The Translations of Beowulf - A Critical Bibliography

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Title: The Translations of Beowulf - A Critical Bibliography
Author: Tinker, Chauncey Brewster, 1876-1963
Language: English
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ȝ (yogh)
þ̷ þ̸ (thorn with line, typically abbreviating “that”)

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Book sizes such as 8^o (printed with superscript “o”) have been changed
to 4to, 8vo, 12mo.

In a few selections, italics were used to indicate missing words or
letters. These have been shown with {braces}. Elsewhere, italics are
shown conventionally with _lines_. Asterisks before book titles are in
the original.

Internal cross-references are almost always expressed as “see supra” or
“see infra” with page number. In an e-text this may be interpreted as
“scroll up” and “scroll down”, respectively. When a footnote does not
include a translator’s name, it has been added in [[double brackets]].

The Tinker translation (final chapter in the main text) is the author’s
own.]

YALE STUDIES IN ENGLISH

ALBERT S. COOK, Editor

XVI

THE TRANSLATIONS OF BEOWULF

A CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

CHAUNCEY B. TINKER

A Portion of a Thesis Presented to the Philosophical
Faculty of Yale University in Candidacy for
the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Originally Published 1903

PREFACE

The following pages are designed to give a historical and critical
account of all that has been done in the way of translating _Beowulf_
from the earliest attempts of Sharon Turner in 1805 down to the present
time. As a corollary to this, it presents a history of the text of the
poem to the time of the publication of Grein’s _Bibliothek der
angelsächsischen Poesie_ in 1859; for until the publication of this work
every editor of the poem was also its translator.

It is hoped that the essay may prove useful as a contribution to
bibliography, and serve as a convenient reference book for those in
search of information regarding the value of texts and translations of
_Beowulf_.

The method of treating the various books is, in general, the same.
I have tried to give in each case an accurate bibliographical
description of the volume, a notion of the value of the text used in
making it, &c. But the emphasis given to these topics has necessarily
varied from time to time. In discussing literal translations, for
example, much attention has been paid to the value of the text, while
little or nothing is said of the value of the rendering as literature.
On the other hand, in the case of a book which is literary in aim, the
attention paid to the critical value of the book is comparatively small.
At certain periods in the history of the poem, the chief value of a
translation is its utility as a part of the critical apparatus for the
interpretation of the poem; at other periods, a translation lays claim
to our attention chiefly as imparting the literary features of the
original.

In speaking of the translations which we may call literary, I have
naturally paid most attention to the English versions, and this for
several reasons. In the first place, _Beowulf_ is an _English_ poem;
secondly, the number, variety, and importance of the English
translations warrant this emphasis; thirdly, the present writer is
unable to discuss in detail the literary and metrical value of
translations in foreign tongues. The account given of German, Dutch,
Danish, Swedish, French, and Italian versions is, therefore, of a more
strictly bibliographical nature; but, whenever possible, some notion has
been given of the general critical opinion with regard to them.

An asterisk is placed before the titles of books which the present
writer has not seen.

My thanks are due to the officials of the Library of Yale University,
who secured for me many of the volumes here described; to Professor
Ewald Flügel of Leland Stanford Junior University, who kindly lent me
certain transcripts made for him at the British Museum; and to Mr.
Edward Thorstenberg, Instructor in Swedish at Yale University, for help
in reading the Danish and Swedish translations.

_July, 1902._

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE
Preliminary Remarks on the Beowulf Manuscript 7
Sharon Turner’s Extracts 9
Thorkelin’s Edition 15
Grundtvig’s Translation 22
Conybeare’s Extracts 28
Kemble’s Edition 33
Ettmüller’s Translation 37
Schaldemose’s Translation 41
Wackerbarth’s Translation 45
Thorpe’s Edition 49
Grein’s Translation 55
Simrock’s Translation 59
Heyne’s Translation 63
Von Wolzogen’s Translation 68
Arnold’s Edition 71
Botkine’s Translation 75
Lumsden’s Translation 79
Garnett’s Translation 83
Grion’s Translation 87
Wickberg’s Translation 90
Earle’s Translation 91
J. L. Hall’s Translation 95
Hoffmann’s Translation 99
Morris and Wyatt’s Translation 104
Simons’s Translation 109
Steineck’s Translation 112
J. R. Clark Hall’s Translation 114
Tinker’s Translation 118

APPENDIX I

INCOMPLETE TRANSLATIONS, AND PARAPHRASES

PAGE
Leo’s Digest 121
Sandras’s Account 123
E. H. Jones’s Paraphrase 123
Zinsser’s Selection 126
Gibb’s Paraphrase 128
Wägner and Macdowall’s Paraphrase 130
Therese Dahn’s Paraphrase 132
Stopford Brooke’s Selections 135
Miss Ragozin’s Paraphrase 138
A. J. Church’s Paraphrase 141
Miss Thomson’s Paraphrase 143

APPENDIX II

A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS WHICH TRANSLATE
SELECTIONS FROM ‘BEOWULF’ INTO ENGLISH 146

APPENDIX III

TWO WORKS NAMED ‘BEOWULF’

I. Manno’s Romance 148
II. S. H. Church’s Poem 148

INDEX OF TRANSLATORS 149

THE TRANSLATIONS OF BEOWULF

PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE BEOWULF MANUSCRIPT

The unique manuscript of the _Beowulf_ is preserved in the Cottonian
Library of the British Museum. It is contained in the folio designated
Cotton Vitellius A. xv, where it occurs ninth in order, filling the
folios numbered 129a to 198b, inclusive.

The first recorded notice of the MS. is to be found in Wanley’s Catalog
of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts (Oxford, 1705), Volume III of Hickes’s
_Thesaurus_. The poem is thus described:--

‘Tractatus nobilissimus Poeticè scriptus. Præfationis hoc est
initium.’

The first nineteen lines follow, transcribed with a few errors.

‘Initium autem primi Capitis sic se habet.’

Lines 53-73, transcribed with a few errors.

‘In hoc libro, qui Poeseos Anglo-Saxonicæ egregium est exemplum,
descripta videntur bella quæ Beowulfus quidam Danus, ex Regio
Scyldingorum stirpe Ortus, gessit contra Sueciæ Regulos.’ Page
218, col. b, and 219, col. a.

No further notice was taken of the MS. until 1786, when Thorkelin[1]
made two transcripts of it.

In 1731 there occurred a disastrous fire which destroyed a number of the
Cottonian MSS. The Beowulf MS. suffered at this time, its edges being
scorched and its pages shriveled. As a result, the edges have chipped
away, and some of the readings have been lost. It does not appear,
however, that these losses are of so great importance as the remarks of
some prominent Old English scholars might lead us to suspect. Their
remarks give the impression that the injury which the MS. received in
the fire accounts for practically all of the illegible lines. That this
is not so may be seen by comparing the Wanley transcript with the
Zupitza _Autotypes_. Writing in 1705, before the Cotton fire, Wanley
found two illegible words at line 15--illegible because of fading and
rubbing. Of exactly the same nature appear to be the injuries at lines
2220 ff., the celebrated passage which is nearly, if not quite,
unintelligible. It would therefore be a safe assumption that such
injuries as these happened to the MS. before it became a part of the
volume, Vitellius A. xv. The injuries due to scorching and burning are
seldom of the first importance.

This point is worth noting. Each succeeding scholar who transcribed the
MS., eager to recommend his work, dwelt upon the rapid deterioration of
the parchment, and the reliability of his own readings as exact
reproductions of what he himself had seen in the MS. before it reached
its present ruinous state. The result of this was that the emendations
of the editor were sometimes accepted by scholars and translators as the
authoritative readings of the MS., when in reality they were nothing but
gratuitous additions. This is especially true of Thorpe[2], and the
false readings which he introduced were never got rid of until the
Zupitza _Autotypes_ brought to light the sins of the various editors of
the poem. These statements regarding text and MS. will be developed in
the following sections of the paper[3].

[Footnote 1: See infra, p. 16.] [[Thorkelin]]

[Footnote 2: See infra, p. 49.] [[Thorpe]]

[Footnote 3: See infra on Thorkelin, p. 19; Conybeare, p. 29;
Kemble, p. 34; Thorpe, p. 51; Arnold, p. 72.]

SHARON TURNER’S EXTRACTS

The History of the Manners, Landed Property, Government, Laws, Poetry,
Literature, Religion, and Language of the Anglo-Saxons. By Sharon
Turner, F.A.S. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme, 1805.

Being Volume IV of the History of the Anglo-Saxons from their earliest
appearance above the Elbe, etc. London, 1799-1805. 8vo, pp. 398-408.

Second Edition, corrected and enlarged. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees,
& Orme, 1807. 2 vols., 4to. _Beowulf_ described, Vol. II, pp. 294-303.

Third Edition. London, 1820.

Fourth Edition. London, 1823.

Fifth Edition. (1827?)

Sixth Edition. London, 1836.

Seventh Edition. London, 1852.

Reprints: Paris, 1840; Philadelphia, 1841.

Translation of Extracts from the first two Parts.

_Points of Difference between the Various Editions._

A part of this may be stated in the words of the author:--

‘The poem had remained untouched and unnoticed both here and
abroad until I observed its curious contents, and in 1805
announced it to the public. I could then give it only a hasty
perusal, and from the MS. having a leaf interposed near its
commencement, which belonged to a subsequent part, and from the
peculiar obscurity which sometimes attends the Saxon poetry, I did
not at that time sufficiently comprehend it, and had not leisure
to apply a closer attention. But in the year 1818 I took it up
again, as I was preparing my third edition, and then made that
more correct analysis which was inserted in that and the
subsequent editions, and which is also exhibited in the present.’
--Sixth edition, p. 293, footnote.

The statement that the poem had remained untouched and unnoticed is not
strictly true. The public had not yet received any detailed information
regarding it; but Wanley[1] had mentioned the _Beowulf_ in his catalog,
and Thorkelin had already made two transcripts of the poem, and was at
work upon an edition. Turner, however, deserves full credit for first
calling the attention of the English people to the importance of the
poem.

In the third edition, of which the author speaks, many improvements were
introduced into the digest of the story and some improvements into the
text of the translations. Many of these were gleaned from the _editio
princeps_ of Thorkelin[2]. The story is now told with a fair degree of
accuracy, although many serious errors remain: e.g. the author did not
distinguish the correct interpretation of the swimming-match, an extract
of which is given below. The translations are about as faulty as ever,
as may be seen by comparing the two extracts. In the first edition only
the first part of the poem is treated; in the third, selections from the
second part are added.

No further changes were made in later editions of the History.

Detailed information regarding differences between the first three
editions may be found below.

_Turner, and his Knowledge of Old English._

Sharon Turner (1768-1847) was from early youth devoted to the study of
Anglo-Saxon history, literature, and antiquities. His knowledge was
largely derived from the examination of original documents in the
British Museum[3]. But the very wealth of the new material which he
found for the study of the literature kept him from making a thorough
study of it. It is to be remembered that at this time but little was
known of the peculiar nature of the Old English poetry. Turner gives
fair discussions of the works of Bede and Ælfric, but he knows
practically nothing of the poetry. With the so-called _Paraphrase_ of
Cædmon he is, of course, familiar; but his knowledge of _Beowulf_ and
_Judith_ is derived from the unique, and at that time (1805)
unpublished, MS., Cotton Vitellius A. xv. Of the contents of the Exeter
Book he knew nothing. The Vercelli Book had not yet been discovered. The
materials at hand for his study were a faulty edition of Cædmon and an
insufficient dictionary. The author, whose interest was of course
primarily in history, was not familiar with the linguistic work of the
day. It is, therefore, not surprising that his work was not of the best
quality.

_Lines in the Poem Translated by Turner._

First edition: 18-40; 47-83a; 199b-279; 320-324; 333-336; 499-517a. In
the second edition are added: 1-17; 41-46; 83b-114; 189-199a; 387-497;
522-528. In the third edition are added: 529-531; 535-558; 607-646;
671-674; 720-738; 991-996; 1013-1042; 1060b-1068a; 1159b-1165a;
1168b-1180a; 1215b-1226a; 1240b-1246a; and a few other detached lines.

_Turner’s Account of Beowulf in the First Edition of his History._

‘The most interesting remains of the Anglo-Saxon poetry which time
has suffered to reach us, are contained in the Anglo-Saxon poem in
the Cotton Library, Vitellius A. 15. Wanley mentions it as a poem
in which “seem to be described the wars which one Beowulf, a Dane
of the royal race of the Scyldingi, waged against the reguli of
Sweden[4].” But this account of the contents of the MS. is
incorrect. It is a composition more curious and important. It is a
narration of the attempt of Beowulf to wreck the fæthe or deadly
feud on Hrothgar, for a homicide which he had committed. It may be
called an Anglo-Saxon epic poem. It abounds with speeches which
Beowulf and Hrothgar and their partisans make to each other, with
much occasional description and sentiment.’ --Book vi, chap. iv,
pp. 398 ff.

_The Story of the Poem as Interpreted by Turner._

[Dots indicate the position of the quotations.]

‘It begins with a proemium, which introduces its hero Beowulf to our
notice.... The poet then states the embarkation of Beowulf and his
partisans....’ Turner interprets the prolog as the description of the
embarkation of Beowulf on a piratical expedition. The accession of
Hrothgar to the throne of the Danes is then described, and the account
of his ‘homicide’ is given. This remarkable mistake was caused by the
transposition of a sheet from a later part of the poem--the fight with
Grendel--to the first section of the poem. The sailing of Beowulf and
the arrival in the Danish land are then given. Turner continues: ‘The
sixth section exhibits Hrothgar’s conversation with his nobles, and
Beowulf’s introduction and address to him. The seventh section opens
with Hrothgar’s answer to him, who endeavours to explain the
circumstance of the provocation. In the eighth section a new speaker
appears, who is introduced, as almost all the personages in the poem are
mentioned, with some account of his parentage and character.’ Then
follows the extract given below:

Hunferth spoke
The son of Ecglafe;
Who had sat at the foot
Of the lord of the Scyldingi
Among the band of the battle mystery.
To go in the path of Beowulf
Was to him a great pride;
He was zealous
That to him it should be granted
That no other man
Was esteemed greater in the world
Under the heavens than himself.
‘Art thou Beowulf
He that with such profit
Dwells in the expansive sea,
Amid the contests of the ocean?
There yet[5] for riches go!
You try for deceitful glory
In deep waters[6].--
Nor can any man,
Whether dear or odious,
Restrain you from the sorrowful path--
There yet[7] with eye-streams
To the miserable you[8] flourish:
You meet in the sea-street;
You oppress with your hands;
[9]You glide over the ocean’s waves;
The fury of winter rages,
Yet on the watery domain
Seven nights have ye toiled.’

After this extract, Turner continues:-- ‘It would occupy too much room
in the present volume to give a further account of this interesting
poem, which well deserves to be submitted to the public, with a
translation and with ample notes. There are forty-two sections of it in
the Cotton MS., and it ends there imperfectly. It is perhaps the oldest
poem of an epic form in the vernacular language of Europe which now
exists.’

In the second edition the following lines were added:--

‘After Hunferthe, another character is introduced:

Dear to his people,
of the land of the Brondingi;
the Lord of fair cities,
where he had people,
barks, and bracelets,
Ealwith, the son of Beandane,
the faithful companion
menaced.
“Then I think
worse things will be to thee,
thou noble one!
Every where the rush
of grim battle will be made.
If thou darest the grendles,
the time of a long night
will be near to thee.”’

_Third Edition._

‘Hunferth, “the son of Ecglaf, who sat at the feet of the lord of the
Scyldingi.” He is described as jealous of Beowulf’s reputation, and as
refusing to any man more celebrity than himself. He is represented as
taunting Beowulf on his exploits as a sea-king or vikingr.

“Art thou Beowulf,
he that with such profit
labours on the wide sea,
amid the contests of the ocean?
There you for riches,
and for deceitful glory,
explore its bays
in the deep waters,
till you sleep with your elders.
Nor can any man restrain you,
whether dear or odious to you,
from this sorrowful path.
There you rush on the wave;
there on the water streams:
from the miserable you flourish.
You place yourselves in the sea-street;
you oppress with your hands;
you glide over the ocean
through the waves of its seas.
The fury of the winter rages,
yet on the watery domain
seven nights have ye toiled.”’

_Criticism of the Extracts._

Detailed criticism of the extracts is unnecessary. They are, of course,
utterly useless to-day. Sufficient general criticism of the work is
found in the preceding sections devoted to a discussion of the author
and his knowledge of Old English and of the _Beowulf_.

In the third edition the author presents some criticisms of Thorkelin’s
text; but his own work is quite as faulty as the Icelander’s, and his
‘corrections’ are often misleading.

Turner is to be censured for allowing an account of _Beowulf_ so full of
inaccuracy to be reprinted year after year with no attempt at its
improvement or even a warning to the public that it had been superseded
by later and more scholarly studies.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 7.] [[Preliminary Remarks]]

[Footnote 2: See infra, p. 15.] [[Thorkelin]]

[Footnote 3: See the Life of Turner by Thomas Seccombe, _Dict.
Nat. Biog._]

[Footnote 4: Wanley, Catal. Saxon MS., p. 218.]

[Footnote 5: Second edition--
Ever acquired under heaven
more of the world’s glory
than himself.]

[Footnote 6: Second edition--ye.]

[Footnote 7: Second edition adds--
Ye sleep not with your ancestors.]

[Footnote 8: Second edition omits.]

[Footnote 9: Second edition reads--
You glide over the ocean
on the waves of the sea.]

THORKELIN’S EDITION

First Edition. First Translation (Latin).

_Circumstances of Publication._

The words of Wanley cited above[1] did not pass unnoticed in Denmark.
Thorkelin tells us in his introduction that it had long been the desire
of Suhm[2], Langebeck, Magnusen, and other Danish scholars to inspect
the MS. in the British Museum. The following is Thorkelin’s account of
his editorial labors:--

‘Via tandem mihi data fuit ad desideratum nimis diu divini vatis
Danici incomparabile opus. Arcta etenim, quæ nos et Britannos
intercessit amicitia, me allexit, ut, clementissime annuentibus
Augustissimis patriæ patribus CHRISTIANO VII. et FREDERICO VI.
iter in Britanniam anno seculi præteriti LXXXVI. ad thesauros
bibliothecarum Albionensium perscrutandos facerem....
A curatoribus, Musæi Britannici, aliarumque Bibliothecarum,
potestas mihi data [est] inspiciendi, tractandi, et exscribendi
omnia, quæ rebus Danicis lucem affere possent manuscripta. Ad quam
rem conficiendam viri nostro præconio majores Josephus Planta et
Richardus Southgate dicti Musæi Brit. præfecti in me sua officia
humanissime contulerunt. Optimo igitur successu et uberrimo cum
fructu domum reversus sum ...’ (pp. viii, ix).

Thorkelin thus obtained two copies of the poem, one made with his own
hand, the other by a scribe ignorant of Old English. These transcripts
(still preserved in Copenhagen) formed the basis for Thorkelin’s
edition. The account of his studies continues:--

‘Quæcunque igitur possent hoc meum negotium adjuvare, comparare
coepi, magnamque librorum copiam unde quaque congessi, quorum
opera carmen aggrederer. In hoc me sedulum ita gessi, ut opus
totum anno MDCCCVII confecerim, idem brevi editurus ...’ (p. xv).

Just at this time, unfortunately, Copenhagen was stormed by the English
fleet, and Thorkelin’s text and notes were burned with his library. But
the transcripts were saved. Thorkelin renewed his labors under the
patronage of Bülow, and at length published in 1815.

_Thorkelin, and his Interpretation of the Beowulf._

Grimus Johnssen Thorkelin (or Thorkelsson), 1752-1829, is remembered as
a scholar in early Germanic history. He had little beside this knowledge
and his general acquaintance with Old Germanic languages to recommend
him as an editor of the _Beowulf_. Grundtvig said that the transcript of
the _Beowulf_ must have been the work of one wholly ignorant of Old
English[3]. Thorkelin knew nothing of the peculiar style of Old English
poetry; he could recognize neither kenning, metaphor, nor compound. He
was not even fitted to undertake the transcription of the text, as the
following section will make evident.

We have seen how Sharon Turner[4] could describe the _Beowulf_.
Thorkelin seems to have been little better fitted to understand the
poem, to say nothing of editing it. He failed to interpret some of the
simplest events of the story. He did not identify Scyld, nor understand
that his body was given up to the sea, but thought that King Beowulf
‘expeditionem suscipit navalem.’ He failed to identify Breca, and
thought that Hunferth was describing some piratical voyage of Beowulf’s.
He makes Beowulf reply that ‘piratas ubique persequitur et fudit,’ and
‘Finlandiæ arma infert[5].’ He regarded Beowulf as the hero of the
Sigemund episode. He quite misapprehended the Finn episode, ‘Fin, rex
Frisionum, contra Danis pugnat; vincitur; fœdus cum Hrodgaro pangit;
fidem frangit; pugnans cadit[6].’ He regards Beowulf and a son of
Hunferth as participating in that expedition. He failed to identify
Hnæf, or Hengest, or Hrothulf, &c.

EXTRACT[7].

Hunferþ maleode _Hunferd_ loquebatur
Ecglafes bearn _Ecglavi_ filius,
Þe æt fotum sæt Qui ad pedes sedit
Frean Scyldinga Domini Scyldingorum,
On band beadu Emeritus stipendiis
Rune wæs him Momordit eum
Beowulfes siþ modges _Beowulfi_ itinere elati
Mere faran Maria sulcando
Micel æfþunca Magna indignatio,
For þon þe he ne uþe 10 Propterea quod ille nesciret
Þæt ænig oþer man Ullum alium virum
Æfre mærþa Magis celebrem
Þon ma middangardes In mundo
Gehedde under heofenum Nominari sub coelo
Þon he sylfa eart Quam se ipsum.
Þu se Beowulf Tu sis _Beowulfus_,
Se þe wiþ breccan Qui ob prædas
Wunne on sidne sæ Ceris per latum æquor
Ymb sund flite Et maria pugnas.
Þær git for wlence 20 Ibi vos ob divitias
Wada cunnedon Vada explorastis,
And for dol gilpe Et ob falsam gloriam
On deop wæter Profundas æquas.
Aldrum neþdon Annis subacto
Ne mic ænig mon Non mihi aliquis
Ne leof ne laþ Amicus aut hostis
Belean mighte. Objicere potest,
Sorh fullne siþ Illacrimabiles expeditiones.
Þa git on sund reon. Ubi vos per æquora ruistis,
Þa git ea gor stream 30 Ibi fluctus sanguinis rivis
Earmum þehton Miseri texistis.
Mæton mere stræta Metiti estis maris strata:
Mundum brugdon Castella terruistis:
Glidon ofer garsecg Fluitavistis trans æquora.
Geofon yþum Salis undæ
Weol wintris wylm Fervuerunt nimborum æstu.
Git on wæteris æht Vos in aquarum vadis
Seofon night swuncon Septem noctibus afflicti fuistis.
He þe at sunde Ille cum sundum
Oferflat hæfde 40 Transvolasset,
Mare mægen Magis intensæ vires
Þa hine on morgen tid Illum tempore matutino
On heaþo Ræmis In altam Ræmis
Holm up æt baer Insulam advexere.
Þonon he gesohte Deinde petiit
Swæsne. Dulcem,
Leof his leodum Charam suo populo
Lond Brondinga Terram Brondingorum.
Freoþo burh fægere. Libertate urbem conspicuam
Þaer he folc ahte 50 Ibi populo possessam
Burh and beagas Urbem et opes
Beot eal wiþ Correpsit. Omne contra
Þe sunu Beanstanes Tibi filius _Beansteni_
Sode gelæste. Vere persolvit.

_Criticism of the Text._

In order to show how corrupt the text is, I append a collation of the
above passage with the MS. It may be added that the lines are among the
simplest in the poem, and call for no emendation. In passages that
present any real difficulty, Thorkelin is, if possible, even more at
fault.

Line 1, _for_ maleode _read_ maþelode.
4, _insert period after_ Scyldinga.
9, _insert period after_ æfþunca.
13, _for_ middangardes _read_ middangeardes.
15, _for_ þon _read_ þon{ne}.
17, _for_ breccan _read_ brecan (i.e. Brecan).
25, _for_ mic _read_ inc.
27, _for_ mighte _read_ mihte.
37, _for_ wæteris _read_ wæteres.
38, _for_ night _read_ niht.
40, _insert period after_ oferflat.
43, _for_ heaþo Ræmis _read_ heaþoræmes (i.e. Heaþorǣmas).
46, _for_ Swæsne _read_ swæsne · ᛟ · (i.e. ēðel).
54, _for_ sode _read_ soðe.

In the composition of his text Thorkelin made all the errors known to
scribes and editors. He misread words and letters of the MS., although
he had two transcripts. He dropped letters, combinations of letters, and
even whole words. He joined words that had no relation to each other;
he broke words into two or even three parts; he ignored compounds. He
produced many forms the like of which cannot be found in Old English.
One further example of his great carelessness may be given. The first
line of the poem, which is written in large capitals in the MS.:--

Hwæt we Gardena....

