If you are captivated by Old English literature and appreciate Burton Raffel’s exquisite translation work, you should consider acquiring Signet’s 1999 reprint of Raffel’s Beowulf. This epic, significantly longer than the “The Seafarer” elegy, recounts the heroic deeds of notable figures from the Germanic tribal past.

Devoted fans of Old English literature and Burton Raffel will also find Poems and Prose from the Old English indispensable. This collection, translated and edited by Raffel with Alexandra Hennessey Olsen's editorial support, was reissued by Yale University Press in 1998. This updated and expanded version of Raffel’s out-of-print classic includes the very translation of “The Seafarer” featured in Poetry for Students. It also contains prose by King Alfred the Great and other prominent prose stylists, both lay and monastic, along with additional elegies, heroic poems, religious verse, and wisdom poetry.

For a comprehensive understanding of Old English literature, any dedicated student should read Stanley B. Greenfield’s Critical History of Old English Literature, published by New York University Press in 1965. Greenfield provides an in-depth examination of the entire Old English literary corpus using only modern translations. Notably, Raffel’s translations from Poems and Prose from the Old English are prominently featured in Greenfield’s analysis.