitage, the poem has found its perfect modern translator. Armitage's retelling of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight captures all of the magic and wonderful storytelling of the original while also revitalising it.
-
-
Armitage's Triumph
- By Pagespinner on 07-11-17
-
Tales from Ovid
- By: Ted Hughes
- Narrated by: Ted Hughes
- Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From his remarkable debut The Hawk in the Rain (1957) to his death in 1998, Ted Hughes was a colossal presence in the English literary landscape. He was also admired as a performer of his own work. Tales from Ovid, Ted Hughes' masterful versions of stories from Ovid's Metamorphoses, includes those of Phaeton, Actaeon, Echo and Narcissus, Procne, Midas and Pyramus and Thisbe as well as many others.
-
-
Rich mellifluous storytelling
- By Anon on 27-08-19
-
Seamus Heaney II Collected Poems (published 1979-1991)
- Field Work; Station Island; The Haw Lantern; Seeing Things
- By: Seamus Heaney
- Narrated by: Seamus Heaney
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Volume two of the definitive collection of Seamus Heaney reading his own work, recorded in 2009 by RTE. Volume two contains four collections published between 1979 and 1991: Field Work, Station Island, The Haw Lantern and Seeing Things.
-
-
A real shame the poems are not listed
- By J D on 15-05-20
-
The Aeneid
- By: Virgil
- Narrated by: Simon Callow
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The publication of a new translation by Fagles is a literary event. His translations of both the Iliad and Odyssey have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and have become the standard translations of our era. Now, with this stunning modern verse translation, Fagles has reintroduced Virgil's Aeneid to a whole new generation, and completed the classical triptych at the heart of Western civilization.
-
-
Hear it as it is meant to be heard!
- By me,myself,andI on 12-08-19
-
Crow
- From the Life and Songs of the Crow
- By: Ted Hughes
- Narrated by: Ted Hughes
- Length: 1 hr and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From his remarkable debut The Hawk in the Rain (1957) to his death in 1998, Ted Hughes was a colossal presence in the English literary landscape. He was also admired as a performer of his own work. Crow is one of his most significant collections, focusing on the central figure of the crow - predatory, mocking and indestructible. Crow is read here by the author in its entirety and with narrative links not included in the published text.
-
-
Masterpiece to Listen to and Read
- By Jessica on 19-03-17
-
The King in the North: Booktrack Edition
- The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria
- By: Max Adams
- Narrated by: Hamilton McLeod
- Length: 15 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The magisterial biography of Oswald Whiteblade, exiled prince of Northumbria, who returned in blood and glory to reclaim his birthright. A charismatic leader, a warrior whose prowess in battle earned him the epithet Whiteblade, an exiled prince who returned to claim his birthright, the inspiration for Tolkien's Aragorn. Oswald of Northumbria was the first great English monarch, yet today this legendary figure is all but forgotten. In this panoramic protrait of Dark Age Britain, archaeologist and biographer Max Adams returns the king in the North to his rightful place in history.
-
Seamus Heaney III Collected Poems (published 1996-2010)
- The Spirit Level; Electric Light; District and Circle; Human Chain
- By: Seamus Heaney
- Narrated by: Seamus Heaney
- Length: 4 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Volume three of the definitive collection of Seamus Heaney reading his own work, recorded in in 2009 by RTE. Volume three contains four collections published between 1996 and 2010: The Spirit Level, Electric Light, District and Circle and Human Chain. To the RTE recordings Faber has added live readings by the poet of 11 poems from his 12th and final collection, Human Chain (2010).
-
Aeneid
- Book VI
- By: Seamus Heaney
- Narrated by: Ian McKellen
- Length: 1 hr and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sixth book of Virgil's Aeneid, in which Aeneas travels into the underworld to meet the spirit of his father, is a story that captivated Seamus Heaney from his schooldays. But the work took on a special significance for him after the death of his own father, becoming a touchstone to which he would return as an adult. His noble and moving translation of book VI bears the fruit of a lifetime's concentration upon it: he began translating passages in the 1980s and was finalising the work right up to the summer of his death.
-
The Saga of the Volsungs
- With the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok
- By: Jackson Crawford - translator
- Narrated by: Jackson Crawford
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the translator of the best-selling Poetic Edda comes a gripping new rendering of two of the greatest sagas of Old Norse literature. Together the two sagas recount the story of seven generations of a single legendary heroic family and comprise our best source of traditional lore about its members - including, among others, the dragon slayer Sigurd, Brynhild the Valkyrie, and the Viking chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok.
-
-
academic but enjoyable
- By Anonymous User on 10-09-20
-
Njál's Saga
- By: Anonymous
- Narrated by: Gunnar Cauthery
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on events that took place between 960 and 1020 AD, Njál 's Saga is a mesmerizing drama about a multigenerational cycle of violence and retribution, and the feuds and passions that perpetuate it. The eponymous sage Njál, known for his keen legal mind, is one of Iceland's pre-eminent men, along with Gunnar of Hlidarendi, a fierce and formidable warrior married to the diabolical Hallgerd, whose conniving instigates the interminable pattern of romance, action and brutality - until one unforgivable act ends it all.