Thorkelin perversely transcribed:--

Hwæt wegar Dena....

and for this combination of syllables he chose the translation:--

Quomodo Danorum.

There is, of course, no such word as ‘wegar’ in Old English.

Of the necessity of punctuation Thorkelin seems to have been serenely
unconscious; he did not even follow the guides afforded by the MS. Had
he done so, he would have saved himself many humiliating errors. For
example, in the text given above, to have noticed the periods mentioned
in the collation would have been to avoid two glaring instances of
‘running-in.’

_Criticism of the Translation._

But, in spite of the wretched text, it remained for the translation to
discover the depths of Thorkelin’s ignorance. It will be seen by reading
the extract given from the translation that he did not even perceive
that two men were swimming in the sea. It is to be remembered, too, that
his error of the ‘piratical expedition’ is carried on for sixty
lines--certainly a triumph of ingenuity. It is useless to attempt a
classification of the errors in this version. In the words of Kemble:--

‘Nothing but malevolence could cavil at the trivial errors which
the very best scholars are daily found to commit, but the case is
widely different when those errors are so numerous as totally to
destroy the value of a work. I am therefore most reluctantly
compelled to state that not five lines of Thorkelin’s edition can
be found in succession in which some gross fault, either in the
transcription or translation, does not betray the editor’s utter
ignorance of the Anglo-Saxon language.’ --Edition of 1835,
Introd., p. xxix.

_Reception of Thorkelin’s Edition._

The book was of value only in that it brought Beowulf to the attention
of scholars. The edition was used by Turner, Grundtvig, and Conybeare.
I have found the following notices of the book, which will show how it
was received by the scholarly world.

TURNER. On collating the Doctor’s printed text with the MS. I have
commonly found an inaccuracy of copying in every page.--Fifth
edition, p. 289, footnote.

KEMBLE, see supra.

THORPE. (The work of the learned Icelander exhibits) ‘a text
formed according to his ideas of Anglo-Saxon, and accompanied by
his Latin translation, both the one and the other standing equally
in need of an Œdipus.’ --Edition of 1855, Preface, xiv.

See also Grundtvig’s criticism in _Beowulfs Beorh_, pp. xvii ff.

[Footnote 1: Supra, p. 7.] [[Preliminary Remarks]]

[Footnote 2: See also Grundtvig’s edition of the text of
_Beowulf_, p. xvi.]

[Footnote 3: See _Beowulfs Beorh_, p. xviii.]

[Footnote 4: See supra, p. 11.] [[Turner’s Account...]]

[Footnote 5: See Thorkelin, p. 257.]

[Footnote 6: Ibid., p. 259.]

[Footnote 7: See Thorkelin, p. 40.]

GRUNDTVIG’S TRANSLATION

*Bjowulf’s Draape. Et Gothisk Helte-digt fra forrige Aar-tusinde af
Angel-Saxisk paa Danske Riim ved Nic. Fred. Sev. Grundtvig, Præst.
Kjøbenhavn, 1820[1]. 8vo, pp. lxxiv, 325.

Bjovulvs-Draapen, et Høinordisk Heltedigt, fra Anguls-Tungen fordansket
af Nik. Fred. Sev. Grundtvig. Anden forbedrede Udgave. Kiøbenhavn. Karl
Schønbergs Forlag. 1865. 8vo, pp. xvi, 224.

First Danish Translation. Ballad Measures.

_Grundtvig._

Nicolas Frederic Severin Grundtvig (1783-1872) was especially noted as a
student of Old Germanic literature. He began his career in 1806 by his
studies on the _Edda_. This was followed by a book on Northern Mythology
(1810), and by various creative works in verse and prose, the subjects
of which were usually drawn from old Danish history. An account of his
labors on the _Beowulf_ will be found in the following section. His
interest in Old English literature continued through his long life, and
he was well and favorably known among the scholars of his day.

_Circumstances of Publication._

In _Beowulfs Beorh_ (Copenhagen, 1861), Grundtvig tells the story of his
early translation of the poem. He had always had a passionate interest
in Danish antiquities, and was much excited upon the appearance of
Thorkelin’s text[2]. At that time, however, he knew no Old English, and
his friend Rask, the famous scholar in Germanic philology, being absent
from Denmark, he resolved to do what he could with the poem himself. He
began by committing the entire poem to memory. In this way he detected
many of the outlines which had been obscured by Thorkelin. The results
of this study he published in the _Copenhagen Sketch-Book_ (_Kjøbenhavns
Skilderie_), 1815. When Thorkelin saw the studies he was furious, and
pronounced the discoveries mere fabrications.

But Rask, upon his return, thought differently, and proposed to
Grundtvig that they edit the poem together. They began the work, but
when they reached line 925 the edition was interrupted by Rask’s journey
into Russia and Asia. With the help of Rask’s _Anglo-Saxon Grammar_
(Stockholm, 1817), Grundtvig proceeded with his translation. By the
munificence of Bülow, who had also given assistance to Thorkelin,
Grundtvig was relieved of the expense of publication.

_Progress of the Interpretation of the Poem._

Grundtvig was the first to understand the story of _Beowulf_. With no
other materials than Thorkelin’s edition of the text and his own
knowledge of Germanic mythology, he discovered the sea-burial of King
Scyld, the swimming-match, and the Finn episode. He identified Breca,
Hnæf, Hengest, King Hrethel, and other characters whose names Thorkelin
had filched from them.

_Text Used._

Rask borrowed the original transcripts which Thorkelin had brought from
the British Museum, and copied and corrected them. This was the basis of
Grundtvig’s translation.

_Differences between the First and Second Editions._

The principal difference is in the introduction; but of the nature and
extent of changes in the second edition I can give no notion. All my
information respecting the first volume is derived from transcripts of
certain parts of it sent me from the British Museum. These copies do not
reveal any differences between the two translations.

_Aim of the Volume, and Nature of the Translation._

We begin by quoting the author’s words:--

‘I have studied the poem as if I were going to translate it word
for word ... but I will not and have not translated it in that
way, and I will venture to maintain that my translation is a
faithful one, historically faithful, inasmuch as I have never
wilfully altered or interpolated anything, and poetically faithful
inasmuch as I have tried with all my might vividly to express what
I saw in the poem.... Whoever understands both languages and
possesses a poetical sense will see what I mean, and whoever is
deficient in knowledge or sense, or both, may stick to his own
view, if he will only let me stick to mine, which may be weak
enough, but is not so utterly devoid of style and poetry as little
pettifoggers in the intellectual world maintain because they can
see very well that my method is not theirs. “I have,” said Cicero,
“translated Demosthenes, not as a grammarian but as an orator, and
therefore have striven not so much to convince as to persuade my
readers of the truth of his words”: methinks I need no other
defence as regards connoisseurs and just judges, and if I am much
mistaken in this opinion, then my work is absolutely
indefensible[3].’ --Pages xxxiv, xxxv.

In the introduction to his text of 1861, Grundtvig speaks of his theory
of translation, saying that he gave, as it were, new clothes, new money,
and new language to the poor old Seven Sleepers, so that they could
associate freely with moderns. He believed that it was necessary to put
the poem into a form that would seem natural and attractive to the
readers of the day. In so doing he departed from the letter of the law,
and rewrote the poem according to his own ideas.

In the second edition the author states that he hopes the poem will
prove acceptable as a reading-book for schools. Its value as a text-book
in patriotism is also alluded to.

EXTRACT.

SJETTE SANG.

Trætten med Hunferd Drost og Trøsten derover.

Nu _Hunferd_ tog til Orde[4],
Og _Egglavs_ Søn var han,
Men Klammeri han gjorde
Med Tale sin paa Stand.
Han var en fornem Herre,
Han sad ved Thronens Fod,
Men avindsyg desværre,
Han var ei Bjovulv god;
En Torn var ham i Øiet
Den Ædlings Herrefærd,
Som havde Bølgen pløiet
Og Ære høstet der;
Thi Hunferd taalte ikke,
Med Næsen høit i Sky,
At Nogen vilde stikke
Ham selv i Roes og Ry.

‘Er du,’ see det var Skosen,
‘Den Bjovulv Mudderpram,
Som dykked efter Rosen
Og drev i Land med Skam,
Som kæppedes med _Brække_
Og holdt sig ei for brav,
Dengang I, som to Giække,
Omflød paa vildne Hav!
I vilde med jer Svømmen
Paa Vandet giøre Blæst,
Men drev dog kun med Strømmen,
Alt som I kunde bedst;
For aldrig Det ei keise
Jeg vilde slig en Klik,
Som for den Vendereise
I paa jert Rygte sik.
Paa Landet var I friske,
Men Vand kan slukke Ild,
I svømmed som to Fiske,
Ia, snart som døde Sild;
Da sagtnedes Stoheien,
Der Storm og Bølge strid
Ier viste Vinterveien
Alt i en Uges Tid.
Dog, om end Narre begge,
Kom du dog værst deran,
Thi fra dig svømmed Brække
Og blev din Overmand;
Du artig blev tilbage,
Der han en Morgenstund
Opskvulpedes saa fage
Paa høie Romøs Grund,
Hvorfra sin Kaas han satte
Til _Brondingernas_ Land,
Med Borge der og Skatte
Han var en holden Mand;
Der havde han sit Rige,
Og deiligt var hans Slot,
Han elsket var tillige
Af hver sin Undersaat.
Saa _Bjansteens_ Søn udførte
Alt hvad han trued med;
Men da du, som vi hørte,
Kom der saa galt afsted,
Saa tør jeg nok formode,
Om end du giør dig kry,
Det giør slet ingen Gode,
Du brænder dig paany;
Ia, vil en Nat du vove
At bie Grændel her,
Da tør derfor jeg love,
Dig times en Ufærd.’

_Criticism of the Translation._

The poem departs so far from the text of _Beowulf_ that any discussion
of its accuracy would be out of place. As has been shown by the section
on the nature of the translation, the author had no intention of being
true to the letter of the text. Grundtvig’s scholarship has been
discussed above.

The translation may properly be called nothing more than a paraphrase.
Whole sentences are introduced that have no connection with the original
text. Throughout the translation is evident the robust, but not always
agreeable, personality of the translator. In his preface[5] Grundtvig
remarked that he put nothing into his poem that was not historically and
poetically true to the original. The statement can only be regarded as
an unfortunate exaggeration. Grundtvig’s style cannot be called even a
faint reflection of the _Beowulf_ style. He has popularized the story,
and he has cheapened it. There is no warrant in the original for the
coarse invective of the extract that has just been cited. In the Old
English, Hunferth taunts Beowulf, but he never forgets that his rival is
‘doughty in battle’ (l. 526). Beowulf is always worthy of his respect.
In Grundtvig, the taunting degenerates into a scurrilous tirade.
Hunferth calls Beowulf a ‘mudscow’; Breca and Beowulf swim like two
‘dead herrings.’ In like manner the character of Hunferth is cheapened.
In _Beowulf_ he is a jealous courtier, but he is always heroic. In
Grundtvig he is merely a contemptible braggart, ‘with his nose high in
air,’ who will not allow himself to be ‘thrown to the rubbish heap.’

The same false manner is retained throughout the poem. In many places it
reads well--it is often an excellent story. But it can lay no claim to
historic or poetic fidelity to the _Beowulf_.

_Reception of the Book._

The book fell dead from the press. Grundtvig himself tells us that it
was hardly read outside his own house[6]. Thirty years later he learned
that the book had never reached the Royal Library at Stockholm. A copy
made its way to the British Museum, but it was the one which Grundtvig
himself carried thither in 1829. This was doubtless the copy that was
read and criticized by Thorpe and Wackerbarth. Both of these scholars
spoke of its extreme freedom, but commended its readableness.

[Footnote 1: This volume I have never seen. My information
regarding it is from a scribe in the British Museum.]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 15.] [[Thorkelin]]

[Footnote 3: Translation by scribe in British Museum.]

[Footnote 4: Several variations in meter occur in the translation.]

[Footnote 5: See supra, p. 24.] [[Gruntvig: Aim of the Volume...]]

[Footnote 6: See _Beowulfs Beorh_, p. xix.]

CONYBEARE’S EXTRACTS

Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry. By John Josias Conybeare, M.A., &c.
Edited, together with additional notes, introductory notices, &c., by
his brother, William Daniel Conybeare, M.A., &c. London: printed for
Harding and Lepard, Pall Mall East, 1826. 8vo, pp. (viii), xcvi, 287.

Anglo-Saxon Poem concerning the Exploits of Beowulf the Dane, pp.
30-167.

Translation of extracts into English blank verse, with the original text
of the extracts, and a literal translation of them into Latin prose.

_Circumstances of Publication._

The volume had its origin in the Terminal Lectures which the author gave
as Professor of Anglo-Saxon and Poetry at Oxford from 1809 to 1812[1].
We know from an autobiographical note printed in the Introduction[2]
that the _Beowulf_ was finished in October, 1820. But the book did not
appear until two years after the author’s death, and the material which
it contains is of a slightly earlier date than the title-page would seem
to indicate--e.g. the volume really antedates the third edition of
Turner’s History discussed above[3].

_Conybeare, and the Progress of the Interpretation of the Poem._

Conybeare did not edit the entire poem, and apparently never had any
intention of so doing. The selections which he translates are based on
Thorkelin’s text. He revises this text, however, in making his
translations, and even incorporates a collation of Thorkelin’s text with
the MS. (pp. 137-55). This collation, though not complete or accurate,
was serviceable, and kept Conybeare from falling into some of the errors
that the Icelander had made. He distinguished by an asterisk the MS.
readings which were of material importance in giving the sense of a
passage, and, in fact, constructed for himself a text that was
practically new.

‘The text has been throughout carefully collated with the original
Manuscript, and the translation of Thorkelin revised with all the
diligence of which the editor is capable.’ --Page 32.

‘Any attempt to restore the metre, and to correct the version
throughout, would have exceeded the bounds, and involved much
discussion foreign to the purpose of the present work. This must
be left to the labours of the Saxon scholar. It is evident,
however, that without a more correct text than that of Thorkelin,
those labours must be hopeless. The wish of supplying that
deficiency, may perhaps apologize for the occupying, by this
Collation, so large a space of a work strictly dedicated to other
purposes.’ --Page 137, footnote.

How much Conybeare improved the text may be seen by comparing his text
and Latin translation with those of Thorkelin. The first six lines of
the Prolog follow:--

CONYBEARE. THORKELIN.

Hwæt we Gar-Dena Hwæt wegar Dena
In ȝear-dagum In geardagum
Ðeod cyninga Þeod cyninga
Ðrym ȝefrunon, Þrym gefrunon
Hu ða Æðelingas Hu ða æþelingas
Ellen fremodon. --Page 82. Ellen fremodon. --Page 3.

The translations are even more interesting:--

Aliquid nos _de_ Bellicorum Danorum Quomodo Danorum
In diebus antiquis In principio
Popularium regum Populus Regum
Gloriâ accepimus, Gloriam auxerit,
Quomodo tunc principes Quomodo principes
Virtute valuerint. Virtute promoverit.

It will be seen that in these lines Conybeare has at almost every point
the advantage over Thorkelin, and is indeed very nearly in accord with
modern texts and translations. But the poem yet awaited a complete
understanding, for Conybeare could say: ‘The Introduction is occupied by
the praises of Scefing ... and of his son and successor Beowulf. The
embarkation of the former on a piratical expedition is then detailed at
some length. In this expedition (if I rightly understand the text)
himself and his companions were taken or lost at sea’ (p. 35). And, in
general, he misses the same points of the story as Thorkelin, although
he craftily refrains from translating the obscurer passages.

Conybeare apparently knew nothing of the critical work of Grundtvig.
This is not surprising when we remember that _Kjøbenhavns Skilderie_ was
probably not known outside of Denmark[4]. Moreover, it is to be
remembered that Conybeare’s extracts from the _Beowulf_ are not really
later than Grundtvig’s translation, since they were made in the same
year, 1820[5].

_Aim of the Volume, and Nature of the Translations._

From the words quoted above with respect to the collation, it will be
seen that Conybeare in no way regarded his book as a contribution to
Beowulf scholarship. As professor at Oxford, he attempted a literary
presentation of the most beautiful parts of the old poetry. His extracts
are, in general, nothing more than free paraphrases. Wishing to
popularize the _Beowulf_, he used as a medium of translation a
peculiarly stilted kind of blank verse. He dressed the poem out in
elegant phrases in order to hide the barrenness of the original.
Manifestly he feared the roughness, the remoteness of the poem in its
natural state. He feared to offend a nation of readers reveling in the
medievalism of Scott and Byron. A literal Latin translation was inserted
to appease the scholar.

EXTRACT.

‘At a single stroke he (Beowulf) cut through the “_ringed bones_”
of her neck, and

Through the frail mantle of the quivering flesh
Drove with continuous wound. She to the dust
Fell headlong,--and, its work of slaughter done,
The gallant sword dropp’d fast a gory dew.
Instant, as though heaven’s glorious torch had shone,
Light was upon the gloom,--all radiant light
From that dark mansion’s inmost cave burst forth.
With hardier grasp the thane of Higelac press’d
His weapon’s hilt, and furious in his might
Paced the wide confines of the Grendel’s hold[6].’

Page 58; _Beo._, 1565-75.

LATIN TRANSLATION.

... Ossium annulos fregit; telum per omnem penetravit moribundam
carnem. Illa in pavimentum corruit. Ensis erat cruentus, militare
opus perfectum. Effulgebat lumen, lux intus stetit, non aliter
quàm cum a cœlo lucidus splendet ætheris lampas. Ille per ædes
gradiebatur, incessit juxta muros ensem tenens fortiter a capulo
Higelaci minister irâ ac constantiâ (_sc._ Iratus et constans
animi).

Pages 113, 114.

_Criticism of the Translations._

The English version is scarcely more than a paraphrase, as may easily be
seen by comparing it with the literal translation into Latin. But even
as a paraphrase it is unsatisfactory. By way of general criticism it may
be said that, while it attains a kind of dignity, it is not the dignity
of _Beowulf_, for it is self-conscious. Like _Beowulf_ it is elaborate,
but it is the elaboration of art rather than of feeling. Moreover, it is
freighted with Miltonic phrase, and constantly suggests the Miltonic
movement. The trick of verse in line 3 is quite too exquisite for
_Beowulf_. The whole piece has a straining after pomp and majesty that
is utterly foreign to the simple, often baldly simple, ideas and phrases
of the original. Nearly every adjective is supplied by the translator:
in Old English the ‘sword’ is ‘bloody,’ in Conybeare the ‘gallant sword
drops fast a gory dew’; the cave becomes a mansion; the ‘floor’ is
‘dust’--dust in an ocean cave!--‘heaven’s candle’ becomes ‘heaven’s
glorious torch.’ The poem is tricked out almost beyond recognition.
Beowulf assumes the ‘grand manner,’ and paces ‘the Grendel’s hold’ like
one of the strutting emperors of Dryden’s elaborate drama.

[Footnote 1: See Editor’s Prefatory Notice, p. (iii).]

[Footnote 2: See Prefatory Notice, p. (v), footnote.]

[Footnote 3: See supra, pp. 14 f.] [[Turner: Third Edition]]

[Footnote 4: p. 23. Grundtvig is once mentioned in the notes,
but the reference is from the editor, not the author.]

[Footnote 5: p. 29.]

[Footnote 6: Conybeare did not translate the episode of the
swimming-match.]

KEMBLE’S EDITIONS

The Anglo-Saxon poems of Beowulf, the Traveller’s Song, and the Battle
at Finnes-burh. Edited together with a glossary of the more difficult
words, and an historical preface, by John M. Kemble, Esq., M.A. London:
William Pickering, 1833. 8vo, pp. xxii, 260. Edition limited to 100
copies.

The Anglo-Saxon Poems of Beowulf, the Traveller’s Song, and the Battle
of Finnes-burh. Edited by John M. Kemble, Esq., M.A., of Trinity
College, Cambridge. Second edition. London: William Pickering, 1835.
8vo, pp. xxxii, 263.

A Translation of the Anglo-Saxon Poem of Beowulf, with a copious
glossary, preface, and philological notes, by John M. Kemble, Esq.,
M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge. London: William Pickering, 1837.
8vo, pp. lv, 127, appendix, 179.

First English Translation. Prose.

_The 1833 Volume._

A sufficient account of this volume is given by Professor Earle, who
says of it:--

‘The text was an improvement on Thorkelin, but still very
faulty;--to say nothing of inaccuracies from want of proper
oversight as the sheets were passing through the press. The
Glossary, though short, was a valuable acquisition ... Of this
edition only 100 copies were printed;--and it was a happy
limitation, as it left room for a new edition as early as 1835,
in which the text was edited with far greater care. All the rest
remained as before, and the Preface was reprinted word for word.’
--_Deeds of Beowulf_, pp. xix, xx.

_The Text of 1835. Kemble’s Scholarship._

But whatever may be said of the text of 1833, there is nothing but
praise for the edition of 1835. In this book the poem first had the
advantage of a modern scholarly treatment, and for the first time the
text of the MS. was correctly transcribed. It received its first
punctuation. For the first time it was properly divided into half-lines,
with attention to alliteration. The text was freely emended, but the
suggested readings were placed in the footnotes, in order not to impair
the value of the text as a reproduction of the MS. The necessity for
this was made evident by Kemble himself:--

‘But while he makes the necessary corrections, no man is justified
in withholding the original readings: for although the laws of a
language, ascertained by wide and careful examination of all the
cognate tongues, of the hidden springs and ground-principles upon
which they rest in common, are like the laws of the Medes and
Persians and alter not, yet the very errors of the old writer are
valuable, and serve sometimes as guides and clues to the inner
being and spiritual tendencies of the language itself. The reader
will moreover be spared that, to some people, heart-burning
necessity of taking his editor’s qualifications too much for
granted, if side by side he is allowed to judge of the traditional
error, and the proposed correction. I have endeavoured to
accomplish this end by printing the text, letter for letter,
as I found it.’ --Preface, pp. xxiv ff.

With this wholesome respect for the tradition of the MS., it is not
strange that Kemble’s carefully chosen emendations should stand to-day
as of high critical value, and that many of them are retained in modern
editions of the text[1]. When we compare Kemble’s book with Thorkelin’s,
the advance is seen to be little less than astonishing. Thorkelin’s
emendations were worse than useless.

Kemble had a full acquaintance with the new science of comparative
philology which was developing in Germany under Jakob Grimm. He had
corresponded, and later studied, with Grimm, and, according to William
Hunt, was the ‘recognised exponent’ of his investigations[2]. It is to
Grimm that Kemble dedicates his volumes, and to him that he repeatedly
acknowledges his indebtedness. Thus Kemble brought to the study of the
poem not only a knowledge of the Old English poetry and prose, but
acquaintance with Old Norse, Gothic, Old High German, and Old Saxon. It
may sufficiently illustrate his scholarly method to instance examples of
his treatment of the unique words in _Beowulf_. Take, e.g., the word
_hose_ in line 924. This word does not appear elsewhere in Old English;
it does not appear in Lye’s _Dictionary_, the only dictionary that was
at Kemble’s disposal. Upon this word Kemble brought to bear his
knowledge of the Germanic tongues, and by citing Goth. _hansa_, OHG.
_hansa_, &c., derived the meaning _turma_--a process in which he is
supported by a modern authority like Kluge. The study of compounds also
first began with Kemble. He collected and compared the compounds in
_heaðo._. Thus he laid the foundation of all modern studies on the Old
English compound.

_Further Critical Material Afforded by the Volume of 1837._

In the 1835 volume twenty-three words were illustrated in the above way.
But it remained for the 1837 volume to present a complete glossary of
the poem, containing also important poetic words not in _Beowulf_.
By reason of its completeness and comparative work, it remained the
standard commentary on the Old English poetic vocabulary until the
appearance of Grein’s _Sprachschatz_[3].

_Aim of Kemble’s Translation._

Like his edition of the text, Kemble’s translation is quite independent
of any preceding book; like his edition of the text, its aim was
faithfulness to the original. He adheres scrupulously to the text, save
where the original is unintelligible. The translation was designed to be
used together with the glossary as a part of the apparatus for
interpreting the poem. He therefore made it strictly literal.

‘The translation is a literal one; I was bound to give, word for
word, the original in all its roughness: I might have made it
smoother, but I purposely avoided doing so, because had the Saxon
poet thought as we think, and expressed his thoughts as we express
our thoughts, I might have spared myself the trouble of editing or
translating his poem. A few transpositions of words, &c. caused
principally by the want of inflections in New English (since we
have now little more than their position by which to express the
relations of words to one another) are all that I have allowed
myself, and where I have inserted words I have generally printed
them in italics.’ --

Postscript to the Preface, p. 1.

EXTRACT.

VIII.

