LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Reading literature in translation: "Beowulf" as a case study

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=814

A lesson plan for grade 12 English Language Arts

Provider: IRA/NCTE


Learn more

Help

Please read our disclaimer for lesson plans.

Legal

This catalog record is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. This license applies to the content of this page only and does not apply to the referenced website.

By comparing a number of translations of Beowulf with each other and with the basic poetic elements of Old English alliterative verse, this lesson asks students to reflect upon the nature of translation not as an act of accurate representation of a literary work but as an act of interpretive re-creation. After reviewing Old English poetics, students listen to a passage of Beowulf in Old English to hear the use of alliteration, meter, rhythm, and diction of the poem. Then the class reads two or three translations of the poem, reflecting on the differences and the choices of the use several poetic devices. After explaining the idea that translations cannot be accurate reflections of an original but are instead “imaginative reconstructions,” the teacher clarifies that reading several translations can help provide a better understanding of the poem than any one translation can impart. In the second session, students work in groups using a checklist to compare newer versions with the Old English poem and the translations they have already studied. Then after students share their findings with the class, they discuss how the translations affected their understanding of the poem. Readwritethink provides a reading reference sheet, a translation handout, and a link to an online literary guide for the epic poem. The lesson also provides a variety of extension activities and links to web resources for studying Beowulf.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 12

  • Goal 1: The learner will express reflections and reactions to print and non-print text as well as to personal experience.
    • Objective 1.02: Respond to texts so that the audience will:
      - empathize with the voice of the text.
      - make connections between the learner's life and the text.
      - reflect on how cultural or historical perspectives may have influenced these responses.
      - examine the learner's own response in light of peers' responses.
      -recognize features of the author's use of language and how the learner relates these features to his/her own writing.
  • Goal 4: The learner will analyze and critique texts from various perspectives and approaches.
    • Objective 4.01: Develop critiques that enable an audience to judge claims and arguments by:
      -establishing and applying clear, credible criteria for evaluation.
      - substantiating assessments with reasons and evidence.
    • Objective 4.02: Develop critiques that give an audience:
      - an appreciation of how themes relate among texts.
      -an understanding of how authors' assumptions, cultural backgrounds, and social values affect texts.
      -an understanding of how more than one critical approach affects interpretation.
  • Goal 5: The learner will deepen understanding of British literature through exploration and extended engagement.
    • Objective 5.01: Explore British literature by:
      - recognizing common themes that run through works, using evidence from the texts to substantiate ideas.
      - relating the cultural and historical contexts to the literature and identifying perceived ambiguities, prejudices, and complexities.
      - making associations between historical and current viewpoints.
      -understanding how literary movements influence writers.
    • Objective 5.02: Extend engagement with selected works of British literature by:
      - observing how the imaginative experience of literature broadens and enriches real life.
      - relating style, meaning, and genre (including fiction, non-fiction, drama, and poetry).
      - applying literary, grammatical, and rhetorical terms of literature.
      - demonstrating in various print and non-print media the significance of works.
      -discerning the effect of interpreting literature from various critical perspectives.