The Owl and the Nightingale

A New Verse Translation

By: Simon Armitage

Narrated by: Simon Armitage

Simon Armitage narrates a complete verse translation of this spirited and humorous medieval English poem

The Owl and the Nightingale, one of the earliest literary works in Middle English, is a lively, anonymous comic poem about two birds who embark on a war of words in a wood, with a nearby poet reporting their argument in rhyming couplets, line by line and blow by blow. In this engaging and energetic verse translation, Simon Armitage captures the verve and humor of this dramatic tale with all the cut and thrust of the original.

In an agile iambic tetrameter that skillfully amplifies the prosody and rhythm of the original, Armitage's translation moves entertainingly from the eloquent and philosophical to the ribald and ridiculous. Sounding at times like antagonists in a Twitter feud, the owl and the nightingale quarrel about a host of subjects that still resonate today—including love, marriage, identity, cultural background, class distinctions, and the right to be heard. Adding to the playful, raucous mood of the barb-trading birds is Armitage, who at one point inserts himself into the poem as a "magistrate . . . to adjudicate"—one who is "skilled with words & worldly wise / & frowns on every form of vice."

Featuring the Middle English text on facing pages and an introduction by Armitage, this volume will delight listeners of all ages.

©2021 Simon Armitage (P)2021 Faber & Faber

Critic reviews

Shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry, Arrowsmith Press

Well Done

Sir Gawain & the Green knight and The death of Arthur were great too. Love armitages' work.

Fine Translation, Discordant Performance

The translation itself is fine, so no substantive complaints there.

The performance, however, is lacking. The text is a spirited exchange of verbal barbs, but the narrator has a 'monotonous drone' that reminds one of viscous, sludgy porridge. Armitage's voice not exactly an adequate instrument to communicate the potentially rousing, comic exchanges in the work itself.

I'm glad the work is available on Audible, and I appreciate the translator's efforts in bringing it here - it was simply an ill-conceived idea to have him behind the mic.