Hunferth the son of Eglaf spake, _he_ that sat at the feet of the
Lord of the Scyldings; he bound up[4] a quarrelsome speech: to him
was the journey of Beowulf, the proud sea-farer, a great disgust;
because he granted not that any other man should ever have beneath
the skies, more reputation with the world than he himself: ‘Art
thou the Beowulf that didst contend with Brecca on the wide sea,
in a swimming match, where ye for pride explored the fords, and
out of vain glory ventured your lives upon the deep water? nor
might any man, friend or foe, blame[5] your sorrowful expedition:
there ye rowed upon the sea, there ye two covered the ocean-stream
with your arms, measured the sea-streets, whirled them with your
hands, glided over the ocean; with the waves of the deep[6] the
fury of winter boiled; ye two on the realms of water laboured for
a week: he overcame thee in swimming, he had more strength: then
at the morning tide the deep sea bore him up on Hēathoræmes,
whence he sought his own paternal land, dear to his people, the
land of the Brondings, where he owned a nation, a town, and rings.
All his promise to thee, the son of Beanstan truly performed.’

_Criticism of the Translation._

Kemble’s scholarship enabled him to get a full understanding of the
poem, and thus to make the first really adequate translation of
_Beowulf_. He was the first to recognize the significance of kenning,
metaphor, and compound. Thus his work is to be commended chiefly because
of its faithfulness. All preceding studies had been wofully
inaccurate[7]. Kemble’s editions became at once the authoritative
commentary on the text, and held this position until the appearance of
Grein’s _Bibliothek_ (1857). In this latter book, Kemble’s text was the
principal authority used in correcting the work of Thorpe[8]. In spite
of the fact that this is a literal translation, it sometimes attains
strength and beauty by reason of its very simplicity.

[Footnote 1: See Wyatt’s text, lines 51, 158, 250, 255, 599, &c.]

[Footnote 2: See article in the _Dictionary of National Biography_.]

[Footnote 3: See infra, pp. 56 ff.]

[Footnote 4: _bound up_, onband, now generally translated ‘unbind.’]

[Footnote 5: _blame_, belēan, rather ‘dissuade’ than ‘blame.’]

[Footnote 6: _with the waves of the deep_, &c., geofon-yþu weol
wintrys wylm, so Kemble reads in his text, and for this reading
the translation is correct, but he failed to discern the kenning
to ‘geofon’ in ‘wintrys wylm.’]

[Footnote 7: See supra on Turner, p. 9; Thorkelin, p. 15;
Grundtvig, p. 22; Conybeare, p. 28.]

[Footnote 8: See infra, p. 49.] [[Thorpe]]

ETTMÜLLER’S TRANSLATION

Beowulf. Heldengedicht des achten Jahrhunderts. Zum ersten Male aus dem
Angelsächsischen in das Neuhochdeutsche stabreimend übersetzt, und mit
Einleitung und Anmerkungen versehen von Ludwig Ettmüller. Zürich, bei
Meyer und Zeller, 1840. 8vo, pp. 191.

First German Translation. Imitative measures.

_Ettmüller._

Ernst Moritz Ludwig Ettmüller (1802-77), at the time of the publication
of this book, was professor of the German language and literature in the
Gymnasium at Zürich. He had already appeared as a translator with a work
entitled _Lieder der Edda von den Nibelungen_. Later he edited
selections from the _Beowulf_ in his _Engla and Seaxna Scôpas and
Bôceras_ (1850). This text incorporated many new readings. Ettmüller was
the first to question the unity of the _Beowulf_, and sketched a theory
of interpolations which has since been developed by Müllenhoff. The
first announcement of these views is found in the introduction to this
translation.

_Theory of Translation._

Ettmüller gives full expression to his theories and aims:--

‘Vor Allem habe ich so wörtlich als möglich übersetzt, da Treue
das erste Erforderniss einer guten Übersetzung ist. Dann aber war
mein Augenmerk vorzüglich auf Wohlklang und Verständlichkeit
gerichtet. Letztere werden bei Übersetzungen dieser Art nur zu oft
vernachlässigt, da manche der Ansicht sind, ihre Arbeit sei um so
besser, je treuer sie die äussere Form des Originals in allen
Einzelheiten wiedergebe. Aber dieweil diese so mühsam an der
Schale knacken, entschlüpft ihnen nicht selten der Kern. Mein
Bestreben war demnach keineswegs, z.B. jeden Vers ängstlich dem
Originale nachzubilden, so dass die genaueste Übereinstimmung
zwischen der Silbenzahl und den Hebungen oder gar dem Klange der
Verse Statt fände. Das wäre ohnehin, ohne der deutschen Sprache
die schreiendste Gewalt anzuthun, unmöglich gewesen. Ich habe
vielmehr darnach mit Sorgfalt gestrebt, die Versbildung des
angelsächsischen Gedichtes mir in allen ihren Erscheinungen klar
zu machen, und dann frei nach dem gewonnenen Schema gearbeitet.
Daher kann ich versichern, dass man für jeden Vers meiner
Übersetzung gewiss ein angelsächsisches Vorbild findet, wenn auch
nicht grade jedesmal die Verse einander decken. Dass dabei
übrigens der höheren Rhythmik, d.h. dem ästhetisch richtigen
Verhältnisse des Ausdruckes zu dem Ausgedrückten oder, mit
Klopstock zu reden, des Zeitausdruckes oder Tonverhaltes (der
Bewegung) zu dem Gedanken, überall die grösste Sorgfalt zugewendet
ward, das braucht, dünkt mich, keiner besondern Versicherung; dies
aber kann erreicht werden auch ohne knechtische Nachbildung des
Originals.’ --Page 59.

_Text, and Indebtedness to Preceding Scholars._

The translation is founded on Kemble’s text of 1835[1], to which the
introduction and notes are also indebted.

Like Kemble, Ettmüller was a close student of the works of Jakob Grimm,
and his interpretation of obscure lines (especially passages relating to
Germanic antiquities) is largely due to the study of such works as the
_Deutsche Mythologie_ (1833), the _Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer_ (1828),
and the _Deutsche Sagen_ (1816-8). Cf. lines 458, 484.

EXTRACT.

Ecglâfes Sohn Hûnferdh da sagte,
der zu Füssen sass dem Fürsten der Skildinge,
entband Beadurunen--ihm war Beowulfes Beginn,
des muthigen Meergängers, mächtig zuwider;
ungern sah er, dass ein andrer Mann
irgend Machtruhmes mehr in Mittelgart,
auf Erden äufnete denn er selber--:
‘Bist du der Beowulf, der mit Breca kämpfte
in sausender See, im Sundkampfe? 600
Ihr da aus Übermuth Untiefen prüftet
und aus Tollmuth ihr in tiefem Wasser
das Leben wagtet; liesset keinen,
nicht Freund noch Feind, da fernen euch
von der sorgvollen That, als zur See ihr rudertet.
Dort ihr den Egistrom mit Armen wandtet,
masset die Meerstrasse, mischtet mit Händen,
glittet über’s Geerried (Glanderfluthen
warf Winters Wuth!), in Wassers Gebiet
sieben Nächt’ ihr sorgtet: Er, Sieger der Wogen, 610
hatte mehr der Macht, denn zur Morgenzeit ihn
bei Headhoræmes die Hochfluth antrug.--
Von dannen er suchte die süsse Heimat,
lieb seinen Leuten, das Land der Brondinge,
die feste Friedeburg, da Volk er hatte,
Burg und Bauge;--All Erbot wider dich
der Sohn Beanstânes sorglichst erfüllte.’

_Criticism of the Translation._

In his translation Ettmüller followed in the steps of Kemble[2], but he
was not slavishly dependent upon him. At times he disagrees with the
English scholar (cp. e.g., ll. 468, 522, 1331), and offers a translation
of the passage omitted by him, 3069-74. In general, the translation is
strictly literal, and follows the original almost line for line.

It was probably well for Ettmüller that he made his translation thus
literal. In the history of a foreign-language study there is a period
when it is best that a translation should be strictly literal, for such
a work is bound to be called into service as a part of the critical
apparatus for the interpretation of the tongue. If the early translation
is not thus literal, it is sure to be superseded later by the more
faithful rendering, as Schaldemose’s superseded Grundtvig’s in
Denmark[3]. It is not until criticism and scholarship have done their
strictly interpretative work that a translation is safe in attempting to
render the spirit rather than the letter of the original. The reason for
this is evident: no real appreciation of the spirit is possible until
scholarship has provided the means for discovering it.

By the publication of this volume, therefore, Ettmüller did for German
scholarship what Kemble had done for English and Schaldemose was to do
for Danish scholarship. Yet he might with propriety have made his work
more simple. His translation is disfigured by numerous strange
word-combinations which he often transcribed literally from the
original, e.g. _beadu-runen_ in the third line of the extract. It is
safe to say that none but a scholar in Old English would be able to
understand this word--if, indeed, we may call it a word. The text is
full of such forms. The author is obliged to append notes explaining his
own translation! He apparently forgets that it is his business as
translator to render the difficult words as well as the simple ones. In
Ettmüller’s case it was especially unfortunate, because it gave others
an opportunity to come forward later with simpler, and hence more
useful, translations.

_Reception of the Translation._

The book had no extraordinary success. A reprint was never called for,
and was perhaps hardly to be expected, considering the existence of
Kemble’s volumes. Moreover, the translation was not accompanied by an
edition of the text. Grein[4], the next German scholar, took his
inspiration from Kemble[5] and Thorpe[6] rather than from Ettmüller.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 33.] [[Kemble]]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 33.] [[Kemble]]

[Footnote 3: See supra, p. 22, and infra, p. 41 ff.]

[Footnote 4: See infra, p. 55.] [[Grein]]

[Footnote 5: See supra, p. 33.] [[Kemble]]

[Footnote 6: See infra, p. 49.] [[Thorpe]]

SCHALDEMOSE’S TRANSLATION

Beo-wulf og Scopes Widsið, to angelsaxiske Digte, med Oversættelse og
oplysende Anmærkninger udgivne af Frederik Schaldemose. Kjøbenhavn,
1847.

Anden Udgave, Kjøbenhavn, 1851. 8vo, pp. ii, 188.

Second Danish Translation.

_Nature of the Volume, and Indebtedness to Previous Scholars._

In this book the Old English text and the Danish translation were
printed in parallel columns. The text, which was taken literally from
Kemble[1], need not detain us here. No mention is made of the work of
Leo[2], Ettmüller[3], or of the 1837 volume of Kemble, although the
influence of the latter is evident throughout the book, as will be shown
below. The notes are drawn largely from the works of preceding scholars,
and in these the author makes an occasional acknowledgement of
indebtedness.

The translation is literal. Grundtvig’s translation[4] had been so
paraphrastic as often to obscure the sense, and always the spirit,
of the original. Schaldemose had the advantage of presenting the most
modern text side by side with the translation. Thus the book became a
valuable _apparatus criticus_ for the Danish student.

_Schaldemose._

The life of Frederik Schaldemose (1782-1853) was by no means the quiet,
retired life of the student. He had, it is true, been professor at the
school of Nykjøbing from 1816 to 1825, and later devoted himself to
literary work; but a large part of his life had been spent in military
service, in which he had had many exciting adventures by land and sea.
After leaving his professorship he again entered military service.
Later, he devoted his time alternately to literary and commercial work.

His interest in _Beowulf_ seems to have been, like that of Thorkelin[5],
primarily the interest of the Danish antiquary. In 1846 he had published
a collection of Heroic Danish Songs, ancient and modern. It was
doubtless a desire to add to this collection that led him to undertake
an edition of the _Beowulf_.

It was hardly to be expected that a man whose life had been so unsettled
could materially advance the interpretation of Old English poetry.

EXTRACT.

Hunferd sagde,
Sønnen af Ecglaf;
han sad ved Scyldinge-
Styrerens Fødder;
Kiv han begyndte,
thi kjær var ham ikke
Beowulfs Reise,
den raske Søfarers,
men til Sorg og Harme, 1000
thi han saae ei gjærne
at en anden Mand
meer Magtroes havde,
under Himmelens Skyer
end selv han aatte:
Er Du den Beowulf,
der med Breca kjæmped’
paa det vide Hav
i Væddesvømning,
da I af Hovmod 1010
Havet udforsked’,
og dumdristige
i dybe Vande
vovede Livet;
ei vilde Nogen,
Ven eller Fjende,
afvende eders
sorgfulde Tog;
til Søen I da roed,
vendte med Armene 1020
de vilde Bølger,
maalde Havveien,
med Hænderne brød den,
og svam over Havet
mens Søen vælted
vinterlige Vover;
saa paa Vandenes Ryg
I strede syv Nætter;
han, Seirer paa Havet,
aatte meer Styrke, 1030
thi aarle on Morgenen
til Headhoræmes
Havet ham førde;
derfra han søgde
sit Fædrenerige,
feiret af Sine,
Brondinge-Landet
det fagre Fristed,
hvor et Folk han havde,
Borge og Ringe. 1040
Saa blev hvad Beanstans
Søn Dig loved’
sikkerlig opfyldt.

_Criticism of the Text and Translation._

There are two good things to be said of this volume: it contains a
literal translation, and it is a literal translation from Kemble’s text.
Being so, it could not be without merit. There was need of a literal
translation in Denmark. Grundtvig’s version certainly did not fulfil the
letter of the law, and Thorkelin’s had long since been forgotten.

Schaldemose’s dependence upon the translation of Kemble is very evident.
In general, the Danish translator is stopped by the same passages that
defy the English translator, e.g. the passage which Kemble failed to
interpret at line 3075 was duly and loyally omitted by Schaldemose.

I can find no evidence for the reiterated[6] statement that Schaldemose
is throughout his translation slavishly indebted to Ettmüller. Certain
it is that he avoided those peculiar forms of Ettmüller’s translation
which are nothing more than a transliteration from the Old English.

_Reception of the Volume._

It is a tribute to the Danish interest in Beowulf that Schaldemose’s
volume soon passed into a second edition. But it was not of a character
to arouse the interest of scholars in other countries. Thorpe, the next
editor of the poem, had never seen it.

The translation, being strictly literal, naturally commanded very little
attention even in Denmark; while it was utterly without interest for
readers and students in other countries.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 33.] [[Kemble]]

[Footnote 2: See infra, p. 121.] [[Leo]]

[Footnote 3: See supra, p. 37.] [[Ettmüller]]

[Footnote 4: See supra, p. 22.] [[Gruntvig]]

[Footnote 5: See supra, p. 15.] [[Thorkelin]]

[Footnote 6: See Wülker, _Ang. Anz._ IV, 69; Wackerbarth’s ed.
(see infra, p. 45).]

WACKERBARTH’S TRANSLATION

Beowulf, an epic poem translated from the Anglo-Saxon into English
verse, by A. Diedrich Wackerbarth, A.B., Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the
College of our Ladye of Oscott. London: William Pickering, 1849. 8vo,
pp. xlvi, 159.

Second English Translation. Ballad Measures.

_Circumstances of Publication._

In the introduction Wackerbarth gives a full account of the history of
the book:--

‘With respect to the Work now presented to the Public, shortly
after the putting forth of Mr. Kemble’s Edition of the Anglo-Saxon
Text in 1833 I formed the Design of translating it, and early in
1837 I commenced the Work. Mr. Kemble’s second Volume had not then
appeared, and I proceeded but slowly, on account of the Difficulty
of the Work, and the utter Inadequacy of any then existing
Dictionary. I still however wrought my Way onward, under the
Notion that even if I should not think my Book, when finished, fit
for Publication, yet that the MS. would form an amusing Tale for
my little Nephews and Nieces, and so I went through about a
Quarter of the Poem when Illness put an entire stop to my
Progress. Afterwards, though the Appearance of Mr. Kemble’s
additional Volume, containing the Prose Version, Glossary, &c. had
rendered the remainder of my Task comparatively easy, other
Matters required my Attention, and the MS. lay untouched until
1842, between which Time and the present it has been from Time to
Time added to and at length completed, and the whole carefully
revised, much being cancelled and retranslated.’ --Introduction,
p. viii.

_Indebtedness to preceding Scholars._

‘In my Version I have scrupulously adhered to the text of Mr.
Kemble, adopting in almost every Instance his Emendations.... My
thanks are due to Mr. Kemble ... to the Rev. Dr. Bosworth ... who
have ... kindly answered my Inquiries relative to various Matters
connected with the poem.’ --Pages viii, xiv.

_Style and Diction._

‘I have throughout endeavoured to render the Sense and the Words
of my Author as closely as the English Language and the Restraints
of Metre would allow, and for this Purpose I have not shrunken
either from sacrificing Elegance to Faithfulness (for no
Translator is at liberty to misrepresent his Author and make an
old Saxon Bard speak the Language of a modern Petit Maître) or
from uniting English Words to express important Anglo-Saxon
compounds.... Some may ask why I have not preserved the
Anglo-Saxon alliterative Metre. My Reason is that I do not think
the Taste of the English People would at present bear it. I wish
to get my book read, that my Countrymen may become generally
acquainted with the Epic of our Ancestors wherewith they have been
generally unacquainted, and for this purpose it was necessary to
adopt a Metre suited to the Language; whereas the alliterative
Metre, heavy even in German, a Language much more fitted for it
than ours, would in English be so heavy that few would be found to
labour through a Poem of even half the Length of the Beówulf’s lay
when presented in so unattractive a Garb.’ --Pages ix, x.

EXTRACT.

CANTO VIII.

But haughty Hunferth, Ecg-láf’s Son
Who sat at royal Hróth-gár’s Feet
To bind up Words of Strife begun
And to address the noble Geat.
The proud Sea-Farer’s Enterprize 5
Was a vast Grievance in his Eyes:
For ill could bear that jealous Man
That any other gallant Thane
On earth, beneath the Heavens’ Span,
Worship beyond his own should gain. 10
‘Art thou Beó-wulf,’ then he cry’d,
‘With Brecca on the Ocean wide
That didst in Swimming erst contend,
Where ye explor’d the Fords for Pride
And risk’d your Lives upon the Tide 15
All for vain Glory’s empty End?
And no Man, whether Foe or Friend,
Your sorry Match can reprehend.
O’er Seas ye rowed, your Arms o’erspread
The Waves, and Sea-paths measuréd. 20
The Spray ye with your Hands did urge,
And glided o’er the Ocean’s Surge;
The Waves with Winter’s fury boil’d
While on the watery Realm ye toil’d,
Thus seven Nights were told, 25
Till thee at last he overcame,
The stronger in the noble Game.
Then him at Morn the billowy Streams
In triumph bare to Heatho-rǽmes
From whence he sought his Fatherland, 30
And his own Brondings’ faithful Band,
Where o’er the Folk he held Command,
A City, Rings, and Gold.
His Promise well and faithfully
Did Beanstán’s Son perform to thee; 35
And ill I ween, though prov’d thy Might
In Onslaught dire and deadly Fight,
Twill go with thee, if thou this Night
Dar’st wait for Grendel bold.’

_Criticism of the Translation._

Wackerbarth’s translation is not to be considered as a rival of
Kemble’s[1]--the author did not wish it to be so considered. Kemble
addressed the world of scholars; Wackerbarth the world of readers.
Wackerbarth rather resembles Conybeare[2] in trying to reproduce the
_spirit_ of the poem, and make his book appeal to a popular audience.
Wackerbarth had the advantage of basing his translation on the accurate
and scholarly version of Kemble; yet Conybeare and Wackerbarth were
equally unsuccessful in catching the spirit of the original. The reason
for their failure is primarily in the media which they chose. It would
seem that if there were a measure less suited to the Beowulf style than
the Miltonic blank verse used by Conybeare, it would be the ballad
measures used by Wackerbarth. The movement of the ballad is easy, rapid,
and garrulous. Now, if there are three qualities of which the _Beowulf_
is not possessed, they are ease, rapidity, and garrulity. Not only does
the poet avoid superfluous words--the ballad never does--but he
frequently does not use words enough. His meaning is thus often vague
and nebulous, or harsh and knotted. Nor can the poem properly be called
rapid. It is often hurried, and more often insufficient in detail, but
it never has sustained rapidity. The kenning alone is hostile to
rapidity. The poet lingers lovingly over his thought as if loath to
leave it; he repeats, amplifies. The description of Grendel’s approach
to Heorot is given three times within twenty lines.

Now these features which have just been described Wackerbarth’s ballad
lines are eminently unfitted to transmit. But there is still another
reason for shunning them. They are almost continuously suggestive of
Scott. Of all men else the translator of _Beowulf_ should avoid Scott.
Scott’s medievalism is hundreds of years and miles away from the
medievalism of _Beowulf_. His is the self-conscious, dramatic, gorgeous
age of chivalry, of knight and lady, of pomp and pride. _Beowulf_ is
simple to bareness.

It is in such strong picturesque passages as the swimming-match that
Wackerbarth’s style is worst. There is a plethora of adjectives,
scarcely one of which is found in the original; but they are of no
avail--they are too commonplace to render the strength and raciness of
the original words. There is too much ballad padding--‘then he cry’d,’
‘at last,’ ‘well and faithfully,’ ‘onslaught dire, and deadly fight.’
Hunferth prattles. The heroic atmosphere is gone.

In passages calling for calmness, solemnity, or elevation of
thought--and there are many such--the easy flow of a verse monotonous
and trivial effectually destroys the beauty of the lines.

But in spite of its very evident limitations, Wackerbarth’s translation
was a move in the right direction. His aim, in his own words, was to
‘get his book read,’ and he was wise in choosing a medium that would be
popular, even if it were not satisfactory to the scholar. It was better
to have _Beowulf_ according to Wackerbarth than no _Beowulf_ at all.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 33.] [[Kemble]]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 28.] [[Conybeare]]

THORPE’S EDITION

The Anglo-Saxon Poems of Beowulf, The Scop or Gleeman’s Tale, and the
Fight at Finnesburg. With a literal translation, notes, and glossary,
&c., by Benjamin Thorpe. Oxford: printed by James Wright, Printer to the
University. M.DCCC.LV.

*Reprinted, 1875. 12mo, pp. xxxiv, 330.

Third English Translation. Short Lines.

_Author’s Prefatory Remarks._

‘Twenty-four years have passed since, while residing in Denmark,
I first entertained the design of one day producing an edition of
Beowulf; and it was in prosecution of that design that,
immediately on my arrival in England in 1830, I carefully collated
the text of Thorkelin’s edition with the Cottonian manuscript.
Fortunately, no doubt, for the work, a series of cares, together
with other literary engagements, intervened and arrested my
progress. I had, in fact, abandoned every thought of ever resuming
the task: it was therefore with no slight pleasure that I hailed
the appearance of Mr. Kemble’s first edition of the text of
Beowulf in 1833....

‘Copies of Mr. Kemble’s editions having for some time past been of
rare occurrence, I resolved on resuming my suspended labour, and,
as far as I was able, supplying a want felt by many an Anglo-Saxon
student both at home and abroad....

‘My first impulse was to print the text of the poem as it appears
in the manuscript, with a literal translation in parallel columns,
placing all conjectural emendations at the foot of each page; but,
on comparing the text with the version in this juxta-position,
so numerous and so enormous and puerile did the blunders of the
copyist appear, and, consequently, so great the discrepance
between the text and the translation, that I found myself
compelled to admit into the text the greater number of the
conjectural emendations, consigning to the foot of the page the
corresponding readings of the manuscript. In every case which I
thought might by others be considered questionable, I have
followed the more usual course, of retaining in the text the
reading of the manuscript, and placing the proposed correction at
foot....

‘Very shortly after I had collated it, the manuscript suffered
still further detriment.

‘In forming this edition I resolved to proceed independently of
the version or views of every preceding editor.’ --Pages vii,
viii, xii, xiii.

_Criticism of Thorpe’s Text._

Considering the amount of time that had elapsed between this and the
edition of Kemble[1], Thorpe can hardly be said to have made a
satisfactory advance. In some respects his edition is actually inferior
to Kemble’s. It is probable, for example, that the collation of which
the author speaks in his introduction was the one which he had made
twenty years before, and that, in taking up his work a second time,
he did not trouble himself to revise it. At any rate, the MS. did not
receive from Thorpe that respectful attention that it had had from
Kemble. Thorpe was more clever than the former scholar in deciphering
faded lines of the MS., but he was not always careful to indicate those
letters which he actually found there, and those he himself supplied
from conjecture. Yet these readings were often of sufficient importance
to affect an entire passage, and later scholarship has in many cases
deciphered readings whose sense is entirely different from Thorpe’s.
Thus his edition presents striking divergences from later texts, while
no explanation of them is offered in the footnotes. Not only does he
frequently incorporate his own readings in the text without noting the
MS. forms, but he even makes mistakes in the MS. forms which he does
note. A collation of Thorpe’s text with the MS. has revealed a
carelessness which was all the more reprehensible in that it came from a
scholar who was thought to be well-nigh infallible. A few examples of
this carelessness are given:--

Line 319 (158)[2], _banan_ (misreads MS. in footnote).
487 (241), _Ic_ (word emended from _le_ without noting MS. form).
1160 (578), _hwæþere_ (emends without noting the MS. form).
1207 (601), _ac him_ (omits a word).
4408 (2201), _hilde hlemmum_ (MS. misread in a footnote.
Emendation unnecessary).

At line 2218 the MS., badly mutilated at this point, reads,

_... slæpende be syre ... de þeofes cræfte._

In Thorpe’s edition the line reads (4443),

_... slæpende be fire, fyrena hyrde þeófes cræfte._

Not only does he fail to state that he has changed MS. _sy_ to _fi_, but
he gives no indication that for the words _fyrena hyrde_ there is no
room in the MS., and that the reading is entirely of his own making.