-
-
One of the greatest stories I’ve read
- By GreenGilbert on 06-12-20
-
Paradise Lost
- By: John Milton
- Narrated by: Anton Lesser
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In words remarkable for their richness of rhythm and imagery, Milton tells the story of man's creation, fall, and redemption, "to justify the ways of God to men". Here, unabridged, and told with exceptional sensitivity and power by Anton Lesser, is the plight of Adam and Eve, the ambition and vengefulness of Satan and his cohorts.
-
-
Sonorous metal
- By Francis on 06-12-07
-
The Waste Land & Four Quartets
- By: T.S. Eliot
- Narrated by: Paul Scofield
- Length: 1 hr and 34 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
These are masterly readings, by renowned thespian Paul Schofield, of two substantial works of poetry by T.S. Eliot.
-
-
A must for all literature lovers
- By Mr on 23-12-12
-
The Faerie Queene
- By: Edmund Spenser
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 33 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This remarkable poem, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth I, was Spenser's finest achievement. The first epic poem in modern English, The Faerie Queene combines dramatic narratives of chivalrous adventure with exquisite and picturesque episodes of pageantry. At the same time, Spenser is expounding a deeply-felt allegory of the eternal struggle between Truth and Error....
-
-
A very useful version
- By Stephen on 20-04-17
-
The Thought-Fox and Other Poems
- By: Ted Hughes
- Narrated by: Ted Hughes
- Length: 1 hr and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From his remarkable debut The Hawk in the Rain (1957) to his death in 1998, Ted Hughes was a colossal presence in the English literary landscape. He was also admired as a performer of his own work. In this 1994 recording, The Thought-Fox and Other Poems, he reads a selection of poems from The Hawk in the Rain, Lupercal, Wodwo, Crow, Moortown, Cave Birds, Season Songs, Earth-Numb and New Selected Poems.
-
-
Evocations
- By Mark on 17-01-21
-
The Poetic Edda
- Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes
- By: Jackson Crawford
- Narrated by: Jackson Crawford
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The poems of the Poetic Edda have waited a long time for a modern English translation that would do them justice. Here it is at last (Odin be praised!) and well worth the wait. These amazing texts from a 13th-century Icelandic manuscript are of huge historical, mythological, and literary importance, containing the lion's share of information that survives today about the gods and heroes of pre-Christian Scandinavians, their unique vision of the beginning and end of the world, etc.
-
-
as good as it gets
- By Kindle Customer on 25-01-19
-
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: Terry Jones
- Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A collection of three medieval English poems, translated by Tolkien for the modern-day reader and containing romance, tragedy, love, sex and honour.
-
-
Good stories brilliantly read by Terry Jones
- By Amazon Customer on 24-10-06
-
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- Penguin Classics
- By: Bernard O'Donoghue
- Narrated by: Frank Turner
- Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Composed during the 14th century in the English Midlands, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight describes the events that follow when a mysterious green-coloured knight rides into King Arthur's Camelot in deep mid-winter. The mighty knight presents a challenge to the court: he will allow himself to be struck by one blow, on the condition that he will be allowed to return the strike on the following New Year's Eve.
-
Beowulf
- By: Anonymous
- Narrated by: Crawford Logan
- Length: 2 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The oldest long poem in Old English, written about AD 1,000, Beowulf tells the story of a great warrior of southern Scandinavia, in both youth and maturity. The monster Grendel terrorizes the Scyldings of Hrothgar's Danish Kingdom until Beowulf defeats him. As a result, he has to face her enraged mother. Beowulf dies after a battle against a fierce dragon.
-
-
Timeless
- By mr b t adams on 03-02-16
Summary
The Old English epic poem Beowulf, recorded in its original Saxon dialect for the first time.
Performed by Icelandic poet, playwright, professional storyteller and performer Svanur Thorkelsson, Audible’s production gives listeners the opportunity to experience how it might have felt to hear bards recite sections of the 3000-line poem from memory in Anglo Saxon dining halls. Audible’s Beowulf recaptures the heroic style and vast scale of what can be considered ‘England’s first native audiobook’.
Considered one of the most important pieces of English literature, Beowulf has gripped audiences for over 1,000 years. It has been hugely influential on English and world literature – in particular Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones – and has continued to be explored and reinterpreted through adaptations across mediums including novels, film, TV, opera, graphic novels and more.
About the narrator
Svanur Thorkelsson is a native Icelandic poet and a playwright. As a professional storyteller and a performer Svanur channels his passion for authentic Nordic and Anglo Saxon lore and legends. His work includes media such as radio, theatre and television as well as participation in public and private events. Svanur has also over the years worked to promote and partake in bardic events in the UK and Iceland.
More from the same
What listeners say about Beowulf
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance

- Kindle Customer
- 28-11-20
Its not in English
In the details it says "Language: English." My guess is its in a Germanic language but I don't know. the only English is when the narrator says the Stanza.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 11-09-20
Thank You
In teaching myself anglo-saxon english, I’ve longed for a translation of beowulf to be read aloud for so long. There need to be more texts read in their original dialect, because this is glorious.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- KEVIN J SMITH JR
- 05-12-20
such a great experience
great performance by an actual bard. i have always loved older dialects of english, but modern is fine too.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Christopher Mclaughlin
- 15-10-20
Recorded in Anglo-Saxon, not Modern English
They probably should have mentioned that the recording is performed in early Anglo-Saxon, which I guess technically is English. Either way, an English speaker won’t comprehend any of this.