I am not a scholar. Dilettante would a proper description of my tastes. Omnivorous interests.



I bought Bagby's Beowulf DVD on a whim, having enjoyed over the years several versions of the printed Beowulf, most recently the dual-language additions of Chickering and Heaney. I wanted to hear the Anglo-Saxon words spoken aloud.



What a pleasant surprize! I was thrilled, enthralled by the performance. It gave me shivers. Even my thirteen-year old daughter thought it "awesome" (at least for the first five or ten minutes, not bad for a teenager) and "spooky weird" (I guess that is good).



This is not a performance to have on in the background. This is certainly not a performance to put on the player during a party (that would be an exceptional party, indeed). But it is a wonderful performance to sit and watch and savor.



I, too, would like to have a version that had both the English and Anglo-Saxon subtitles. Something for the producer to consider for future.