In order to afford a comparative estimate of the work of Thorpe and
Kemble, I append the texts of each as they appear at what is now line
2000[3].

THORPE. KEMBLE.

Þæt is undyrne, þ̷ is un-dyrne,
dryhten Higelác, dryhten Hige-lác,
(uncer) gemeting ... ge-meting
monegum fyra, monegū fira
hwylce (orleg)-hwíl 5 hwylce ... hwíl
uncer Grendles uncer Grendles
wearð on þám wange, wearð on wange,
þær he worna fela þær he worna fela
Sige-Scyldingum síge-(Scyl)dingum
sorge gefremede, 10 sorge ge-fremede,
yrmðe tó aldre. yrmð(o) tó aldre;
Ic þæt eall gewræc, ic þ̄ eall ge-wræc,
swá ne gylpan þearf swá (ne) gylpan ðearf
Grendles maga Grendeles maga
(ǽnig) ofer eorðan 15 (ǽnig) ofer eorðan
uht-hlem þone, uht-hlem ðone,
se þe lengest leofað (se þe) lengest leofað
láðan cynnes. ládan cynnes,
Fǽr-bifongen, ... (fǽr)-bí-fongen.

These selections give a good basis for judging the merits and defects of
Thorpe’s edition. Thorpe is seen to have the advantage in deciphering
certain parts of the text, see e.g. lines 9, 11, 17. On the other hand,
Kemble is far more conscientious. Thus at line 13 Thorpe reads _ne_ as
if it were found in the MS. It is not there, and Kemble is right in
inclosing the letters in parentheses. The same thing is true of _Fǽr_ in
line 19, and Gren{dl}es in line 14. Thorpe’s emendations in lines 3 and
5 are an advance on Kemble, and are still retained in the text. But
Thorpe might have followed Kemble’s punctuation in 18 and 19 to his
advantage.

EXTRACT.

VIII.

Hunferth spake,
Ecglaf’s son,
who at {the} feet sat
of {the} Scyldings’ lord;
unbound {a} hostile speech.
To him was {the} voyage of Beowulf,
{the} bold sea-farer,
{a} great displeasure;
because he grudged 1010
that any other man
ever more glories
of mid-earth
held under heaven
than himself:
‘Art thou the Beowulf
who with Breca strove
on {the} wide sea,
in {a} swimming strife,
where ye from pride 1020
tempted {the} fords,
and for foolish vaunt
in {the} deep water
ventured {your} lives?
Nor you any man,
nor friend nor foe,
might blame
{for your} sorrowful voyage,
when on {the} sea ye row’d,
when ye {the} ocean-stream, 1030
with {your} arms deck’d,
measur’d {the} sea-ways,
with {your} hands vibrated {them},
glided o’er {the} main;
ocean boil’d with waves,
with winter’s fury:
ye on {the} water’s domain,
{for} seven nights toil’d.
He thee in swimming overcame,
{he} had more strength, 1040
when him at morning tide,
on to Heatho-ræmes
{the} sea bore up;
whence he sought
{his} dear country,
{the} beloved of his people,
{the} Brondings’ land,
{his} fair, peaceful burgh,
where he {a} people own’d,
{a} burgh and rings. 1050
All {his} promise to thee
Beanstan’s son
truly fulfil’d.

_Criticism of the Translation._

This being a strictly literal translation, the reader is referred to the
sections on the text for a valuation and criticism. It is a question
whether there was need for another literal rendering in England at this
time. Kemble’s translation was not yet out of date, and with Thorpe’s
new glossary the student had a sufficient apparatus for the
interpretation of the poem.

Some German scholars have discovered that the short lines in which
Thorpe’s translation is couched are imitative of the Old English
measure. I am unable to agree with them. Probably any short-line
translation would _ipso facto_ assume a choppiness not dissimilar to the
Old English, and probably plenty of lines could be discovered which
correspond well enough to the ‘five types,’ but the agreement seems
purely fortuitous. It is quite unlikely that Thorpe intended any
imitation.

_Influence of Thorpe’s Edition._

The influence of this edition has been considerable. It was the
principal authority used by Grein[4] and Heyne[5] in constructing their
texts. Thus its influence was felt in all texts down to the publication
of the Zupitza _Autotypes_ (1882). Thomas Arnold[6] copied the text
almost word for word.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 33.] [[Kemble]]

[Footnote 2: The numbers in parentheses are those of Wyatt’s text.]

[Footnote 3: Line 3995 in Kemble; 4004 in Thorpe.]

[Footnote 4: See infra, p. 55.] [[Grein]]

[Footnote 5: See infra, p. 63.] [[Heyne]]

[Footnote 6: See infra, p. 71.] [[Arnold]]

GREIN’S TRANSLATIONS

Dichtungen der Angelsachsen, stabreimend übersetzt von C. W. M. Grein.
Erster Band. Göttingen: Georg H. Wigand, 1857. 8vo, Beowulf, pp.
223-308. Zweite (Titel-) Auflage, 1863.

Beowulf. Stabreimend übersetzt von Professor Dr. C. W. M. Grein. Zweite
Auflage. Kassel: Georg H. Wigand, 1883. 8vo, pp. 90.

Second German Translation. Imitative Measures.

_Grein’s Preparation for Scholarly Work._

Christian Wilhelm Michael Grein[1] (1825-77) was eminently well fitted
for the editing and translating of Old English poetry. He possessed a
natural aptitude for the study of Germanic Philology, and had the
advantage of studying with an excellent professor, Franz Eduard
Christoph Dietrich (1810-83), in the University at Marburg. As early as
1854 he began his labors as a translator of Old English poetry with a
version of the _Phoenix_, ‘Der Vogel Phoenix: ein angelsächsisches
Gedicht, stabreimend übersetzt,’ Rinteln, 1854. In the same year he
printed a translation of the _Heliand_.

In 1855 he assumed the position of Praktikant at the Kassel
Landesbibliothek. Here he was able to devote a large part of his
attention to the study of Old English, acquiring a familiarity with the
poetry of that tongue which it has seldom been the fortune of a scholar
to surpass. He formed the design of editing and translating the entire
body of Old English poetry and appending to it a complete glossary which
should not only give the meanings of the words, but instance every
occurrence of the word. This design he carried out between the years
1857 and 1864.

_Grein’s Texts._

The text of _Beowulf_ is found in Grein’s _Bibliothek der
angelsächsichen Poesie_, Erster Band, Göttingen, 1857, where it occupies
pp. 255-341. A second edition, several times re-edited, is _Beovulf,
nebst den Fragmenten Finnsburg und Waldere_, Kassel und Göttingen, 1867.

Grein never saw the MS. of the poem[2]. He based his text on a collation
of all the preceding editions. This was unfortunate, because, had Grein
seen the MS., he would doubtless have hastened to make a correct
transcription of it. As it was, his edition necessarily shares some of
the faults of its predecessors, since the text had never yet been
accurately transcribed. A simple illustration of this defect may be seen
by examining line 2218 of the text, where Grein reads,

_be fire, fyrena hyrde_,

following Thorpe[3]. As has been pointed out, this is an impossible
reading, and one for which there is no justification in the MS. Thorpe,
however, had presented it as the MS. reading, and Grein could not but
copy it.

Like Kemble, Grein had a supreme respect for the readings of the MS.,
and he announced his intention of following this reading wherever
possible:--

‘Bei der Behandlung des Textes galt als erste Pflicht,
handschriftliche Lesarten, wo es nur immer möglich war, zu retten
und namentlich auch manche angezweifelte, den Lexicis fremde
Wörter als wolbegründet nachzuweisen: nur da, wo Verderbniss auf
der Hand liegt, habe ich mir mit der grössten Vorsicht Aenderungen
erlaubt oder bereits von Andern vorgeschlagene Aenderungen
aufgenommen, wobei ich mich möglichst eng an das handschriftlich
gebotene anzuschliessen suchte.’ --Vorwort, iv. (_Bibl._).

This was wise. Since the days of Kemble, emendation had become
unnecessarily frequent. We have seen in what a light-hearted way Thorpe
spoke of the ‘blunders of the scribes,’ and how careless he was in the
preparation of his text. The dialect had not yet received proper
attention, and the copyists were blamed for errors that they never made.

Grein was extremely clever in filling the lacunae of the MS., and his
conjectural emendations are frequently retained by later editors.

Still another improvement which he introduced was the full punctuation
of the text; this was superior to any that had preceded it. In previous
editions defective punctuation had obscured the sense of the lines; here
it was made a factor in their interpretation.

_Theory of Translation._

Grein’s theory of translation is sufficiently expressed in the Vorrede
to the _Dichtungen_:--

‘Die Sammlung von metrischen Uebersetzungen angelsächsischer
Dichtungen, deren erster Band hiermit der Oeffentlichkeit
übergeben wird, soll einen doppelten Zweck erfüllen. Einerseits
betrachte ich dieselben als eine wesentliche Ergänzung, gleichsam
als fortlaufenden Commentar zu meiner gleichzeitig in demselben
Verlag erscheinenden Textausgabe der angelsächsischen Dichter,
indem sie meine Interpretation der Originaltexte, worin ich oft
von meinen Vorgängern abweiche, einfach vor Augen legen.
Andrerseits aber bezweckte ich dadurch die Bekanntschaft mit den
in vieler Beziehung so herrlichen dichterischen Erzeugnissen des
uns engverwandten englischen Volkes aus der Zeit vor dem
gewaltsamen Eindringen des romanischen Elements durch die
normannische Eroberung auch in weiteren Kreisen anzubahnen, was
sie sowol nach ihrem Inhalte als auch nach der poetischen
Behandlung des Stoffes gewiss in hohem Grade verdienen. Daher war
ich eifrigst bemüht, die Uebersetzung dem Original in möglichster
Treue nach Inhalt, Ausdruck und Form eng anzuschliessen:
namentlich suchte ich, soweit es immer bei dem heutigen Stande
unserer Sprache thunlich war, auch den Rhythmus des Originals
nachzubilden, wobei es vor allem auf die Beibehaltung der
eigentümlichen Stellung der Stabreime ankam, ein Punkt, der bei
der Uebertragung alter Alliterationspoesien nur zu oft
vernachlässigt wird.’ --Vorrede, iii.

_Differences between the two Editions._

The second edition of the translation (see supra, p. 65) was edited from
Grein’s ‘Handexemplar’ of the _Dichtungen_ after his death by Professor
Wülker, who has also re-edited the text of the _Bibliothek_. The
differences are seldom more than verbal, and are largely in the early
parts of the poem. The second edition is, of course, superior.

EXTRACT.

III.

Darauf sprach Hunferd, Ecglafs Sohn,
der zu den Füssen sass dem Fürst der Skildinge, 500
entband Streitrunen, (ihm war Beowulfs Reise
des mutigen Seefahrers sehr zum Aerger,
da er durchaus nicht gönnte, dass ein anderer Mann
je mehr des Ruhmes in dem Mittelkreise
besässe unterm Himmel, denn er selber hatte): 505
‘Bist du der Beowulf, der einst mit Breka schwamm
im Wettkampfe durch die weite See,
wo in Verwegenheit ihr die Gewässer prüftet
und aus tollem Prahlen in die tiefen Fluten
wagtet euer Leben? Nicht wehren konnt’ euch beiden 510
weder Lieb noch Leid der Leute einer
die sorgenvolle Fahrt, als in den Sund ihr rudertet,
wo ihr den Oceansstrom mit euren Armen decktet,
die Holmstrassen masset, mit den Händen schluget
und über den Ocean glittet: der Eisgang des Winters 515
wallete in Wogen; in des Wassers Gebiet
plagtet ihr euch sieben Nächte.
Im Schwimmspiel überwand er dich:
er hatte mehr der Macht; zur Morgenzeit
trug ihn der Holm da zu den Headorämen.
Von dannen suchte er die süsse Heimat 520
lieb seinen Leuten, das Land der Brondinge,
die liebliche Friedeburg, wo er sein Volk hatte,
Burg und Bauge. Da hatte all sein Erbot wider dich
vollbracht in Wahrheit Beanstans Sohn[4].’

_Criticism of the Translation._

The translation is a literal line-for-line version. Its superiority to
its predecessors is, therefore, one with the superiority of the text on
which it is founded.

The translation became at once the standard commentary on _Beowulf_, and
this position it retained for many years. It is still the standard
literal translation in Germany, none of the later versions having
equaled it in point of accuracy.

[Footnote 1: For biographical facts see Grein-Wülker,
_Bibliothek_, Band III, 2te Hälfte, p. vii.]

[Footnote 2: See Grein-Wülker, _Bibliothek_, Vorrede.]

[Footnote 3: See supra, p. 52.] [[Thorpe: Criticism of Text]]

[Footnote 4: The second edition presents no variation from this
save the omission of the comma in line 501.]

SIMROCK’S TRANSLATION

Beowulf. Das älteste deutsche Epos. Uebersetzt und erläutert von Dr.
Karl Simrock. Stuttgart und Augsburg: J. G. Cotta’scher Verlag, 1859.
8vo, pp. iv, 203.

Third German Translation. Imitative Measures.

_Simrock._

Dr. Karl Simrock (1802-1876) brought to the translation of _Beowulf_ the
thorough knowledge of a scholar, the fine feeling and technique of a
poet, and an enviable reputation as a translator of Old German poetry.
At the time when he made his translation of _Beowulf_, he was Professor
of Old German Literature at Bonn, whither he had been called because of
his contributions to the study of Old German mythology. His title to
remembrance rests, however, on his metrical rendering of the
_Nibelungenlied_, a work which, in 1892, had passed into its
fifty-second edition. As an original poet, Simrock is remembered for his
_Wieland der Schmied_ (1835), and _Gedichte_ (1844).

_Object of the Translation._

Simrock wished to do for _Beowulf_ what he had done for the
_Nibelungenlied_, _Walther von der Vogelweide_, and _Der arme Heinrich_.
He objected to the too literal work of Ettmüller[1] and Grein[2], hoping
in his own work to make the poem readable and to dispense with a ‘note
for every third word’:

‘Geist und Stimmung einer fernen Heldenzeit anklingen zu lassen,
und doch dem Ausdruck die frische Farbe des Lebens zu verleihen.’
--Vorrede, iii.

In this ambition he was justified by his success as a translator of Old
German poetry.

_Nature of the Translation._

The diction of the version is, on the whole, characterized by simplicity
and ease. Yet the author, like many another translator of Old English,
tries to give his style an archaic tinge by preserving the compound
forms characteristic of that language, such as Lustholz, Aelgelage,
Kampfrunen, a fault that Ettmüller had carried to excess. These forms he
sometimes used to the exclusion of simpler, or even more literal, words.
The nature of the German language, however, keeps these from being as
repulsive as they are in English, but they are sufficiently strange to
mystify and annoy the reader.

The feature of his translation for which Simrock was most concerned was
the measure:

‘Vor Allem aber den Wohllaut, der echter Poesie unzertrennlich
verbunden ist, das schien mir die erste Bedingung, damit der Leser
... den Sinn ahne und von der Schönheit des Gedichts ergriffen
von Blatt zu Blatt getragen werde. Nur so glaubte ich eine
tausendjährige Kluft überbrücken und dieser mit Angeln und Sachsen
ausgewanderten Dichtung neues Heimatsrecht bei uns erwerben zu
können.’ --Vorrede, iii, iv.

He also preserved alliteration, believing that a fondness for that
poetic adornment may be easily acquired, and that it is by no means
inconsistent with the genius of modern tongues.

_Relation of Translation and other Parts of the Book._

The notes to the translation contain discussions of the episodes and of
the mythological personages of the poem. There is a discussion of the
poetic worth of _Beowulf_, and an argument for the German origin of the
poem. But the translation is the _raison d’être_ of the volume, and
other parts are strictly subordinated to it. The Finnsburg fragment is
inserted at the end of section 16. As the author does not wish to
disturb the order of _Beowulf_, he is obliged to place the poem at the
end of the Finnsburg episode (in _Beowulf_), a very ill-chosen position,
where it can only confuse the general reader more than the obscure lines
to which it is related. This practice of inserting the Finnsburg
fragment, lately revived by Hoffmann[3], has been generally repudiated.

_Text, and Indebtedness to Preceding Scholars._

The text followed is Grein’s (1857)[4]. The translator acknowledges his
indebtedness to the versions of Ettmüller and Grein.

EXTRACT.

8. HUNFERD.

Da begann Hunferd, Ecglafs Sohn,
Der zu Füssen sass dem Fürsten der Schildinge,
Kampfrunen zu entbinden: ihm war Beowulfs Kunft,
Des kühnen Seeseglers, schrecklich zuwider.
Allzu ungern sah er, dass ein anderer Mann
In diesem Mittelkreiss mehr des Ruhmes
Unterm Himmel hätte als Hunferd selbst:

‘Bist du der Beowulf, der mit _Breka_ schwamm
Im Wettkampf einst durch die weite See?
Wo ihr tollkühn Untiefen prüftet,
Mit vermessnem Muth in den Meeresschlünden
Das Leben wagtet? Vergebens wehrten euch
Die Lieben und Leiden, die Leute zumal
So sorgvolle Reise, als ihr zum Sunde rudertet,
Das angstreiche Weltmeer mit Armen decktet,
Die Meerstrassen masset, mit den Händen schlugt
Durch die Brandung gleitend; aufbrauste die Tiefe
Wider des Winters Wuth. Im Wasser mühtet ihr
Euch sieben Nächte: da besiegt’ er dich im Schwimmen.
Seiner Macht war mehr: in des Morgens Frühe
Hob ihn die Hochflut zu den _Headorämen_.
Von dannen sucht’ er die süsse Heimat,
Das Leutenliebe, das Land der _Brondinge_,
Die feste Friedensburg, wo er Volk besass,
Burg und Bauge. Sein Erbieten hatte dir
Da _Beanstans_ Geborner vollbracht und geleistet.’

_Criticism of the Translation._

Simrock’s translation is commendable for its faithfulness. It is,
moreover, a simple and readable version, though in these respects it is
not equal to Heyne’s rendering which was to follow it; but it was easily
superior to Grein’s. Yet, in spite of this, the book is not well known
among German translations, and has never passed into a second edition.
This is surprising when we consider the success of Simrock’s previous
translations. The partial failure is accounted for by two facts:
(1) Simrock’s reputation as a scholar was not equal to that of Grein or
Heyne, nor had he the advantage of editing the text; (2) the measure
which the translation employed has never been popular among readers. No
German translation in imitative measures, with the single exception of
Grein’s (which has made its appeal as a scholarly work and not as a
piece of literature), has ever passed into a second edition; while
versions couched in iambic lines or Nibelungen meters have been
reprinted.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 37.] [[Ettmüller]]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 55.] [[Grein]]

[Footnote 3: See infra, p. 99.] [[Hoffmann]]

[Footnote 4: See supra, p. 56.] [[Grein’s Texts]]

HEYNE’S TRANSLATION

Beowulf. Angelsächsisches Heldengedicht übersetzt von Moritz Heyne.
Paderborn: Druck und Verlag von Ferd. Schöningh, 1863. 12mo, pp. viii,
127.

Zweite Auflage. Paderborn: Schöningh, 1898. 8vo, pp. viii, 134.

Fourth German Translation. Iambic Pentameter.

_Heyne._

The name of Moritz Heyne is one of the most illustrious in the history
of Beowulf scholarship. The Heyne editions of the text[1] have been
standard for nearly forty years, while the translation has been recently
reprinted (1898). Beside his work on the _Beowulf_, this scholar was to
become prominent as editor of the _Heliand_ and of _Ulfilas_, and as one
of the staff appointed to complete Grimm’s Dictionary.

At the time when he printed his edition of the _Beowulf,_ Heyne was a
student at Halle, and but twenty-six years of age (born 1837)[2]. In his
work he had some assistance from Professor Leo[3] of Halle.

_Relation of Text and Translation._

The translation was founded on the text of 1863. At the time it was by
far the best edition that had yet appeared. It was furnished with an
excellent glossary. The text had the advantage of the valuable work done
by Grundtvig[4] in collating the two transcripts made by Thorkelin[5].
It thus came a stage nearer the MS. readings than any other existing
edition, while it avoided the unnecessary conjectures of the Danish
editor.

Heyne’s text having been five times re-edited, the first edition of the
translation often fails to conform to readings which have been
introduced into the text in later editions; but the free nature of the
translation makes this of no great importance.

_Differences between the First and Second Editions of the Translation._

The differences between the two editions are not of much importance. The
translation is in general, though not always, brought up to the late
editions of the text, and some changes are made for the improvement of
the meter.

The first edition contains 3201 lines; the second 3207. The theory and
aim of the translation are not changed at all.

_Aim of Heyne’s Translation._

In this translation of the _Beowulf_, Heyne attempts to popularize what
he considers the most beautiful of the Old English poems. He says
of it--

‘Es ist nicht die erste, die ich biete; gleichwol hoffe ich es
werde die erste sein, die auch einem grössern Publicum, das noch
nicht Gelegenheit hatte, sich mit den ältern Dialecten unserer
Sprache zu beschäftigen, verständlich ist. Die ältern deutschen
Uebersetzer haben, bei allen Verdiensten ihrer Arbeit, unserer
neuhochdeutschen Muttersprache teilweise übel mitgespielt.’
--Vorwort, iii.

With this in view, Heyne put his translation out in a form that would
make it accessible to all. This was in itself an innovation. The works
of Ettmüller[6] and Simrock[7] had been in a more elaborate _format_,
while Grein’s translation[8] was not only expensive, but encumbered with
other work, and intended primarily for the scholar.

_Nature of the Translation._

Heyne chose a new medium for his version, the unrimed iambic line. His
aim being to get his book read, he avoided a literal translation, and
rendered with commendable freedom, though not with inaccuracy. He used
no strange compounds, and shunned an unnatural verse. Thus he produced
the most readable translation that has ever appeared in Germany. Of his
own attempt he says--

‘Die vorliegende Uebertragung ist so frei, dass sie das für uns
schwer oder gar nicht genau nachzubildende allitterierende Versmass
des Originals gegen fünffüssige Jamben aufgibt, und zu Gunsten des
Sinnes sich der angelsächsischen Wort- und Satzstellung nicht zu
ängstlich anschmiegt; dagegen auch wieder so genau, dass sie
hoffentlich ein Scherflein zum vollkommenern Verständniss des
Textes beitragen wird.’ --Vorwort, iii.

Heyne’s theory of translation is one that has been very little in vogue
in Germany. He has been criticized on all sides for his freedom. Yet the
criticism is undeserved. Heyne is never paraphrastic--he never adds
anything foreign to the poem. He merely believes in translating the
obscure as well as the simple ideas of his text. His ‘freedom’ seldom
amounts to more than this--

Hē bēot ne āleh, l. 80 (he belied not his promise)
Was er gelobt, erfüllt er.

He occasionally inserts a word for metrical reasons, and sometimes, in
the interests of clearness, a demonstrative or personal pronoun, or even
a proper name (cf. l. 500 of the extract).

EXTRACT.

IX.

Da sagte Hunferd, Ecglafs Sohn, der Hrodgar 500
zu Füssen sass, dem Herrn der Schildinge,
des Streites Siegel löste er (denn sehr
war Beowulfes Ankunft ihm verhasst,
des kühnen Meerbefahrers; er vergönnte
es Niemand, mehr des Ruhmes als er selber 505
sich unterm Himmel jemals zu erwerben):
‘Bist du der Beowulf, der einst mit Breca
sich auf der weiten See im Schwimmkampf mass,
als ihr euch kühnlich in die Tiefen stürztet,
und mit verwegnem Brüsten euer Leben 510
im tiefen Wasser wagtet? Niemand konnte,
nicht Freund, nicht Feind, des mühevollen Weges
euch hindern. Da schwammt ihr hinaus in See,
wo ihr die wilde Flut mit Armen decktet,
des Wassers Strassen masset und die Hände 515
die Wogen werfen liesst; so glittet ihr
hin übers Meer. Die winterlichen Wellen,
sie giengen hoch. Der Tage sieben mühtet
ihr euch im Wasser: jener überwand dich
im Schwimmen, denn er hatte grössre Kraft. 520
Da trug die Hochflut ihn zur Morgenzeit
auf zu den Hadorämen, von wo aus er,
der seinem Volke liebe, seinen Erbsitz
im Land der Brandinge, die schöne Burg
erreichte. Dort besass er Land und Leute 525
und Schätze. Was er gegen dich gelobt,
das hatte Beanstans Sohn fürwahr erfüllt.’

The extract illustrates sufficiently the characteristics of Heyne’s
rendering. In the first place, attention may be called to the extreme
freedom of the verse, a freedom which at times makes the composition
verge upon prose. In the second place, the translation of the Old
English phrase _beadu-runen onband_ should be noticed, and compared with
the translations of Ettmüller, Grein, and Simrock, who have
respectively--

_entband beadurunen_
_entband Streitrunen_
_Kampfrunen ... entbinden._

Heyne is the only one who translates the phrase in such a way as to make
the words intelligible to a reader unacquainted with Old English.
Finally, it should be noticed that the translation is quite as accurate
as those which preceded it. Heyne certainly succeeded in his attempt to
make the poem more intelligible to the general reader than it had ever
been before. While not so serviceable to the scholar as Grein’s
translation, it is undoubtedly the most enjoyable of the German
versions.

