‘The whole performance is wonderfully intermediate - poised between the Bible and folk wisdom, between the Light Ages and the Dark Ages - and at the same time pulverisingly actual in its language. Heaney has caught the balance of these brilliantly; he has made a masterpiece out of a masterpiece.’ Andrew Motion, Financial Times ‘What characterises this Beowulf is its energetic, relentless driving forward.miraculous mix of the poem’s original spirit and Heaney’s voice.’ Bernard O'Donoghue, Irish Times