[JenB]

Oh, good for you! The Heaney-Beowulf is definitely the best - having the Anglo-Saxon and the English side by side was cool, and it was a good story, too. Make sure you find Tolkien's essay on Beowulf, "The Monsters and the Critics". It's wonderful.

As for Kalevala, make sure you get a good translation. I recommend the Kirby translation. It may be out of print but a good library will have it. You may feel an odd sense of deja vu while reading Kalevala; it's very reminiscent of Tolkien's elf-legends. Some of the names are very similar, and the tale of Turin Turambar is based very closely on an episode in Kalevala.

Also, Longfellow's Hiawatha poem follows the same rythm-structure of Kalevala. If you read the two aloud, you'll notice the beat being so similar. It's an interesting similarity and I understand purposeful.

[SuziQ]

Thanks for all that info, JenB. I'll be sure to look for the Kirby translation of the Kalevala!