[Footnote 1: There have been six--1863, 1868, 1873, 1879, 1888,
1898; the last two are by Dr. Adolf Socin.]

[Footnote 2: Heyne is at present Professor in the University of
Göttingen.]

[Footnote 3: See infra, p. 121.] [[Leo]]

[Footnote 4: In _Beowulfs Beorh_. See also supra, p. 22.]

[Footnote 5: See supra, p. 16.] [[Thorkelin]]

[Footnote 6: See supra, p. 37.] [[Ettmüller]]

[Footnote 7: See supra, p. 59.] [[Simrock]]

[Footnote 8: See supra, p. 55.] [[Grein]]

VON WOLZOGEN’S TRANSLATION

Beovulf (Bärwelf). Das älteste deutsche Heldengedicht. Aus dem
Angelsächsischen von Hans von Wolzogen. Leipzig: Philipp Reclam, jun.
(1872?).

Volume 430 of Reclam’s Universal-Bibliothek. Small 8vo, pp. 104.

Fifth German Translation. Imitative Measures.

_Concerning the Translator._

Hans von Wolzogen (born 1848), popularly known as a writer on the
Wagnerian operas and as conductor of the _Bayreuther Blätter_,
translated three Germanic poems for Reclam’s ‘Bibliothek’: _Beowulf_,
1872, _Der arme Heinrich_, 1873, and the _Edda_, 1877. There is no
evidence that he had any _special_ interest in Old English studies.

_Aim of the Volume._

As expressed in the ‘Vorbemerkung,’ the aim of the translator was (1) to
provide a readable translation ‘für unser modernes Publicum,’ and (2) to
make a convenient handbook for the student, so that the beginner, with
Grein’s text[1] and the present translation, might read the _Beowulf_
with no very great difficulty. So von Wolzogen made his version ‘more
literal than Heyne’s, but freer than Simrock’s’ (p. 1).

_Nature of the Translation._

The translation is in alliterative measures, called by the translator
imitative of the Old English. Von Wolzogen is concerned for this feature
of his work, and is at pains to give what he considers a full account of
the original verse as well as a lengthy defence of alliteration. Archaic
touches are occasional. The names are ‘re-translated into German’
according to a system of which, apparently, von Wolzogen alone holds the
key:--

‘... diese angelsächsische Form selbst nur eine Uebertragungsform
aus den ursprünglich deutschen Namen ist, wobei manch Einer sogar
sinnlos verdreht worden, wie z.B. der Name des Helden selbst, der
aus dem deutschen Bärwelf, Jungbär, zum Beovulf, Bienenwolf,
gemacht worden war.’ --Vorbemerkung, p. 5.

The account of the Fall of Hygelac and of Heardred, 2354-96, is shifted
to line 2207 (p. 75).

_Text Used._

The translation is apparently founded on one of Grein’s texts[2], but
the work is so inaccurate that exact information on this point is
impossible from merely internal evidence.

EXTRACT.

DRITTER GESANG.

HUNFRID.

_So sagte Hunfrid_[3], der Sohn des _Eckleif_,
Dem Schildingenfürsten zu Füssen gesessen,
Kampfrunen entbindend (es kränkte des _Bärwelf_
_Muthige Meerfahrt_ mächtig den Stolzen,
Der an Ehren nicht mehr einem andern Manne 5
Zu gönnen gemeint war im Garten der Mitte,
Als wie unter’m Himmel erworben er selbst!):
‘Bist du der _Bärwelf_, der mit _Brecht_ bekämpfte
Auf weiter See im Wetteschwimmen,
Da übermüthig und ehrbegierig 10
Eu’r Leben ihr wagtet in Wassertiefen,
_Die beid’ ihr durchschwammt?_ Da brachte zum Schwanken
Den Vorsatz der furchtbaren Fahrt euch Keiner
_Mit Bitten und Warnen_, _und_ Beide durchtheiltet
Mit gebreiteten Armen die Brandung ihr rudernd, 15
Durchmasset das Meer mit _meisternden_ Händen
Auf wogenden Wegen, während der Wirbelsturm
Rast’ in den Well’n, und _ihr rangt mit_ dem Wasser
Durch sieben Nächte. Der Sieger im Neidspiel
Zeigte sich mächt’ger; zur Zeit des Morgens 20
Riss zu den Haduraumen die Flut ihn;
ins eigene Erbe enteilt’ er von dort,
Zum Lande der Brandinge, lieb seinen _Mannen_,
Zur bergenden Burg. Da gebot er dem Volke
_Schlossreich und schatzreich_. Wie geschworen, so hielt 25
Sein Versprechen dir redlich der Sprössling des _Bonstein_.’

_Criticism of the Translation._

Von Wolzogen’s translation is hardly trustworthy. A specimen of his free
interpretation of the _Beowulf_ diction may be seen in the footnote on
page 13, where he defines _horngēap_ (i.e. ‘with wide intervals between
its pinnacles of horn’) as ‘hornreich,’ and translates _hornreced_,
‘Hornburg.’ Inaccurate renderings of the Old English have been noted
above in italics. They reveal an especial difficulty with the kenning,
a device which von Wolzogen apparently did not understand, since the
entire translation shows an attempt to interpret the kenning
hypotactically. Had the translator been making a paraphrase,
inaccuracies like ‘muthige Meerfahrt’ and ‘ihr rangt mit dem Wasser’
might be excused; but in a translation which was avowedly literal (more
literal than Heyne’s) they appear to be due to nothing less than
ignorance and carelessness. To give one example from the thousand that
bear out the truth of this statement, we may cite line 561 (p. 27),

_Ic him þēnode
deoran sweorde swā hit gedēfe wæs._

which is translated,

dawider doch diente
Mein treffliches Schwert, das treu mir beistand. (p. 27.)

This is not paraphrase; it is sheer misapprehension of the Old English.

A similar misapprehension is seen in line 15 of the extract,

Mit Bitten und Warnen,

which we are asked to accept as a translation for

ne lēof nē lāð. (l. 511.)

The verse of von Wolzogen’s translation is the poorest of the German
attempts at imitative measures. The translator is obliged at times to
append footnotes explaining the scansion of his lines (see pp. 33, 34,
65, 91). The cesura is frequently not in evidence (cf. lines 14 and 22,
both of which are also metrically incorrect); the lines are often
deficient in length (p. 29, line 26; p. 31, line 19; p. 32, line 19).

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 55.] [[Grein]]

[Footnote 2: See Vorbemerkung, p. 3.]

[Footnote 3: The italics, save those used for proper names
(which are von Wolzogen’s), indicate inaccurate renderings.]

ARNOLD’S EDITION

Beowulf, a heroic poem of the eighth century, with a translation, notes,
and appendix, by Thomas Arnold, M.A. London: Longmans, Green & Co.,
1876. 8vo, pp. xliii, 223.

Fourth English Translation. Prose.

_Circumstances of Publication._

No edition of the text of _Beowulf_ had appeared in England since the
work of Thorpe[1], now twenty years old. The textual criticism of the
Germans had, meanwhile, greatly advanced the interpretation of the poem.
Grein’s text of the poem had passed into a second, and Heyne’s into a
third, edition. There was an opportunity, therefore, for an improved
English edition which should incorporate the results of German
scholarship. This edition Mr. Thomas Arnold (1823-1900) undertook to
supply.

_Relation of the Parts._

The Introduction contained a new theory of the origin of the poem[2].
But the important part of the book was the text and translation. There
is no glossary[3]. The notes are at the bottom of the page. Here
glossarial, textual, and literary information is bundled together. There
is a very inadequate bibliography in the Introduction.

_Nature of the Translation._

The translation is a literal prose version, printed under the text. It
resembles Kemble’s work[4], rather than Thorpe’s[5]. It eschews unwieldy
compounds, and makes no attempt to acquire an archaic flavor. Supplied
words are bracketed.

_Criticism of the Text._

Arnold had access to the MS., and gave the most thorough description of
it that had yet appeared. But, strangely enough, he did not make it the
basis of his edition. He speaks of a ‘partial collation’ of the MS., but
this appears to have been nothing more than a transcription of certain
fragmentary parts of the MS. One of these passages is printed in the
Introduction, where it is referred to as an ‘exact transcript’; yet, in
collating it with the Zupitza _Autotypes_, I have found the following
errors:--

Line 2219[6], þeowes _for_ þeofes.
2220, biorn _for_ beorna.
2211, geweoldum _for_ ge weoldum.
2223, b _for_ þ.
2225, wea ... _for_ weal ...
2226, inwlitode, inwatode _for_ mwatide.

Of course the faded condition of the MS. offers some excuse for one or
two of these errors, but, if we encounter mistakes in a short transcript
professedly exact, what would have been the fate of the text had the
entire MS. been collated?

Professor Garnett[7] has noted that Arnold’s text was taken from
Thorpe’s, with some changes to suit the 1857 text of Grein. In order to
test the accuracy of these statements I have made a collation of the
texts of Arnold, Thorpe, and the MS. The list of errors in Thorpe’s
text, which I have mentioned in a discussion of that work[8], is
repeated bodily in Arnold’s. Yet there was no excuse at this time for
the retention of many of these readings. Grundtvig[9] had corrected
several of them as early as 1861 by his collation of the Thorkelin
transcripts[10]; Heyne had got rid of them by collating Thorpe’s work
with Kemble’s[11] and Grundtvig’s. Arnold makes almost no reference to
the work of Heyne, and incorporates none of his emendations. He also
overlooked Grein’s 1867 text, which contained new readings and a
glossary. Arnold himself did not emend the text in a single instance.

EXTRACT.

VIII.

Hunferth spake, the son of Ecglaf, who sat at the feet of the
master of the Scyldings; he unbound the secret counsel of his
malice. The expedition of Beowulf, the valiant mariner, was to him
a great cause of offence; for that he allowed not that any other
man on the earth should ever appropriate more deeds of fame under
heaven than he himself. ‘Art thou that Beowulf who strove against
Breca in a swimming-match on the broad sea? where ye two for
emulation explored the waves, and for foolish boasting ventured
your lives in the deep water. Nor could any man, either friend or
foe, warn you off from your perilous adventure. Then ye two rowed
on the sea, where with your arms [outspread] ye covered the
ocean-stream, measured the sea-ways, churned up [the water] with
your hands, glided over the deep; the sea was tossing with waves,
the icy wintry sea. Ye two toiled for seven nights in the watery
realm; he overcame thee in the match, he had more strength. Then,
at dawn of morn, the sea cast him up on [the coast of] the
Heathoreamas; thence he, dear in the sight of his people, sought
his loved native soil, the land of the Brondings, the fair safe
burgh where he was the owner of folk, burgh, and precious jewels.’
--Pages 37, 38.

_Criticism of the Translation._

The translation is literal, and its value is therefore in direct ratio
to the value of the text, which has been discussed above.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 49.] [[Thorpe]]

[Footnote 2: A theory which the author continued to regard as
partially tenable. See _Notes on Beowulf_ (London, 1898), p. 114.]

[Footnote 3: Contrast this with the editions of Heyne. See p. 64.]

[Footnote 4: See supra, p. 33.] [[Kemble]]

[Footnote 5: See supra, p. 49.] [[Thorpe]]

[Footnote 6: The numbers are those of Wyatt’s text; for Zupitza’s
and Arnold’s add 1.]

[Footnote 7: See _Amer. Journal of Philol._ I. 1. 90.]

[Footnote 8: See supra, p. 51.] [[Thorpe: Criticism...]]

[Footnote 9: See _Beowulfs Beorh_, and p. 22.]

[Footnote 10: See supra, p. 15.] [[Thorkelin]]

[Footnote 11: See supra, p. 33.] [[Kemble]]

BOTKINE’S TRANSLATION

Beowulf, Épopée Anglo-Saxonne. Traduite en français, pour la première
fois, d’après le texte original par L. Botkine, Membre de la Société
Nationale havraise d’Études diverses. Havre: Lepelletier, 1877. 8vo, pp.
108.

First French Translation. Prose.

_Old English Studies in France._

The only attention that _Beowulf_ had received in France prior to this
time was in the work of Sandras, _De Carminibus Cædmoni adiudicatis_[1].
Other scholars, if they devoted themselves to English at all, studied
chiefly the later periods of the literature[2]. In 1867 the author of
the article on _Beowulf_ in Larousse’s Dictionary could say, ‘Le poème
n’est pas connu en France.’ In 1876 Botkine published a historical and
critical analysis of the poem[3]. This was the first scholarly attention
that the poem received in France. In the following year Botkine’s
translation appeared.

France has added nothing to our knowledge of _Beowulf_; there has never
been another translation, nor even a reprint of Botkine’s. There has
been no further scholarly work done on the poem; and the principal
literary notices of it, such as Taine’s and Jusserand’s, have been
notoriously unsympathetic. The genius of Old English poetry is at the
furthest possible remove from that of the French.

_Aim of the Translation._

It will be made evident in the section that follows on the nature of
Botkine’s translation that his work could never have been intended for
scholars. Had it been so intended, the translator would have rendered
more literally. His introduction[4] proves that the book was addressed
to the general reader rather than the student of Old English.

The Introduction deals with the nature of Old English poetry, and makes
historical and critical remarks on the _Beowulf_. There are occasional
notes explanatory of the text.

In his critical work the author is chiefly indebted to Grein[5] and
Heyne[6].

_Nature of the Translation._

The translation, which is in prose, is characterized, as the author
himself admits, by extreme freedom and occasional omission of words and
phrases. The author’s defence of these may be given here:--

‘Je crois devoir me disculper, en présentant cette première
traduction française de Beowulf, du double reproche qui pourrait
m’être adressé d’avoir supprimé des passages du poëme et de n’en
avoir pas suffisamment respecté la lettre. D’abord je dois dire
que les passages que j’ai supprimés (il y en a fort peu) sont ou
très obscurs ou d’une superfluité choquante. Ensuite, il m’a
semblé qu’en donnant une certaine liberté à ma traduction et en
évitant autant que possible d’y mettre les redites et les
périphrases de l’original anglo-saxon, je la rendrais meilleure et
plus conforme à l’esprit véritable de l’œuvre. Est-ce sacrifier du
reste la fidélité d’une traduction que d’épargner au public la
lecture de détails le plus souvent bizarres et inintelligibles?
N’est-il pas plus logique d’en finir de suite avec des artifices
poétiques inconnus à nos littératures modernes, plutôt que de
vouloir s’escrimer en vain à les reproduire en français? Et alors
même qu’on poursuivrait jusqu’au bout une tâche si ingrate,
pourrait-on se flatter en fin de compte d’avoir conservé au poëme
son cachet si indiscutable d’originalité? Non certes.’
--Avertissement, p. 3.

‘Il ne faut pas oublier que, la langue française différant
complètement par ses racines de l’anglo-saxon, il ne m’a pas été
permis d’éluder les difficultés de l’original comme on a pu le
faire parfois en anglais et en allemand.’ --Note, p. 4.

It has been customary, in speaking of the work of M. Botkine, to call
attention to the numerous omissions. This is misleading. The passages
which the translator has omitted are not the obscure episodes or the
long digressions, but the metaphors, the parenthetical phrases, and
especially kennings and similar appositives.

For example, the original has:--

Þǣr æt hȳðe stōd hringed-stefna
īsig ond ūt-fūs. (l. 32 f.)

which Botkine renders:--

Dans la porte se trouvait une barque bien équipée. (p. 29.)

The principal passages which Botkine omits entirely are: 1002b-1008a;
1057b-1062; 1263-1276; 1679-1686.

_Text Used._

The author seems to have been well acquainted with the scholarly work
done on _Beowulf_ up to his time. He mentions in his Notes the
interpretations of Grein, Grundtvig[7], Ettmüller[8], Thorpe[9], and
Kemble[10]. He appears to follow, in general, the text of Heyne, not,
however, invariably.

EXTRACT.

IX.

Hunferth, fils d’Ecglaf, qui était assis aux pieds du prince des
Scyldingas, parla ainsi (l’expédition de Beowulf[11] le
remplissait de chagrin, parce qu’il ne voulait pas convenir
qu’aucun homme[12] eût plus de gloire[13] que lui-même):

‘N’es-tu pas le Beowulf qui essaya ses forces à la nage sur la mer
immense avec Breca quand, par bravade, vous avez tenté les flots
et que vous avez follement hasardé votre vie dans l’eau profonde?
Aucun homme, qu’il fût ami ou ennemi, ne put vous empêcher
d’entreprendre ce triste voyage.--Vous avez nagé alors sur la
mer[14], vous avez suivi les sentiers de l’océan. L’hiver agitait
les vagues[15]. Vous êtes restés en détresse pendant sept nuits
sous la puissance des flots, mais il t’a vaincu dans la joûte
parce qu’il avait plus de force que toi. Le matin, le flot le
porta sur Heatho-ræmas et il alla visiter sa chère patrie[16] le
pays des Brondingas, où il possédait le peuple, une ville et des
trésors. Le fils de Beanstan accomplit entièrement la promesse
qu’il t’avait faite.’

_Criticism of the Extract and Translation._

If the translation is compared with the text, the reader will be struck
by the characteristic beauty of the words omitted. We may agree with the
translator regarding the difficulty of rendering compound and kenning
into French, and yet the very absence of an attempt to do this
jeopardizes the value of the translation more than the omission of many
episodes, for it brings it dangerously near to paraphrase. ‘Vous avez
nagé alors sur la mer, vous avez suivi les sentiers de l’océan,’ cannot
possibly be called a translation of--

þā git on sund rēon;
þǣr git ēagor-strēam earmum þehton,
mǣton mere-strǣta, mundum brugdon,
glidon ofer gār-secg.

ll. 512, ff.

A part of the story has been thrown away with the adjectives. The force
and beauty of the passage are gone.

But there is another danger in this paraphrastic method. In omitting
words and phrases, the translator will often misinterpret his original.
This is especially true of Botkine’s work in the obscure episodes where
he wishes to make the meaning perfectly clear. In attempting to simplify
the Old English, he departs from the original sense. Instances of this
may be brought forward from the Finn episode:

Folcwaldan sunu
dōgra gehwylce Dene weorþode,
Hengestes hēap hringum wenede,
efne swā swīðe sinc-gestrēonum
fǣttan goldes, swā hē Frēsena cyn
on bēor-sele byldan wolde.

ll. 1089 ff.

The idea is misinterpreted in Botkine’s--

Le fils de Folcwalda (stipulait qu’il) leur ferait chaque jour une
distribution de trésors. (p. 50.)

Again, at line 1117 it is said of the lady--

earme on eaxle ides gnornode,

meaning that the lady stood by the body (shoulder) of the corpse as it
lay on the pyre. Botkine makes of this--

‘Elle poussait des lamentations en s’appuyant sur le bras de son
fils.’ (p. 50.)

The rendering is not without its amusing features, chiefly illustrations
of the inability of the French language to accommodate itself to
typically Germanic expressions. Thus when Hrothgar says what is the
equivalent of ‘Thanks be to God for this blessed sight,’ Botkine puts
into his mouth the words: ‘Que le Tout-Puissant reçoive mes profonds
remercîments pour ce spectacle!’--which might have been taken from a
diplomatic note.

[Footnote 1: See infra, p. 123.] [[Sandras]]

[Footnote 2: Save Michel. An account of his work may be found in
Wülker’s _Grundriss_, § 102.]

[Footnote 3: _Analyse historique et géographique._ Paris, Leroux,
1876.]

[Footnote 4: p. 4.]

[Footnote 5: See supra, p. 55.] [[Grein]]

[Footnote 6: See supra, p. 63.] [[Heyne]]

[Footnote 7: See supra, p. 22.] [[Gruntvig]]

[Footnote 8: See supra, p. 37.] [[Ettmüller]]

[Footnote 9: See supra, p. 49.] [[Thorpe]]

[Footnote 10: See supra, p. 33.] [[Kemble]]

[Footnote 11: Omits mōdges mere-faran.]

[Footnote 12: Omits middan-geardes.]

[Footnote 13: Omits under heofonum.]

[Footnote 14: Omits lines 513-515a.]

[Footnote 15: Omits wintrys wylum.]

[Footnote 16: Omits lēof his lēodum.]

LUMSDEN’S TRANSLATION

Beowulf, an Old English Poem, translated into Modern Rhymes, by
Lieut.-Colonel H. W. Lumsden[1]. London: C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1881.
8vo, pp. xx, 114.

Beowulf, an Old English Poem, translated into Modern Rhymes, by
Lieut.-Colonel H. W. Lumsden, late Royal Artillery. Second edition,
revised and corrected. London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Co., 1883. 8vo,
pp. xxx, 179.

Fifth English Translation. Ballad Measures.

_Differences between the two Editions, and Indebtedness to Preceding
Scholars._

In the first edition of the translation a number of passages were
omitted. Some of these omissions were owing to corrupt text, some to
extreme obscurity of the original, and some merely to the fact that the
original was deemed uninteresting. The principal omissions were: 83-86;
767-770; 1724-1758; 1931-1963; 2061-2062; 2214-2231; 2475; 2930-2932;
3150-3156. These passages were inserted in the second edition.

‘In this edition I have endeavoured to remove some of the blunders
which disfigured its predecessor.... Some parts have been entirely
rewritten, and the passages formerly omitted ... have been
inserted.... A few notes have been added; and the introduction has
been materially altered and, I hope, improved.’ --Preface to the
Second Edition, p. v.

_Aim and Nature of the Translation._

Lumsden’s desire was to produce a readable version of the poem. Thus his
work resembles that of Wackerbarth[2]; and, like Wackerbarth, he couched
his translation in ballad measures. Lumsden does not vary his measure,
but preserves the iambic heptameter throughout. His lines rime in
couplets.

No attempt is made to preserve alliteration or archaic diction.

The Introduction and Notes contain popular expositions of the work of
preceding scholars. Several of the Notes are original and well worth
while (see Notes A, C, G, M).

_Texts Used._

The translation is based on Grein’s text of 1857[3] and Arnold’s text
(1876)[4]. Garnett has shown[5] that Lumsden ignored the 1867 text of
Grein and the editions of Heyne. These defects were remedied to some
extent in the second edition. Lumsden himself never emends the text.

EXTRACT[6].

IV. HUNFERD AND BEOWULF.

Hunferd the son of Ecglaf spoke--at Hrothgar’s feet sat he--
And thus let loose his secret grudge;
(for much did him displease
The coming of Beowulf now--bold sailor o’er the seas.
To none on earth would he allow a greater fame ’mong men
Beneath the heavens than his): ‘Art thou the same Beowulf then,
Who swam a match with Breca once upon the waters wide,
When ye vainglorious searched the waves,
and risked your lives for pride
Upon the deep? Nor hinder you could any friend or foe
From that sad venture. Then ye twain did on the waters row;
Ye stretched your arms upon the flood;
the sea-ways ye did mete; 10
O’er billows glided--with your hands them tossed--though
fiercely beat
The rolling tides and wintry waves! Seven nights long toilèd ye
In waters’ might; but Breca won--he stronger was than thee!
And to the Hathoræms at morn washed shoreward by the flood,
Thence his loved native land he sought--the Brondings’
country good,
And stronghold fair, where he was lord of folk and burg
and rings.
Right well ’gainst thee his vaunt he kept.

_Criticism of the Translation._

The extract illustrates the paraphrastic nature of parts of the
translation. Lumsden frequently seems to feel it necessary to read a
meaning into the obscure lines and passages that do not easily lend
themselves to translation; cf. lines 11, 12. At line 2258 Lumsden
translates:--

The mail that bite of sword
O’er clashing shield in fight withstood must follow its dead lord.
Never again shall corselet ring as help the warriors bear
To comrades far.

The Old English from which this passage is taken reads:--

ge swylce sēo here-pād, sīo æt hilde gebād
ofer borda gebræc bite īrena,
brosnað æfter beorne; ne mæg byrnan hring 2260
æfter wīg-fruman wīde fēran
hæleðum be healfe.

The passage is certainly obscure, and the readings are not all
undoubted, but the words can never be tortured into meaning what Lumsden
tries to make them mean.

But it would be manifestly unfair to judge a translation addressed to
the general reader merely by scholarly tests. The work must make its
appeal as a literary rendering.

The propriety of adopting a ballad measure may be questioned. Probably
no measure could be found more unlike the Old English lines. Moreover,
by reason of its long association with purely popular poetry, it
constantly suggests the commonplace and the trivial. But above all, it
is reminiscent of a medievalism wholly different from that of _Beowulf_.

The saving grace of the ballad measure is its readableness. It is rather
effective in passages not too dignified, calling for action. But in
passages of elevation the line is found wanting:--

They mourned their king and chanted dirge,
and much of him they said;
His worthiness they praised,
and judged his deeds with tender dread.

But, like Wackerbarth’s, Lumsden’s translation had the advantage of
being readable.

[Footnote 1: Col. Lumsden’s translation of the Battle of Maldon,
_Macmillan’s Magazine_, 55: 371, has been generally admired.]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 45.] [[Wackerbarth]]

[Footnote 3: See supra, p. 56.] [[Grein’s Texts]]

[Footnote 4: See supra, p. 72.] [[Arnold: Criticism...]]

