The Tale of Beowulf, Sometime King of the Folk of the Weder Geats: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Tale of Beowulf, Sometime King of the Folk of the Weder Geats, credited to Unknown, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Tale of Beowulf, Sometime King of the Folk of the Weder Geats by Unknown. (Translated by William Morris; A. J. Wyatt.) Read in English by Taylor Whitehead. William Morris's translation of Beowulf beautifully showcases the unique character of English alliterative verse in one of the finest epic poems of the Middle Ages. The language and syntax employed by Morris is at times challenging, however, it can be a very rewarding reading experience that gives a close adaptation of the original both in language and feel. While written in Modern English, Morris shifts his vocabulary to be heavily Germanic and often archaic. In particular, Morris tends to use the closest cognate words available in Modern English even if the word has long fallen out of regular use. While this was certainly a bold choice that sometimes comes at the cost of readability, the effect achieved is well worth it. This translation is recommended for readers who are already familiar with Beowulf and/or other Medieval literature. It is also recommended to refer to the text while listening to the audio. An effort has been made on the part of the narrator to achieve approximately correct pronunciations of Old English words in the text, however, some minor inaccuracies may be present. (Summary by Taylor Whitehead)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Tale of Beowulf, Sometime King of the Folk of the Weder Geats
• Author credits: Unknown
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 4
• Listed recording duration: 3:33:26

Catalogue topics

• epic poetry
• dragons
• monsters
• old english poetry

Track guide

1. 01 - Section 1 — 54:53
2. 02 - Section 2 — 54:52
3. 03 - Section 3 — 53:24
4. 04 - Section 4 — 50:17

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.