[Footnote 5: See _American Journal of Philology_, ii. p. 355.]

[Footnote 6: From the second edition.]

GARNETT’S TRANSLATION

Beowulf: An Anglo-Saxon Poem, and the Fight at Finnsburg, translated by
James M. Garnett, M.A., LL.D., Boston, U.S.A.: published by Ginn, Heath,
& Co., 1882. 8vo, pp. xl, 107.

Second Edition, Ginn, Heath, & Co., 1885. 8vo, pp. xlvi, 110.

Third Edition, Ginn & Co., 1892. Reprinted 1899. 8vo, pp. liii, 110.

Fourth Edition, 1900.

Sixth English Translation. Imitative Measures.

_Differences between the Editions._

In the second edition the translation was collated with the Grein-Wülker
text, and wherever necessary, with the Zupitza _Autotypes_. Additions
were made to the bibliography:--

‘I have revised certain passages with a view to greater accuracy,
but I have not changed the plan of the work, for that would have
necessitated the re-writing of the whole translation.’ --Preface
to the second edition.

The third and fourth editions are simple reprints, with some additions
to the bibliography.

_Circumstances of Publication._

As has been pointed out above in the sections on Arnold[1] and
Lumsden[2], no satisfactory literal translation of _Beowulf_ existed in
English. Furthermore, an American translation had never appeared. It was
with a view to presenting the latest German interpretations of the poem
that Garnett prepared his literal version of the poem. The original
draft of the translation was made at St. John’s College, Md., in the
session of 1878-79.--Preface to first edition.

_Texts Used._

The translation is based on Grein’s text of 1867. Notes are added
showing the variants from Heyne’s text of 1879. In the second edition
notes are added showing the variants from the Grein-Wülker text of 1883.

_Method of Translation._

The translation is intended for ‘the general reader’ and for the ‘aid of
students of the poem.’ --Preface to second edition.

The translation is a literal line-for-line version. Of this feature of
his work Professor Garnett says:--

‘This involves naturally much inversion and occasional obscurity,
and lacks smoothness; but it seemed to me to give the general
reader a better idea of the poem than a mere prose translation
would do, in addition to the advantage of literalness. While it
would have been easy, by means of periphrasis and freer
translation, to mend some of the defects chargeable to the
line-for-line form, the translation would have lacked literalness,
which I regarded as the most important object.’ --Preface to the
first edition.

_Nature of the Verse-form._

‘In respect to the rhythmical form, I have endeavored to preserve
two accents to each half-line, with cæsura, and while not seeking
alliteration, have employed it purposely wherever it readily
presented itself. I considered that it mattered little whether the
feet were iambi or trochees, anapæsts or dactyls, the preservation
of the two accents being the main point, and have freely made use
of all the usual licences in Early English verse.... To attain
this point I have sometimes found it necessary to place unemphatic
words in accented positions, and words usually accented in
unaccented ones, which licence can also be found in Early English
verse.... While the reader of modern English verse may sometimes
be offended by the ruggedness of the rhythm, it is hoped that the
Anglo-Saxon scholar will make allowances for the difficulty of
reproducing, even approximately, the rhythm of the original. The
reproduction of the sense as closely as possible had to be kept
constantly in view, even to the detriment of the smoothness of the
rhythm.’ --Preface to the first edition.

EXTRACT.

III.

Hunferth’s taunt. The swimming-match with Breca. Joy in Heorot.

IX. Hunferth then spoke, the son of Ecglaf,
Who at the feet sat of the lord of the Scyldings, 500
Unloosed his war-secret (was the coming of Beowulf,
The proud sea-farer, to him mickle grief,
For that he granted not that any man else
Ever more honor of this mid-earth
Should gain under heavens than he himself): 505
‘Art thou that Beowulf who strove with Breca
On the broad sea in swimming-match,
When ye two for pride the billows tried
And for vain boasting in the deep water
Riskéd your lives. You two no man, 510
Nor friend nor foe, might then dissuade
From sorrowful venture, when ye on the sea swam,
When ye the sea-waves with your arms covered,
Measured the sea-ways, struck with your hands,
Glided o’er ocean; with its great billows 515
Welled up winter’s flood. In the power of the waters
Ye seven nights strove: he in swimming thee conquered,
He had greater might. Then him in the morning
On the Heathoremes’ land the ocean bore up,
Whence he did seek his pleasant home, 520
Dear to his people, the land of the Brondings
His fair strong city, where he had people,
A city and rings. All his boast against thee
The son of Beanstan truly fulfilled.’

_Criticism of the Translation._

The translation, in its revised form, is throughout a faithful version
of the original text. The fault of Garnett’s translation is the fault of
all merely literal translations--inadequacy to render fully the content
of the original. The rendering may be word for word, but it will not be
idea for idea. Examples of this inadequacy may be given from the printed
extract. ‘Grief’ in line 502 is a very insufficient rendering of
_æf-þunca_, a unique word which suggests at once vexation,
mortification, and jealousy. Had the poet simply meant to express the
notion of _grief_, he would have used _sorh_, _cearu_, or some other
common word. In line 508 ‘pride’ hardly gives full expression to the
idea of _wlence,_ which signifies not only _pride_, but _vain pride, of
empty end_. In line 517 ‘conquered’ is insufficient as a translation of
_oferflāt_, which means to _overcome in swimming, to outswim_.

Examples of this sort can be brought forward from any part of the poem.
At line 2544 Garnett translates--

Struggles of battle when warriors contended,

a translation of--

Gūða ... þonne hnitan fēðan

Here ‘hnitan fēðan’ refers to the swift clash in battle of two armed
hosts, a notion which is ill borne out by the distributive ‘warriors’
and the vague ‘contended.’

At line 2598 we find--

they to wood went

for

hȳ on holt bugon,

which, whatever be the meaning of ‘bugon,’ is surely a misleading
translation.

The nature of the verse has been sufficiently illustrated by the
quotations from the author’s preface. It would seem from the way in
which the measure is used that it was a kind of second thought, incident
upon the use of a line-for-line translation. It is hard to read the
lines as anything but prose, and, if they appeared in any other form
upon the page, it is to be questioned whether any one would have guessed
that they were intended to be imitative.

_Reception of Garnett’s Translation._

Garnett’s volume had a flattering reception. The book received long and
respectful reviews from the Germans. Professor Child and Henry Sweet
expressed their approbation. The book has passed through four editions.
This cordial welcome has been due in large measure to the increasing
attention given the poem in American colleges and secondary schools.
Being strictly literal, the book has been of value as a means of
interpreting the poem.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 71.] [[Arnold]]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 79.] [[Lumsden]]

GRION’S TRANSLATION

Beovulf, poema epico anglosassone del vii secolo, tradotto e illustrato
dal Dott. Cav. Giusto Grion, Socio Ordinario.

_In_ Atti della Reale Accademia Lucchese di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti.
Tomo XXII. Lucca: Tipografia Giusti, 1883. 8vo, pp. 197-379.

First Italian Translation. Imitative Measures.

_Contents._

Full discussions of (1) Mito; (2) Storia; (3) Letteratura. The latter is
a fairly complete bibliography of what had been done on _Beowulf_ up to
this time.

_Author’s Preliminary Remarks._

‘Il poema consiste di 3183 versi fra cui alcuni in frammenti che
noi abbiamo cercato di completare senza alterare lettera del
testo. Una mano recente lo ha diviso in 43 canti, detti in ags.
fitte; ne notiamo il numero anche nella versione. I versi che il
Müllenhoff reputa interpolati, sono disposti in linee rientranti;
quelli attributi ad A portano di più questa lettera nella versione
nostra interlineare, che segue la parola del testo in maniera da
mantenervi anche la sintassi, e sì che nessuna parola d’un verso
prenda posto in un’ altra riga. Le parentesi quadre [ ] segnano
nel testo riempiture di lacune. Nella versione sono queste segnate
per lettere corsive.’ --Prefazione, p. 251.

_Texts Used._

The translator makes use of all the texts and commentaries that had
appeared up to his time, and even goes so far as to emend the text for
himself (cf. lines 65, 665, 1107, 2561, 3150).

The Notes are rather full. They are sometimes merely explanatory;
sometimes there are discussions of the MS. readings, of proposed
emendations, of history, myth, &c.

_Method of Translation._

The translation is literal; the medium an imitative measure of four
principal stresses, varied occasionally by the expanded line. The
diction is simple.

EXTRACT.

VIII.

Hunferd disse, il nato di Eclaf,
che a’ piedi sedea del prence de’ Schildinghi, 500
sbrigliò accenti di contesta--eragli la gita di Beóvulf,
del coraggioso navigatore, molto a fastidio,
perchè non amava, che un altro uomo
vieppiù di gloria nell’ orbe di mezzo
avesse sotto il cielo che lui stesso--: 505
‘Sei tu quel Beóvulf, che con Breca nuotò
nel vasto pelago per gara marina,
quando voi per baldanza l’acque provaste,
e per pazzo vanto nel profondo sale
la vita arrischiaste? nè voi uomo alcuno, 510
nè caro nè discaro, distorre potè
dalla penosa andata, quando remigaste nell’ alto,
la corrente dell’ oceano colle braccia coprendo
misuraste le strade del mare, colle mani batteste,
e scivolaste sopra l’astato. Nelle onde del ghebbo 515
vagavano i cavalloni d’inverno:
voi nel tenere dell’ acqua
sette notti appenàstevi. Egli nel nuoto ti superò,
ebbe più forza. E al tempo mattutino lo
portò suso il flutto verso la marittima Ramia
donde ei cercò la dolce patria, 520
cara a sue genti, la terra dei Brondinghi,
il vago castel tranquillo, ov’ egli popolo avea,
rocche e gioie. Il vanto intero contro te
il figlio di Beanstan in verità mantenne.’

_Criticism of the Translation._

The present writer cannot attempt a literary criticism of the
translation.

In purpose and method this version may be compared with that of
Kemble[1] and of Schaldemose[2]. In each case the translator was
introducing the poem to a foreign public, and it was therefore well that
the translation should be literal in order that it might assist in the
interpretation of the original. There has been no further work done on
the poem in Italy[3].

While the verse is not strictly imitative in the sense that it preserves
exactly the Old English system of versification, it aims to maintain the
general movement of the original lines. The four stresses are kept, save
where a fifth is used to avoid monotony. These ‘expanded lines’ are much
commoner in the Italian than in the Old English.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 33.] [[Kemble]]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 41.] [[Schaldemose]]

[Footnote 3: Of a work by G. Schuhmann, mentioned by Wülker
in his _Grundriss_, § 209, I can ascertain nothing.]

WICKBERG’S TRANSLATION

Beowulf, en fornengelsk hjeltedikt, öfversatt af Rudolf Wickberg.
Westervik, C. O. Ekblad & Comp., 1889. 4to, pp. 48, double columns.

First Swedish Translation. Imitative Measures.

_Aim of the Volume._

The translator begins his introduction with a discussion of the
importance of _Beowulf_ as a historical document. For this reason he is
especially interested in the episodes:--

‘This important historical interest may then explain the reason
for translating the poem into Swedish, and also serve as an excuse
for the fact that in the translation the poetic form has not been
considered of first importance.’ --Inledning, p. 3.

_Nature of the Translation._

‘In the translation I have endeavored to make the language
readable and modern. A translation out of an ancient tongue ought
never to strive after archaic flavor in point of words and
expressions. Since the poet wrote in the language of his day, the
translation ought also to use contemporary language.... I have
tried to follow the original faithfully, but not slavishly. For
the sake of clearness the half-lines have often been
transposed.... The rhythm is still more irregular than the Old
English. Alliteration has generally been avoided.’ --Inledning,
p. 6.

_Texts Used._

The author constructs his own text. He explains (p. 6) that he has in
general taken the MS. as the basis of his text. He has emended by making
those changes which ‘seemed most necessary or most probable.’ In places
where this departure from the MS. has been made, he italicizes the words
of his translation.

EXTRACT.

Ecglafs son Hunferð talade;
Vid Scyldingafurstens fötter satt han,
Löste stridsrunan--den modige sjöfaranden
Beovulfs resa förtröt honom mycket,
Förty han unnade ej, att någon annan man
Under himlen skulle någonsin vinna
Större ära på jorden än han sjelf--:
‘Är du den Beovulf, som mätte sig med Breca
I kappsimning öfver det vida hafvet,
Der I öfvermodigt pröfvaden vågorna
Och för djerft skryt vågaden lifvet
I det djupa vattnet? Ej kunde någon man,
Ljuf eller led, förmå eder att afstå
Från den sorgfulla färden. Sedan summen I i hafvet,
Der I med armarna famnaden hafsströmmen,
Mätten hafsvågorna, svängden händerna,
Gleden öfver hafsytan; vintersvallet
Sjöd i vågorna. I sträfvaden sju nätter
I hafvets våld; han öfvervann dig i simning,
Hade större styrka. Sedan vid morgontiden
Bar hafvet upp honom till de krigiska rämerna.
Derifrån uppsökte han, dyr för de sina,
Sitt kära odal i brondingarnes land,
Den fagra fridsborgen, der han hade folk,
Berg och ringar. Hela sitt vad med dig
Fullgjorde noga Beanstans son.’

EARLE’S TRANSLATION

The Deeds of Beowulf, an English Epic of the Eighth Century, done into
Modern Prose, with an Introduction and Notes by John Earle, M.A., rector
of Swanswick, Rawlinsonian Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of
Oxford. At the Clarendon Press, 1892 (February). 8vo, pp. c, 203.

Seventh English Translation. Prose.

_Circumstances of Publication._

Sixteen years had elapsed since the publication of a scholarly
translation in England--for Lumsden’s[1] can hardly be said to count as
such. In the meantime Heyne’s text[2] had passed into a fifth edition
(1888); Wülker’s revision of Grein’s _Bibliothek_ had appeared with a
new text of _Beowulf_ (1881); Zupitza’s _Autotypes_ of the MS. had
appeared 1882, making it possible to ascertain exactly what was in the
original text of the poem; the studies of Sievers[3], Cosijn[4],
Kluge[5], and Bugge[6] had been published, containing masterly
discussions of text revision. Some of these materials had been used by
Garnett in his translation, but the majority of them were of later date.

_Aim of the Translation._

Nothing is said in the introduction respecting the aim of the
translation; but it is evident from the Notes that the purpose was
twofold--to present the latest interpretation of the text, and to afford
a literary version of the poem.

_Texts Used._

‘This translation was originally made from the Fourth Edition of
Moritz Heyne’s text. His Fifth Edition came out in 1888, and I
think I have used it enough to become acquainted with all the
changes that Dr. Adolf Socin, the new editor, has introduced.
Where they have appeared to me to be improvements, I have modified
my translation accordingly.’ --Preface.

But the translator does not depend slavishly upon his text. He
frequently uses emendations suggested by the scholars mentioned above,
especially those of Professor Sophus Bugge in _Studien über das
Beowulfsepos_[7]; see lines 457, 871, 900, 936, 1875, 2275.

The Introduction presents a new theory of the origin of the poem. The
notes are especially interesting because of the large body of quotations
cited for literary comparison and for the light they throw on Old
Germanic and medieval customs.

EXTRACT.

VIII.

_Unferth the king’s orator is jealous. He baits the young
adventurer, and in a scoffing speech dares him to a night-watch
for Grendel. Beowulf is angered, and thus he is drawn out to boast
of his youthful feats._

Unferth made a speech, Ecglaf’s son; he who sate at the feet of
the Scyldings’ lord, broached a quarrelsome theme--the adventure
of Beowulf the high-souled voyager was great despite to him,
because he grudged that any other man should ever in the world
achieve more exploits under heaven than he himself:-- ‘Art thou
_that_ Beowulf, he who strove with Breca on open sea in
swimming-match, where ye twain out of bravado explored the floods,
and foolhardily in deep water jeoparded your lives? nor could any
man, friend or foe, turn the pair of you from the dismal
adventure! What time ye twain plied in swimming, where ye twain
covered with your arms the awful stream, meted the sea-streets,
buffeted with hands, shot over ocean; the deep boiled with waves,
a wintry surge. Ye twain in the realm of waters toiled a
se’nnight; he at swimming outvied thee, had greater force. Then in
morning hour the swell cast him ashore on the Heathoram people,
whence he made for his own patrimony, dear to his Leeds he made
for the land of the Brondings, a fair stronghold, where he was
lord of folk, of city, and of rings. All his boast to thee-ward,
Beanstan’s son soothly fulfilled. Wherefore I anticipate for thee
worse luck--though thou wert everywhere doughty in battle-shocks,
in grim war-tug--if thou darest bide in Grendel’s way a night-long
space.’

_Criticism of the Translation._

As a whole, the translation may fairly be called faithful. The
emendations from which Professor Earle sometimes renders are always
carefully chosen, and the discussions of obscure lines in the poem are
of real scholarly interest. But this is not always true of the simpler
passages of the poem. These are often strained to make them square with
the translator’s personal notions. Thus, at line 1723, Earle reads for

_Ic þis gid be þē āwraec_
It is about thee ... that I have told this tale,

adding in a note, ‘(In this passage) the living poet steps forward out
of his Hrothgar, and turns his eyes to the prince for whom he made it
up’ (p. 168). Now this is nothing more than an attempt on the part of
the translator to wring from the Old English lines some scrap of proof
for the peculiar theory that he holds of the origin of the poem.

Similarly, he often reads into a single word more than it can possibly
bear. At line 371 he translates--

_Hrothgar, helm Scyldinga,_
Hrothgar, crown of Scyldings.

But ‘crown’ is an impossible rendering of ‘helm,’ which is here used
figuratively to denote the idea of protection[8], rather than the idea
of the crowning glory of kingship. Further, in the same passage, 375-6,
_heard eafora_ (bold son), is wrenched into meaning ‘grown-up son.’
These are but two examples of what is common throughout the translation.

_Diction._

The archaic style used by Professor Earle cannot be regarded as highly
felicitous, since it mixes the diction of various ages. Here are Old
English archaisms like ‘Leeds’ and ‘burnie’; here are expressions like
‘escheat,’ ‘page’ (attendant), ‘emprize,’ ‘bombard’ (drinking-vessel),
‘chivalry.’ Here are such specialized words as ‘harpoon,’ ‘belligerent,’
‘pocket-money,’ and combinations like ‘battailous grip’; while
throughout the entire translation are scattered modern colloquialisms
like ‘boss’ (master), ‘tussle,’ ‘war-tug.’

The reason for these anomalies is evident--the translator wishes to
imitate the remoteness of the original style. The style is certainly
remote--at times almost as remote from the language of to-day as is the
style of _Beowulf_ itself.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 79.] [[Lumsden]]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 64.] [[Heyne: Relation of...]]

[Footnote 3: Paul und Braune’s _Beiträge_, XI, 328; Ang. XIV, 133.]

[Footnote 4: _Beiträge_, VIII, 568; _Aanteekeningen_, Leiden 1891.]

[Footnote 5: _Beiträge_, IX, 187; VIII, 532.]

[Footnote 6: _Beiträge_, XI, 1; _Studien über das Beowulfsepos_.]

[Footnote 7: _Beiträge_, XI, 1 ff.]

[Footnote 8: See the glossaries of Grein and Wyatt.]

J. L. HALL’S TRANSLATION

Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem, translated by John Lesslie Hall.
Boston: D. C. Heath and Co., 1892 (May 7).

Reprinted 1900. 8vo, pp. xviii, 110.

Eighth English Translation. Imitative Measures.

_Circumstances of Publication._

Presented to the Philosophical Faculty of Johns Hopkins University in
candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by John Lesslie Hall,
late Professor in the college of William and Mary.

_Aim of the Translation._

‘The work is addressed to two classes of readers.... The
Anglo-Saxon scholar he [the translator] hopes to please by
adhering faithfully to the original. The student of English
literature he aims to interest by giving him, in modern garb, the
most ancient epic of our race.’ --Preface, vii.

_Nature of the Translation._

The translation is in imitative measures and in archaic style.

‘The effort has been made to give a decided flavor of archaism to
the translation. All words not in keeping with the spirit of the
poem have been avoided. Again, though many archaic words have been
used, there are none, it is believed, which are not found in
standard modern poetry....

‘The measure used in the present translation is believed to be as
near a reproduction of the original as modern English affords....
The four stresses of the Anglo-Saxon verse are retained, and as
much thesis and anacrusis is allowed as is consistent with a
regular cadence. Alliteration has been used to a large extent; but
it was thought that modern ears would hardly tolerate it in every
line. End-rhyme has been used occasionally; internal rhyme,
sporadically....

‘What Gummere calls the “rime-giver” has been studiously kept;
viz., the first accented syllable in the second half-verse always
carries the alliteration; and the last accented syllable
alliterates only sporadically....

‘No two accented syllables have been brought together, except
occasionally after a cæsural pause.... Or, scientifically
speaking, Sievers’s C type has been avoided as not consonant with
the plan of translation.’ --Preface, viii, ix.

_Text._

‘The Heyne-Socin text and glossary have been closely followed.
Occasionally a deviation has been made.... Once in a while ...
(the translator) has added a conjecture of his own to the
emendations quoted from the criticisms of other students of the
poem.’ --Preface, vii.

The footnotes which contain the conjectural readings are interesting,
and in one or two cases valuable additions to the suggested emendations
(cf. p. 15; p. 103, note 3).

EXTRACT.

IX.

UNFERTH TAUNTS BEOWULF.

[Sidenote: Unferth, a thane of Hrothgar, is jealous of Beowulf,
and undertakes to twit him.]

Unferth spoke up, Ecglaf his son,
Who sat at the feet of the lord of the Scyldings,
Opened the jousting (the journey of Beowulf,
Sea-farer doughty, gave sorrow to Unferth
And greatest chagrin, too, for granted he never 5
That any man else on earth should attain to,
Gain under heaven, more glory than he):

[Sidenote: Did you take part in a swimming-match with Breca?]

[Sidenote: ’Twas mere folly that actuated you both to risk
your lives on the ocean.]

‘Art thou that Beowulf with Breca did struggle,
On the wide sea-currents at swimming contended,
Where to humor your pride the ocean ye tried, 10
From vainest vaunting adventured your bodies
In care of the waters? And no one was able
Nor lief nor loth one, in the least to dissuade you
Your difficult voyage; then ye ventured a-swimming,
Where your arms outstretching the streams ye did cover, 15
The mere-ways measured, mixing and stirring them,
Glided the ocean; angry the waves were,
With the weltering of winter. In the water’s possession,
Ye toiled for a seven-night; he at swimming outdid thee,
In strength excelled thee. Then early at morning 20
On the Heathoremes’ shore the holm-currents tossed him,
Sought he thenceward the home of his fathers,
Beloved of his liegemen, the land of the Brondings,
The peace-castle pleasant, where a people he wielded
Had borough and jewels. The pledge that he made thee 25
The son of Beanstan hath soothly accomplished.

[Sidenote: Breca outdid you entirely. Much more will Grendel
outdo you, if you vie with him in prowess.]

Then I ween thou wilt find thee less fortunate issue,
Though ever triumphant in onset of battle,
A grim grappling, if Grendel thou darest
For the space of a night near-by to wait for! 30

_Criticism of the Translation._

The translation is faithful, but not literal. The chief difference, for
example, between this and the translation by Garnett is that Hall makes
an attempt to preserve the poetic value of the Old English words. He is
never satisfied with the dictionary equivalent of an Old English
expression. Thus, in the extract given above, ‘from vainest vaunting’ is
given as a translation of _dol-gilpe_--a great improvement over
Garnett’s rendering, ‘for pride.’ Similarly, ‘mixing and stirring’ is
given as a translation of _mundum brugdon_. This method often leads the
translator some distance, perhaps too great a distance, from the Old
English. The following may serve as examples of the heightened color
that Hall gives to the Old English forms:--

548, ‘the north-wind whistled, fierce in our faces,’
for _norþan-wind heaðo-grim ondhwearf_.

557, ‘my obedient blade,’ for _hilde-bille_.

568, ‘foam-dashing currents,’ for _brontne ford_.

587, ‘with cold-hearted cruelty thou killedst thy brothers,’
for _ðū þīnum brōðrum tō banan wurde_.

606, ‘the sun in its ether robes,’ for _sunne swegl-wered_.

838, ‘in the mist of the morning,’ for _on morgen_.

1311, ‘As day was dawning in the dusk of the morning,’
for _ǣr-dæge_.

Perhaps these paraphrastic renderings are what Dr. Hall is referring to
when he says in his preface, regarding the nature of the translation,
‘Occasionally some loss has been sustained; but, on the other hand,
a gain has here and there been made.’

As for the archaism, that is well enough for those who like it. It is
never so strange as that of Earle, or the marvelous diction of William
Morris. But it is not, therefore, dignified or clear. How much dignity
and clarity a translator has a right to introduce into his rendering is
a matter of opinion. Mr. Hall was quite conscious of what he was doing,
and doubtless regarded his diction as well suited to convey the original
Beowulf spirit.

The chief criticism of the verse is that it is often not verse at all.
Many passages are indistinguishable from prose. This is a stricture that
cannot be passed on the Old English, nor on the best modern imitations
of it.

The atheling of Geatmen uttered these words and
Heroic did hasten. --Page 51, line 19.

In war ’neath the water the work with great pains I
Performed. --Page 57, line 6.

Gave me willingly to see on the wall a
Heavy old hand-sword. --Page 57, line 11.

The man was so dear that he failed to suppress the
Emotions that moved him. --Page 64, line 59.

There might be an excuse for some of this freedom in blank verse, but in
measures imitative of the Old English it is utterly out of place. There
is always a pause at the end of a line in Old English; run-on lines are
uncommon. There is not an example in _Beowulf_ of an ending so light as
’the’ or ‘a’ in the verses quoted above.

HOFFMANN’S TRANSLATION

Beówulf. Aeltestes deutsches Heldengedicht. Aus dem Angelsächsischen
übertragen von P. Hoffmann. Züllichau. Verlag von Herm. Liebich (1893?).
8vo, pp. iii, 183.

*Zweite Ausgabe, Hannover, Schaper, 1900.

Sixth German Translation. Nibelungen Measures.

_The Translator._

In _Minerva_ (1902), P. Hoffmann is recorded as ‘Ord. Professor’ of
Philosophy and Pedagogy at Gent.

_Aim of the Volume._

The translator desired to present a rendering of the poem that should
attract the general reader. He regarded Simrock’s version as too literal
and archaic[1], the version of von Wolzogen as not sufficiently clear
and beautiful[2], and the version of Heyne as not sufficiently varied in
form[3] (Vorwort, i). He regards the _Beowulf_ as of great importance in
inspiring patriotism--he always calls the poem German--and even offers a
comparison of _Beowulf_ with Emperor William I. With the scholarship of
his subject the author hardly seems concerned.

_Text, and Relation of Parts._

The translation is founded on Grein’s text of 1867[4].

In addition to the translation, the volume contains articles on the
history of the text, origin, the Germanic hero-tales, the episodes, the
esthetic value of the poem. These are decidedly subordinate in interest
to the translation.

_Nature of the Translation._

The translation is in the so-called Nibelungen measures. Archaisms and
unnatural compounds are avoided.

The Finnsburg fragment is inserted in the text at line 1068, p. 44 of
the volume. The episode is furnished with a beginning and ending
original with Hoffmann.

EXTRACT.

VIERTES ABENTEUER.

VON BEOWULF’S SCHWIMMFAHRT.

Da hub der Sohn der Ecglaf, Hunferd, zu reden an;
Er sass dem Herrn der Schildinge zu Füssen, und begann
Kampfworte zu entbieten. Dass her Beowulf kam,
Der kühne Meerdurchsegler, schuf seinem Herzen bitter’n Gram.

Dass unter dem Himmel habe ein andrer Recke mehr, 5
Denn er, des Ruhms auf Erden, war ihm zu tragen schwer:
‘Bist {der} Beówulf Du, der einst sich in der weiten Flut
Mit Breca mass im Schwimmen? Zu hoch vermass sich da Dein Mut!

‘Ihr spranget in die Wellen, vermessen wagtet ihr
Das Leben in die Tiefe, aus Ruhm und Ehrbegier! 10
Die Fahrt, die schreckensvolle,
nicht Freund noch Feind verleiden
Euch konnte. Also triebet im Sund dahin ihr Beiden!

‘Als ihr mit Euren Armen des Meeres Breite decktet,
Die Meeresstrassen masset, die Hände rudernd recktet
Durch Brandungswirbel gleitend, vom Wintersturm getrieben 15
Hoch auf die Wellen schäumten;
ihr mühtet Euch der Nächte sieben!

‘So rangt ihr mit den Wogen! Da wurde Dir entrafft
Der Sieg von ihm, im Schwimmen, sein war die gröss’re Kraft,
Ihn trug der Hochflut Wallen am Morgen an den Strand
Der Hadurämen, bald er von da die süsse Heimat wiederfand. 20

‘Im Lande der Brondinge wie gerne man ihn sah!
Zu seiner schönen Feste kam er wieder da,
Wo er zu eigen hatte Mannen, Burg und Ringe,
Der Sohn Beanstan’s hatte geleistet sein Erbot Dir allerdinge!’

_Criticism of the Translation._

Hoffmann’s translation is certainly not a contribution to scholarship.
It is a sufficient condemnation of the volume to quote the words of the
Vorwort:--

‘Die Uebersetzungen von Grein, Holder und Möller sind mir nicht
zugänglich gewesen, auch wie es scheint, nicht sehr bekannt.’

It is not surprising that Hoffmann is unacquainted with the translations
of Holder and Möller, as these works have never been made; but that a
German translator should ignore the version of Grein is a revelation
indeed.

Even though a translator may not care to embody in his work any new
interpretations, it is nevertheless his duty to base his translation on
the best text that he can find. But apparently Hoffmann had never heard
of the Heyne editions of the text, nor of the Grein-Wülker _Bibliothek_.
He bases his translation on Grein’s text of 1867. He evidently
considered it a sufficient recommendation of his work to associate with
it the name of Grein, not troubling himself to discover what advance had
been made upon the work of that scholar.

Examples of antiquated renderings may be brought forward:--

P. 1, line 1, Wie grosse Ruhmesthaten.
2, line 1, So soll mit Gaben werben im Vaterhause schon.
21, line 15 (see Extract), Vom Wintersturm getrieben Hoch
auf die Wellen schäumten.
84, line 3, Mothrytho.

Petty inaccuracies due to the nature of the translation also appear. An
example of this is seen on page 3, at the opening of the first canto--

Ueber Burg und Mannen nun herrschte manches Jahr
Beówulf der Schilding. Wie hold dem König war
Sein Volk! in allen Landen seinen Ruhm man pries
Als lange schon sein Vater von dieser Erde Leben liess.

_Literary Criticism._

The translation resembles the work of Lumsden[5] and Wackerbarth[6] in
affording a version of the tale easily readable. And the same criticism
may be passed on the work of Hoffmann that was passed on the two
Englishmen. The style and medium chosen are not well fitted to render
the spirit of the poem. The _Nibelungenlied_ is a poem of the late
twelfth century. The _Beowulf_ at latest belongs to the eighth. To
choose for the translation of _Beowulf_, therefore, a medium surcharged
with reminiscence of a time, place, and style quite different from those
of the original is certainly an error. It may find an audience where
another and more faithful rendering would fail; but it will never win
the esteem of scholars. In his introduction Hoffmann calls attention to
the lack of variety in blank verse, but surely it does not have the
monotony inherent in a recurring rime and strophe.

Again, rime and strophe force upon the author the use of words and
phrases needed to pad out the verse or stanza. Attention must also be
called to the fact that the original seldom affords a natural pause at
the exact point demanded by the use of a strophic form. See the close of
the following stanzas in the Extract: I, III, IV, V. One effect of the
forced pause is that there is confusion in the use of kennings, which
often have to do duty as subject in one stanza and as object in another
stanza.

Commonplace expressions, incident perhaps upon the use of the measure,
are not unfrequent. Thus

Gesagt! gethan!

translates

ond þæt geæfndon swā (line 538).

Traces of this are also found in the extract; see beginning of last
stanza.

In conclusion, it may be said that Hoffmann’s version marks an advance
in one way only, readableness; and in this it is hardly superior to
Heyne’s rendering, which has the advantage of scholarship.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 59.] [[Simrock]]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 68.] [[von Wolzogen]]

[Footnote 3: See supra, p. 63.] [[Heyne]]

[Footnote 4: See supra, p. 56.] [[Grein’s Texts]]

[Footnote 5: See p. 79.] [[Lumsden]]

[Footnote 6: See p. 45.] [[Wackerbarth]]

MORRIS AND WYATT’S TRANSLATION

Colophon: Here endeth the story of Beowulf done out of the old English
tongue by William Morris and A. J. Wyatt, and printed by said William
Morris at the Kelmscott Press, Uppermall, Hammersmith, in the county of
Middlesex, and finished on the tenth day of January, 1895. Large 4to,
pp. vi, 119.

Troy type. Edition limited to 300 copies on paper and eight on vellum.

Second edition. The Tale of Beowulf, Sometime King of the Folk of the
Weder Geats, translated by William Morris and A. J. Wyatt. London and
New York: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1895. 8vo, pp. x, 191.

Ninth English Translation. Imitative Measures.

_Differences between the First and Second Editions._

In the second edition a title-page is added. The running commentary,
printed in rubric on the margin of the first edition, is omitted.

_Text Used._

The translation is, in general, conformed to Wyatt’s text of 1894,
departing from it in only a few unimportant details.

_Part Taken in the Work by Morris and Wyatt respectively._

The matter is fortunately made perfectly clear in Mackail’s _Life of
William Morris_, vol. ii. p. 284:--

‘(Morris) was not an Anglo-Saxon scholar, and to help him in
following the original, he used the aid of a prose translation
made for him by Mr. A. J. Wyatt, of Christ’s College, Cambridge,
with whom he had also read through the original. The plan of their
joint labours had been settled in the autumn of 1892. Mr. Wyatt
began to supply Morris with his prose paraphrase in February,
1893, and he at once began to “rhyme up,” as he said, “very eager
to be at it, finding it the most delightful work.” He was working
at it all through the year, and used to read it to Burne-Jones
regularly on Sunday mornings in summer.’

The plan of joining with his own the name of his principal teacher was
one which Morris had used before when translating from a foreign tongue.
He published his rendering of the _Volsunga Saga_ as the work of ‘Eirikr
Magnússon and William Morris.’ There is no evidence that Mr. Wyatt had
any hand in forming the final draft of the translation. In defending it,
Morris took all the responsibility for the book upon himself, and he
always spoke of it as his own work. In writing to a German student
toward the end of his life Morris spoke of the translation as his own
without mentioning Mr. Wyatt[1]. Nor has Mr. Wyatt shown a disposition
to claim a share in the work. In the preface to his edition of the text
of _Beowulf_ (Cambridge, 1894), he says:--

‘Mr. William Morris has taken the text of this edition as the
basis of his modern metrical rendering of the lay.’ --Page xiii.

Finally, it may be added that the specimens of Mr. Wyatt’s translation
printed in the glossary and notes of his book bear no resemblance to the
work of Morris.

_Morris’s Theory of Translation._

None despised the merely literal rendering of an epic poem more than
William Morris. In writing of his version of the _Odyssey_ to Ellis,
Morris said: ‘My translation is a real one so far, not a mere periphrase
of the original as _all_ the others are.’ In translating an ancient
poem, he tried to reproduce the simplicity and remoteness of phrase
which he found in his original. He believed it possible, e.g., to
suggest the archaic flavor of Homer by adopting a diction that bore the
same relation to modern English that the language of Homer bore to that
of the age of Pericles. The archaism of the English would represent the
archaism of the Greek. This method he used in rendering Vergil and
Homer.

But when he approached the translation of _Beowulf_, he was confronted
by a new problem. It was evident that fifteenth-century English was
ill-adapted to convey any just notion of eighth-century English.
_Beowulf_ required a diction older than that of Sir Thomas Malory or
Chaucer. Hence it became necessary to discard the theory altogether,
or else to produce another style which should in some true sense be
imitative of _Beowulf_. This latter Morris tried to accomplish by
increasing the archaism of his style by every means in his power. This
feature is discussed in the following section.

_Nature of the Translation._

The translation of _Beowulf_ is written in extremely archaic language.
An imitative measure of four principal stresses is used. Wherever
possible, the Old English syntax has been preserved (see line 1242); the
word-order of the original is retained. The archaic language is wrought
of several different kinds of words. In the first place, there is the
‘legitimate archaism,’ such as ‘mickle,’ ‘burg,’ ‘bairn’; there are
forms which are more closely associated with the translation of Old
English, such as ‘middle-garth,’ ‘ring-stem.’ There are modern words
used with the old signification, such as ‘kindly’ (in the sense ‘of the
same kind’), ‘won war’ (in the sense ‘wage war’), ‘fret’ (in the sense
‘eat’). Finally, there are forms which are literally translated from Old
English: ‘the sight seen once only’ from _ansȳn_, face, 251; ‘spearman’
from _garsecg_, ocean (see extract), ‘gift-scat’ from _gif-sceatt_, gift
of money, 378; ‘the Maker’s own making’ from _metod-sceaft_, doom, 1180.
Romance words are excluded whenever possible. A glossary of ‘some words
not commonly used now’ is included in the book, but none of the words
cited above, save ‘burg,’ is found in it.

EXTRACT.

IX. UNFERTH CONTENDETH IN WORDS WITH BEOWULF.

Spake out then Unferth that bairn was of Ecglaf,
And he sat at the feet of the lord of the Scyldings, 500
He unbound the battle-rune; was Beowulf’s faring,
Of him the proud mere-farer, mickle unliking,
Whereas he begrudg’d it of any man other
That he glories more mighty the middle-garth over
Should hold under heaven than he himself held:
Art thou that Beowulf who won strife with Breca
On the wide sea contending in swimming,
When ye two for pride’s sake search’d out the floods
And for a dolt’s cry into deep water
Thrust both your life-days? No man the twain of you, 510
Lief or loth were he, might lay wyte to stay you
Your sorrowful journey, when on the sea row’d ye;
Then when the ocean-stream ye with your arms deck’d,
Meted the mere-streets, there your hands brandish’d!
O’er the Spearman ye glided; the sea with waves welter’d,
The surge of the winter. Ye twain in the waves’ might
For a seven nights swink’d. He outdid thee in swimming,
And the more was his might; but him in the morn-tide
To the Heatho-Remes’ land the holm bore ashore,
And thence away sought he to his dear land and lovely, 520
The lief to his people sought the land of the Brondings,
The fair burg peace-warding, where he the folk owned,
The burg and the gold rings. What to theeward he boasted,
Beanstan’s son, for thee soothly he brought it about.

_Criticism of the Translation._

The Morris-Wyatt translation is thoroughly accurate, and is, so to
speak, an official commentary on the text of Wyatt’s edition. It is
therefore of importance to the student of the _Beowulf_.

As a literary rendering the translation is disappointing. In the first
place, it must be frankly avowed that the diction is frequently so
strange that it seems to modern readers well-nigh ridiculous. There are
certain sentences which cannot but evoke a smile. Such are: ‘(he) spoke
a word backward,’ line 315; ‘them that in Scaney dealt out the scat,’
line 1686.

Secondly, the translation is unreadable. There is an avalanche of
archaisms. One example of the extreme obscurity may be given:--

‘Then rathe was beroom’d, as the rich one was bidding,
For the guests a-foot going the floor all withinward.’
l. 1975-76.

It would seem that the burden of ‘rathe,’ ‘beroomed,’ and ‘withinward,’
were sufficient for any sentence to carry, but we are left to discover
for ourselves that ‘rich one’ does not mean rich one, but ruler, that
the ‘floor’ is not a floor but a hall, and that the guests are not
guests, but the ruler’s own men.

Morris himself was conscious of the obscurity of the work:--

‘For the language of his version Morris once felt it necessary to
make an apology. Except a few words, he said, the words used in it
were such as he would not hesitate to use in an original poem of
his own. He did not add, however, that their effect, if slipped
sparingly in amid his own pellucid construction and facile
narrative method, would be very different from their habitual use
in a translation.... As the work advanced, he seems to have felt
this himself, and his pleasure in the doing of it fell off.’
--Mackail’s _Life_, ii. 284-5.

Finally, the version does not _translate_. Words like ‘Spearman’ for
_Ocean_, and combinations like ‘the sight seen once only’ for _the
face_, can be understood only by the intimate student of Old English
poetry, and there is no reason why such a person should not peruse
_Beowulf_ in the original tongue rather than in a translation
occasionally as obscure as the poem itself.

If one can peer through the darkness of Morris’s diction, he will
discover a fairly pleasing use of the so-called imitative measure. The
verse is not nearly so rough as the original; many of the characteristic
substitutions are avoided. There is evident a tendency toward the
‘rising verse’ and the anapestic foot. The feminine ending is frequently
used. The verse is, therefore, not strictly imitative in that it retains
the Old English system of versification, but rather in that it attempts
to suggest the Old English movement by the use of four principal
stresses and a varying number of unstressed syllables. Morris’s verse is
the best of all the ‘imitative’ measures.

[Footnote 1: See Mackail’s _Life_, i. 198.]

SIMONS’S TRANSLATION

Beówulf, Angelsaksisch Volksepos, vertaald in Stafrijm, en met Inleiding
en Aanteekeningen voorzien door Dr. L. Simons, Briefwisselend Lid der
Koninklijke Vlaamsche Academie voor Taal- en Letterkunde, Leeraar aan
’t koninklijk Athenaeum te Brussel. Gent, A. Siffer, 1896. Large 8vo,
pp. 355.

Published for the Koninklijke Vlaamsche Academie voor Taal- en
Letterkunde.

First Dutch Translation. Iambic Pentameter.

_Aim and Contents of the Volume._

The author’s purpose, as stated in ‘Een Woord Vooraf,’ is to make the
_Beowulf_ better known to the Dutch public. With this in view he adds to
his translation copious notes and an exhaustive comment. The titles of
his various chapters are: De Beschaving in den Beowulf, Christendom,
Heldensage en Volksepos, Geschiednis, Mythos, Geatas, Nationaliteit van
den Beowulf, Tijd van Voltooiing, Het Handschrift, De Versbouw, Epische
Stijl, Innerlijke Geschiednis. Explanatory and critical comment is given
in the footnotes, and textual criticism in the Notes at the end of the
volume.

_Text Used._

‘I have followed the text of Socin[1]; where I have preferred to
give another reading I have justified my proceeding in the Notes
at the end of the work.’ --Een Woord Vooraf.

_Nature of the Translation._

It is a literal translation in iambic pentameter.

‘Of the translation nothing in particular needs to be said. I have
followed my original as closely as possible.’ --Een Woord Vooraf.

He adds that this was no easy task, as Dutch does not afford the same
variety of simile as the Old English.

A page is then given to the discussion of the nature of his verse.
He first gives his reasons for preferring iambic pentameter to the
‘Reinartsvers,’ which some might think best to use.

‘Moreover, the iambic pentameter lends itself well to division
into hemistichs, the principal characteristic of the ancient epic
versification.’ --Een Woord Vooraf.

He has often preferred the simple alliteration (aa, bb) to the Old
English system[2].

EXTRACT.

IX.

En Hunferd zeide toen, de zoon van Ecglaf,
Die aan die voeten zat des Schyldingvorsten,
Het kampgeheim ontkeetnend: (Beowulfs aankomst,
Des koenen golfvaart gaf hem grooten aanstoot,
Omdat hij geenszins aan een ander gunde
Der mannen, meerder roem op aard te rapen,
Beneên de wolken, dan hem was geworden.)
‘Zijt gij die Beowulf, die met Brecca aanbond
Den wedstrijd op de wijde zee, in ’t zwemmen
Met dezen streven dorst, toen boud gij beiden
Navorschtet in den vloed en gij uit grootspraak
Uw leven waagdet in het diepe water?
Geen stervling was in staat, noch vriend noch vijand,
De roekelooze reis u af te raden.
Toen braakt gij beiden roeiend door de baren
En dektet onder uwen arm de deining,
Gij maat de zeebahn, zwaaiend met de handen,
Doorgleedt de waterwieling, schoon met golven
De kil opklotste bij des winters branding.
Op deze wijze wurmdet gij te gader
Wel zeven nachten in ’t bezit der zeeën.
Doch gene ging in vaart u ver te boven;
Hij had toch meerder macht. De strooming stuwde
Hem met den morgen heen ten Headoraemen,
Van waar hij wedervond, de volksgevierde,
Het lieve stambezit, het land der Brondings,
De schoone schatburg, waar hij wapenlieden
En goed en goud bezat. De zoon van Beanstan
Hield tegen u geheel zijn woord in waarheid.’

_Criticism of the Translation._

The translation seems to aim chiefly at accuracy, which accounts for the
rather large number of notes containing readings suggested by various
commentators. The translator uses freely compounds and metaphors similar
to those in the original text. This seems occasionally to militate
against the clearness of the work. Thus, it is doubtful whether
‘kampgeheim ontkeetnend’ of the extract conveys to the modern Dutch
reader any notion similar to that of the Old English _beadu-runen
onband_.

The present writer is unable to offer any literary criticism of the
translation.

[Footnote 1: Fifth edition of Heyne’s text, 1888.]

[Footnote 2: At this point Simons speaks as if ab, ab, were the
common form of alliteration in Old English, whereas it is rather
uncommon.]

STEINECK’S TRANSLATION

Altenglische Dichtungen (Beowulf, Elene, u.a.) in wortgetreuer
Uebersetzung von H. Steineck. Leipzig, 1898, O. R. Reisland. 8vo,
Beowulf, pp. 1-102.

Seventh German Translation. Line for line.

_Aim of the Volume, and Nature of the Translation._

‘Die vorliegende Uebersetzung ist aus dem Bedürfnis einer
wortgetreuen Wiedergabe altenglischer Denkmäler entstanden. Soweit
es der Sinn zuliess, ist das Bestreben dahin gegangen, für jedes
altenglische Wort das etymologisch entsprechende neuhochdeutsche,
wenn vorhanden, einzusetzen. So ist die Uebersetzung zugleich ein
sprachgeschichtliches Werk.’ --Vorwort.

_Text Used._

The translation is based on Heyne’s text of 1863[1] (Vorwort).
Fragmentary passages are not restored.

EXTRACT.

IX.

Hunferd sprach, des Ecglâf Sohn, 500
Welcher zu Füssen sass des Herren der Scyldinge;
Er löste der Streiter Geheimniss--ihm war Beowulfs Fahrt,
Des mutigen Meerfahrers, zu grossem Neid,
Weil er nicht gönnte, dass irgend ein anderer
Jemals nun mehr Ruhmesthaten
Unter dem Himmel der Erde erwarb als er selbst:
‘Bist du Bêowulf, der du mit Breca kämpftest
Auf weiter See in einem Wettschwimmen,
Dort durchforschtet ihr beide aus Stolz die Fluten
Und wagtet aus verwegener Ruhmsucht im tiefen Wasser
Euer Leben? Euch beiden konnte keiner, 510
Weder Freund noch Feind, vorwerfen
Die gefahrvolle Reise; da rudertet ihr beide im Wasser,
Dort überdecktet ihr beide den Wasserstrom mit Armen,
Ihr masst die Meeresstrassen, mit Händen schwangt ihr,
Ihr glittet über die Flut; das Meer wallte in Fluten,
Des Winters Gewoge; ihr mühtet euch in des Wassers Gewalt
Sieben Nächte ab; er besiegte dich beim Schwimmen,
Er hatte grössere Kraft. Da warf ihn in der Morgenzeit
An das Headoræmenland die See,
Von dort aus suchte er das traute Stammgut auf, 520
Der seinen Leuten Teure, das Land der Brondinge,
Die schöne Friedensburg, wo er Volk besass,
Burg und Ringe. Alles, wozu er sich dir verpflichtete,
Leistete der Sohn Bêanstâns wahrhaftig.’

_Criticism of the Translation._

It would be manifestly unfair to criticize this translation for its want
of grace and melody, because it is avowedly a literal rendering, and a
literal rendering makes no attempt to attain these qualities. But there
are certain things which are indispensable in a good literal
translation. It is imperative that such a translation should be based on
the best text of the original poem. What has Steineck done? He has gone
back thirty-five years and chosen an early and inaccurate edition of a
work that has been five times re-edited, Heyne’s text of 1863! It seems
almost incredible that a German, living in the midst of scholars who
have done more than any other people to interpret the _Beowulf_, should
ignore the fruits of their efforts.

It is unnecessary to enumerate the faults of this translation due to
dependence upon an antiquated edition of the text. Suffice it to say
that when the edition of 1863 was printed the text had not yet been
properly transcribed from the MS.[2]

But there are evidences of an inaccuracy of a different kind that betray
a carelessness utterly reprehensible. The author is apparently unable to
transliterate properly the Old English names. Thus he has Vealhpeon and
Vealhpeo (for Wealhtheow), Ecgpeow, Halbdaene (for Healfdene),
Ermanarich, &c.

In his attempt to produce an etymological document, the translator uses
many compounds such as even the German language might be better without;
such are--Sippenschar (sibbegedriht), 730; Schattenwandler
(sceadugenga), 704; Wangenpolster (hlēor-bolster), 689; Leibpanzer
(līc-syrce), 550. As compounds these may not be offensive to a German;
but the trouble with them is that they do not translate the Old English
ideas.

Finally, it may be asked why a translation that appeals only as a
literal rendering should not be strictly literal, noting its every
variation from the original, italicizing supplied words, holding to the
original word-order.

Steineck’s translation did not advance the interpretation of _Beowulf_
a whit. In point of accuracy the book is not worthy to stand with good
translations thirty years old.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 64.] [[Heyne: Relation of...]]

[Footnote 2: See also supra, p. 8.] [[Preliminary Remarks]]

J. R. C. HALL’S TRANSLATION

Beowulf, and the Fight at Finnsburg, a translation into modern English
prose, with an Introduction and Notes, by John R. Clark Hall, M.A.,
Ph.D. With twelve illustrations[1]. London: Swan Sonnenschein and
Company, Lim., 1901. 8vo, pp. xlv, 203.

Tenth English Translation. Prose.

_Translator, and Circumstances of Publication._

Hitherto Dr. Hall had been chiefly known to the learned world for his
excellent _Anglo-Saxon Dictionary for Students_.

Up to this time no prose translation had appeared in England since 1876,
save Earle’s[2], which for the elementary student was practically
useless. Moreover, this translation was the first to embody the results
of various studies on the poem during the past decade.

_Contents._

Unlike the preceding works on _Beowulf_, it may be said that the
introductory and illustrative matter in this book is of quite as much
importance as the translation. The author says of his book:--

‘The following pages comprise a short statement of what is
actually known with respect to the poem of _Beowulf_, another
statement of what seems to me most likely to be true amongst the
almost innumerable matters of conjecture concerning it, and a few
words of literary appreciation.’ --Introduction, p. ix.

Statements similar to these have been put forth by other translators of
the poem, but the material of their volume has not always borne them
out. The studies of the poem in the Introduction are sufficient for a
school edition of _Beowulf_--a similar body of information is not found
in any of the existing editions--while annotations of some importance to
the elementary student are found in the notes and running comment. The
book contains, beside the translation, a discussion of the form,
language, geographical allusions, date, and composition of the poem,
as well as a useful, though inaccurate, bibliography[3].

_Text Used._

The translation is founded on the text of A. J. Wyatt, Cambridge, 1894.
Dr. Hall does not always follow the interpretations given in Wyatt’s
glossary, nor is the punctuation of the translation conformed to that of
the Old English text.

_Indebtedness to Preceding Scholars._

In his translation Dr. Hall seems to be most indebted to the work of
Professor Earle[4] (see lines 4, 71, 517, 852, 870, 926, 996, 1213,
1507, 2021, 3034, &c.).

Frequent reference is also made to the work of Cosijn, _Aanteekeningen
op den Beowulf_ (1892). The work of other scholars, such as Bugge,
Heyne, Socin, is also referred to.

_Nature of the Translation._

The translation is a literal prose version. It is constantly interrupted
by bits of running comment, designed to overcome the inherent obscurity
of the poem, or to afford an elaborate digest of the story if read
without the translation (p. 7).

The rendering avoids archaisms.

Bugge’s restoration is used at line 3150; the passage at line 2215 is
not restored.

EXTRACT.

VIII.

UNFERTH TAUNTS BEOWULF. BEOWULF’S CONTEST WITH BRECA.

(Lines 499-558.)

(499-505). _Now comes a jarring note. Unferth, a Danish courtier,
is devoured by jealousy, and taunts Beowulf._

Then Unferth, the son of Ecglaf, who sat at the feet of the lord
of the Scyldings, spoke, and gave vent to secret thoughts of
strife,--the journey of Beowulf, the brave sea-farer, was a great
chagrin to him, for he grudged that any other man under heaven
should ever obtain more glory on this middle-earth than he
himself.

(506-528). _‘Art thou the same Beowulf,’ says he, ‘who ventured on
a foolhardy swimming match with Breca on the open sea in winter,
for seven days, and got beaten? A worse fate is in store for thee
when thou meetest Grendel!’_

‘Art thou that Beowulf who strove with Breca, contested with him
on the open sea, in a swimming contest, when ye two for vainglory
tried the floods, and ventured your lives in deep water for idle
boasting? Nor could any man, friend or foe, dissuade you from your
sorry enterprise when ye swam on the sea; when ye compassed the
flowing stream with your arms, meted out the sea-paths, battled
with your hands, and glided over the ocean; when the sea, the
winter’s flood, surged with waves. Ye two toiled in the water’s
realm seven nights; he overcame you at swimming, he had the
greater strength. Then, at morning time, the ocean cast him up on
the Heathoræmas’ land. Thence, dear to his people, he sought his
beloved fatherland, the land of the Brondings, his fair
stronghold-city, where he had subjects and treasures and a
borough. The son of Beanstan performed faithfully all that he had
pledged himself to. So I expect for thee a worse fatality,--though
thou hast everywhere prevailed in rush of battle,--gruesome
war,--if thou darest await Grendel at close quarters for the space
of a night.’

_Criticism of the Translation._

The extract is typical of all that is best in the translation. It is a
thoroughly accurate piece of work, failing only where Wyatt’s edition of
the text is unsatisfactory. Translations like ‘gave vent to secret
thoughts of strife’ and ‘thou hast prevailed in the rush of battle’ show
that the work is the outcome of long thought and deep appreciation. At
times the translation, as here, verges on a literary rendering. But in
this respect the first part of the poem is vastly superior to the later
parts, though all three are marred by extreme literalness. Dr. Hall did
not always escape the strange diction that has so often before
disfigured the translations of _Beowulf_:--

Line 2507, ‘my unfriendly hug finished his bony frame.’
„ 2583, ‘The Geat’s free-handed friend crowed not in pride
of victory.’
„ 2655, ‘Fell the foe and shield the Weder-Geat Lord’s life.’
„ 2688, ‘the public scourge, the dreadful salamander.’
„ 2834, ‘show his form’ (said of the Dragon).
„ 2885, ‘hopelessly escheated from your breed.’

It is also rather surprising to learn from Dr. Hall that Beowulf was one
of those that ‘advanced home government’ (l. 3005).

It should be added that the explanatory comment which constantly
interrupts the translation, often six or eight times in a section, is
annoying, both because it distracts the attention and because it is
often presented in a style wholly inappropriate to the context.

But this absence of ease and dignity does not hinder Dr. Hall’s
translation from being an excellent rendering of the matter of the poem,
at once less fanciful than Earle’s[5] and more modern than Garnett’s[6],
its only rivals as a literal translation. That it conveys an adequate
notion of the style of _Beowulf_, however, it is impossible to affirm.

[Footnote 1: Chiefly of Anglo-Saxon antiquities.]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 91.] [[Earle]]

[Footnote 3: See my forthcoming review of the book in the
_Journal of Germanic Philology_.]

[Footnote 4: See supra, p. 91.] [[Earle]]

[Footnote 5: See supra, p. 91.] [[Earle]]

[Footnote 6: See supra, p. 83.] [[Garnett]]

TINKER’S TRANSLATION

Beowulf, translated out of the Old English by Chauncey Brewster Tinker,
M.A. New York: Newson and Co., 1902. 12mo, pp. 158.

Eleventh English Translation. Prose.

_Aim of the Volume and Nature of the Translation._

‘The present translation of _Beowulf_ is an attempt to make as
simple and readable a version of the poem as is consistent with
the character of the original. Archaic forms, which have been much
in favor with translators of Old English, have been excluded,
because it has been thought that vigor and variety are not
incompatible with simple, idiomatic English....

The principal ways in which the present version differs from a
merely literal translation are the following: (1) in a rather
broad interpretation of pregnant words and phrases; (2) in a
conception of some of the Old English compounds as conventional
phrases in which the original metaphorical sense is dead; (3) in a
free treatment of connecting words; (4) in frequent substitution
of a proper name for an ambiguous pronoun.

The translation is based on the text of A. J. Wyatt (Cambridge,
1898); a few departures from his readings are enumerated in the
Notes.’ --Preface, pp. 5, 6.

EXTRACT.

VIII and IX.

_Unferth, a thane of Hrothgar, grows jealous of Beowulf and taunts
him, raking up old tales of a swimming-match with Breca. Beowulf
is angered and boastfully tells the truth touching that adventure,
and puts Unferth to silence. Queen Wealhtheow passes the cup.
Hrothgar commends Heorot to the care of Beowulf._

Unferth, the son of Ecglaf, who sat at the feet of the lord of the
Scyldings, spoke, and stirred up a quarrel; the coming of Beowulf,
the brave seafarer, vexed him sore, for he would not that any
other man under heaven should ever win more glories in this world
than he himself. ‘Art thou that Beowulf who didst strive with
Breca on the broad sea and didst contend with him in swimming,
when ye two, foolhardy, made trial of the waves and for a mad
boast risked your lives in the deep water? None, friend or foe,
could turn you from the sorry venture when ye two swam out upon
the sea. But ye enfolded the ocean-streams with your arms,
measured the sea-streets, buffeted the water with your hands,
gliding over the deep. The ocean was tossing with waves,
a winter’s sea. Seven nights ye toiled in the power of the waters;
and he overcame thee in the match, for he had the greater
strength. Then at morning-tide the sea cast him up on the coast of
the Heathoræmas, whence he, beloved of his people, went to his
dear fatherland, the country of the Brondings, and his own fair
city where he was lord of a stronghold, and of subjects and
treasure. Verily, the son of Beanstan made good all his boast
against thee. Wherefore, though thou hast ever been valiant in the
rush of battle, I look to a grim fight, yea, and a worse issue,
for thee, if thou darest for the space of one night abide near
Grendel.’

APPENDIX I

INCOMPLETE TRANSLATIONS, AND PARAPHRASES

LEO’S DIGEST

Bëówulf, dasz[1] älteste deutsche in angelsächsischer mundart erhaltene
heldengedicht nach seinem inhalte, und nach seinen historischen und
mythologischen beziehungen betrachtet. Ein beitrag zur geschichte alter
deutscher geisteszustände. Von H. Leo. Halle, bei Eduard Anton, 1839.
8vo, pp. xx, 120.

Selections Translated into German Prose.

_Contents of the Volume, and Nature of the Translation._

This was the first German book to give any extended account of the poem.

The titles of the chapters are: I. Historische Anlehnung; II. Mythischer
Inhalt; III. Die geographischen Angaben; IV. Genealogische Verhältnisse
der in dem Liede vorkommenden Helden; V. Uebersicht des Inhalts des
Gedichtes von Bëówulf. In this fifth chapter are found the extracts from
_Beowulf_. It will be seen that the chapter is somewhat subordinate to
the others, its chief purpose being to furnish a kind of digest of the
poem, to be used principally as a work of reference. A desire to
condense leads the translator to omit lines that he does not deem
essential to an understanding of the events and characters of the poem.
Unfortunately his omissions are often the most poetical lines of the
_Beowulf_. For example, he omits the description of Beowulf’s
sea-voyage; Hrothgar’s account of the haunt of Grendel and his dam is
curtailed; the dying words of Beowulf, perhaps the most beautiful lines
in the poem, are clipped. Further examples may be found in the extract
given below. This insufficiency is excused by the fact that Leo’s main
object in preparing the book was to prove certain theories that he held
respecting the origin and date of the poem.

The text from which he translates is Kemble’s[2].

EXTRACT.

ACHTER GESANG.

Hûnferð Ecglâfs sohn, der zu des scildingenfürsten füssen sasz,
began da ein streiterregendesz gespräch; denn er wird eifersüchtig
auf den rum, den Bëówulf sich zu erwerben geht. Er selbst wil der
berümteste sein unter den wolken. Er sagte: ‘Bistu der Bëówulf,
der mit Brëcca ein wetschwimmen hielt sieben tage und nächte lang,
bis er dich in schwimmen besigte, der kräftigere man; dann am
achten morgen stig er auf Heáðorämes ansz land und gieng heim zu
den Brondingen, wo er eine burg und edlesz gefolge und reichtum
hatte? Bëánstânes sohn hat dir allesz geleistet, wasz er gewettet
hatte.’

_Omissions_:--

Line 502, mōdges mere-faran.
„ 507-517 _entire_.
„ 520, swǣsne ēðel, lēof his lēodum.

_Criticism of the Extract._

As an analysis this is good enough; as a translation of the passage it
is of course utterly inadequate--it omits the very best lines in the
original. The book served, however, as a running digest of the story,
and as such gave an excellent idea of the contents of the poem. But
Ettmüller was justified in calling the translation which he published
the next year, ‘the first German translation[3].’

[Footnote 1: Leo was a spelling reformer.]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 33.] [[Kemble]]

[Footnote 3: See supra, p. 37.] [[Ettmüller]]

SANDRAS’S ACCOUNT

De carminibus anglo-saxonicis Cædmoni adjudicatis Disquisitio. Has
theses Parisiensi Litterarum Facultati proponebat S. G. Sandras in
Lycaeo Claromontensi Professor. Parisiis, Apud A. Durand, Bibliopolam,
1859. 8vo, pp. 87. Beowulf described _Cap. Primum_, § 2, De Profana
Poesi, pp. 10-19.

Extracts Translated into Latin Prose.

The only significance of this book is that it contained the first
information about _Beowulf_ given to the French public. About ten lines
are literally translated in Cap. I, § 1, all under the general title, De
Poesi Saxonica. In § 2 the poem is rather carefully sketched, much after
the manner of Leo[1], from Beowulf’s arrival in the Danish land to the
fight with Grendel.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 122.] [[Leo]]

E. H. JONES’S PARAPHRASE

Popular Romances of the Middle Ages. By George W. Cox, M.A., and Eustace
Hinton Jones. London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1871. 8vo, _Beowulf_ (by
E. H. Jones), pp. 382-398.

*Second edition, in one volume (containing, in addition to the romances
in the first edition, those formerly published under the title ‘Tales of
the Teutonic Lands’). C. Kegan Paul & Company: London, 1880 (1879).

A Paraphrase for General Readers.

_Aim of the Volume._

‘The thought that these old romances may be presented to
Englishmen of the present day in a form which shall retain their
real vigour without the repulsive characteristics impressed on
them by a comparatively rude and ignorant age may not, perhaps, be
regarded as inexcusably presumptuous. With greater confidence it
may be affirmed that, if we turn to these old legends or romances
at all, it should be for the purpose of learning what they really
were, and not with any wish of seeing them through a glass which
shall reflect chiefly our own thoughts about them and throw over
them a colouring borrowed from the sentiment of the nineteenth
century.

‘These two conditions have, it is hoped, been strictly observed in
the versions here given of some of the great romances of mediæval
Europe. While special care has been taken to guard against the
introduction even of phrases not in harmony with the original
narratives, not less pains have been bestowed on the task of
preserving all that is essential in the narrative; and thus it may
perhaps be safely said that the readers of this volume will obtain
from it an adequate knowledge of these time-honoured stories,
without having their attention and their patience overtaxed by a
multiplicity of superfluous and therefore utterly irksome
details.’ --Preface, pp. vi, vii.

_Nature of the Paraphrase._

The poem is relieved of all the episodes except the prolog and King
Hrothgar’s discourse. Sometimes these omissions seem unnecessary. It is
certainly a mistake to sacrifice the swimming-match, lively in its
narrative, dramatic in setting.

On the other hand, the author makes an attempt to preserve as much as
possible of the original style. So anxious is he to save every
picturesque word of the original, that he sometimes transfers
expressions from the passages which he is obliged to drop and inserts
them in other parts of the story.

EXTRACT[1].

‘Away to the westward among the people of the Geáts lived a man,
strongest of his race, tall, mighty-handed, and clean made. He was
a thane, kinsman to Hygelác the Geátish chief, and nobly born,
being son of Ecgtheow the Wægmunding, a war-prince who wedded with
the daughter of Hrethel the Geát. This man heard of Grendel’s
deeds, of Hrothgár’s sorrow, and the sore distress of the Danes,
and having sought out fifteen warriors, he entered into a
new-pitched ship to seek the war-king across the sea. Bird-like
the vessel’s swan-necked prow breasted the white sea-foam till the
warriors reached the windy walls of cliff and the steep mountains
of the Danish shores. They thanked God because the wave-ways had
been easy to them; then, sea-wearied, lashed their wide-bosomed
ship to an anchorage, donned their war-weeds, and came to Heorot,
the gold and jewelled house. Brightly gleamed their armour and
merrily sang the ring-iron of their trappings as they marched into
the palace.’ --Pages 384-5.

_Criticism of the Paraphrase._

The object of a paraphrase is to present all the essential matter of the
original, in a style materially simpler than, though not unrelated to,
the original.

The matter of Mr. Jones’s paraphrase is not above criticism. It is full
of minor errors. In the extract, for example, the original does not say
that the heroes ‘donned their war-weeds,’ nor that there were mountains
on the shores of Denmark.

The style of the work is much better. It is throughout strong and clear,
not over-sentimental. It is, perhaps, too intimate; it savors slightly
of the _Märchen_. This absence of vigor and remoteness may be due to the
nature of the volume of which this paraphrase is only a part.

[Footnote 1: Swimming-match omitted.]

ZINSSER’S SELECTION

Jahresbericht über die Realschule zu Forbach (Lothringen) für das
Schuljahr 1880 bis 1881, mit welchem zu der öffentlichen Prüfung am
Freitag den 12. August 1881 ergebenst einladet der Director A.
Knitterscheid.

Voran geht eine Abhandlung des ordentlichen Lehrers G. Zinsser: Der
‘Kampf Beowulfs mit Grendel,’ als Probe einer metrischen Uebersetzung
des angelsächsischen Epos ‘Beóvulf.’ Saarbrücken. Druck von Gebrüder
Hofer. 1881. 4to, pp. 18, double columns, Schulnachrichten 6.

The First 836 Lines translated in Iambic Pentameter.

_Aim, Contents, and Method of Translation._

‘Gleichwol wird das Gedicht in deutscher Sprache noch wenig
gelesen; und es mag darum gerechtfertigt sein, wenn auch ein
weniger Berufener ein Schärflein zum weiteren Bekanntwerden dieses
altehrwürdigen Erzeugnisses germanischen Geistes beitragen will.
Derselbe hat in seiner Uebersetzung, von welcher im Folgenden von
3184 Versen nur die ersten 826[1], nämlich der Kampf Beowulfs mit
Grendel mit vorausgehender Genealogie der dänischen Könige,
vorgeführt werden, alles vermieden, was dem Laien das Verständnis
erschweren könnte. Die am Schluss beigefügten mythologischen,
historischen und geographischen Erläuterungen können auch denen
willkommen sein, welche sich eingehender mit dem Gedicht
beschäftigen wollen.’ --Einleitung, 4.

_Text Used._

The text used is Heyne’s edition of 1873 (see Einleitung, 4).

EXTRACT.

Doch Hunferd, Ecglafs Sohn, der beim Gelage
Zu Füssen Hrodgars, seines Herren, sass,
War voll Verdruss, der Ruhm des Beowulf
Erregte bittren Neid im Busen ihm.
Er konnte nicht ertragen, wenn beim Volke
Ein andrer mehr gepriesen ward, als er.
Voll Aerger sucht’ er Händel, also sprechend:
‘Du bist gewiss der Beowulf, der einst
Im Meer mit Breca um die Wette schwamm?
Ihr masset damals euch in kühnem Wagen!
Das mühevolle Werk euch auszureden
Vermochte niemand, tollkühn setztet ihr
Das Leben ein und schwammt ins Meer hinaus.
Zerteiltet mit den Armen kraftgemut
Des Meeres Wogen, glittet rasch dahin
In kalter Flut. Ihr mühtet sieben Nächte
Euch ab, und endlich siegte Brecas Stärke,
Er war dir doch voran an Heldenkraft.
Ihn trug die Flut zur Morgenzeit hinauf
Zum Hadorämenstrand. Von dort gelangt’
Er dann zu seiner Burg in Brondingland,
Die, starkbefestigt, funkelndes Geschmied,
Der Spangen und Juwelen viele birgt.
Es jubelte sein Volk dem Herren zu,
Der kühn sein Wort gelöst, nachdem er so
Im Wettkampf glänzend hatte obgesiegt!’

_Criticism of the Extract._

The translation is very free. Lines that are obscure in the original are
not allowed to be obscure in the translation, even if they have to have
a meaning read into them. For example, in the extract quoted above,
_beadu-runen onband_ of the original is rendered ‘sucht’ er Händel,’
thoroughly intelligible, but not accurate. There is at times a tendency
to paraphrase, or even to introduce an original sentence into the poem.
An example of this may be seen at the close of the first canto:--

‘unerforschlich sind
Und dunkel oft die Wege des Geschickes[2].’ --Page 5, l. 54.

Words are occasionally omitted. In the extract above _ne lēof nē lāð_
(l. 511) and _sunu Bēanstānes_ (l. 524) are omitted in translation.
There are no lines in the original which correspond to the last line and
a half of the extract.

Of course by adopting this method of translation the writer attains his
purpose. His poem is readable, but readable at the expense of accuracy.
As a paraphrase, the version is commendable; but it is hardly of
importance in any other way.

[Footnote 1: According to the Old English text, 836.]

[Footnote 2: The Old English reads:--

Men ne cunnon
secgan tō sōðe, sele-rǣdende
hæleð under heofenum, hwā þǣm hlæste onfēng. --Lines 50-52.]

GIBB’S PARAPHRASE

*Gudrun and other Stories, from the Epics of the Middle Ages, by John
Gibb. M. Japp & Company: London: Edinburgh (printed), 1881.

Gudrun, Beowulf, and Roland, with other mediaeval tales by John Gibb,
with twenty illustrations. Second edition. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1884
(1883).

8vo, _Beowulf_, pp. 135-168, with three illustrations[1].

A Paraphrase in English Prose.

_Aim of the Volume._

‘I have not translated them (the poems) literally, but have told
their stories faithfully in simple language, with the special
design of interesting young people, although I am not without hope
that they will be read by some who can no longer be called young.’
--Prefatory Note.

_Nature of the Paraphrase._

The following parts are omitted: (1) All episodes except the Prolog;
(2) All lines that do not have to do directly with the story; (3) All
the descriptive adjectives and kennings of the poem.

Gibb seems to care nothing for the beauties of the style. How much he
has sacrificed may be seen by noting his rendering of the celebrated
description of Grendel’s haunt:--

‘I know not their home. It is in a dark lake overshadowed by
trees. Into that lake the stag will not plunge, even although the
hounds are close upon it, so fearful and unholy is the place.’

An illustration of the same thing may be seen by noting the omission of
phrases from the swimming-match.

EXTRACT.

But Hunferth, the son of Ecglaf, who sat at the feet of King
Hrothgar, was displeased. He was grieved that any hero should come
to the land boasting that he could do what no one among the Danes
could do. He said scornfully to Beowulf--

‘Tell me, art thou the Beowulf whom Breca overcame in a swimming
match? I heard the tale. You both ventured out like foolish men
among the waves in the days of winter. For seven nights you swam
together, but Breca was the stronger. Thou wilt have a worse
defeat shouldst thou venture to meet Grendel in the darkness of
the night.’ --Page 144.

_Criticism of the Paraphrase._

In comparison with the work of Mr. Jones[2], it may be said that Mr.
Gibb’s paraphrase is fuller, reproduces more events, and follows more
faithfully the original order. He supplies fewer explanatory words and
sentences. But, on the other hand, Mr. Gibb’s work, unlike Mr. Jones’s,
has no merits of style--it is all on a dead level of prose. Thus it sins
against one of the laws of paraphrase: that the writer, in relieving
himself of the exacting duties of translator, must present the story in
a more literary and more truly adequate medium. Mr. Gibb’s is one of the
poorer paraphrases.

_Indebtedness to Arnold._

At page 280 of the concluding chapter, the author speaks of the history
and character of the poem. It will be found on reference to this section
that the author is a follower of the views set forth in the edition of
Mr. Thomas Arnold[3]. It is probable that Mr. Gibb was indebted to this
book for much of his paraphrase, but the free character of the version
prevents any decision on this point.

[Footnote 1: Woodcuts; two of them are identical with the ones
given in the Wägner-MacDowall paraphrase: see infra, p. 130.]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 123.] [[Sandras]]

[Footnote 3: See supra, p. 71.] [[Arnold]]

THE WÄGNER-MACDOWALL PARAPHRASE

Epics and Romances of the Middle Ages. Adapted from the Work of Dr. W.
Wägner by M. W. MacDowall, and edited by W. S. W. Anson. Philadelphia:
J. B. Lippincott & Co., London: W. Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1883. 8vo,
_Beowulf_, pp. 347-364, with two illustrations[1].

Second Edition, Oct. 1883.

Sixth Edition, 1890.

Eighth Edition, 1896.

_Beowulf_ Retold, with Changes and Additions.

The paraphrase is adapted from _Deutsche Heldensagen für Schule und
Haus_, by Dr. W. Wägner (Leipzig, 1881).

_Aim of the Book._

From the nature of the changes made in the story, it is evident that an
appeal is made to younger readers. This is borne out by the statement on
p. 9 of the Introduction.

_Changes in the Story._

The story does not pretend to do more than follow the most general
outlines of the original. The most important changes are in the first
division of the poem, where it would seem that no changes whatever were
needed. The principal additions are the following:--

(1) A minstrel flees from plague-stricken Heorot, sails to the Geatish
land, and sings the terror wrought by Grendel, urging Beowulf to come
and save the people.

(2) The swimming-match is introduced into the action of the story, with
the _motif_ radically altered. Breca is represented as winning the
match.

(3) The incident of Beowulf’s refusal of the crown is amplified and
introduced into the story at the opening of the third part.

(4) The story differs from the original in a number of minor details.

EXTRACT.

The minstrel tuned his harp and sang of Beowulf’s heroic deeds,
and prophesied that he would conquer and slay the monster of the
morass. This praise made Hunford, one of the courtiers, angry and
jealous. He said it was Breka, not Beowulf, that had won the
golden chain[2]; that the Gothic hero was undertaking an
enterprise that would very likely lead him to his death; and he
advised him to think twice before attacking Grendel. Upon this,
Beowulf exclaimed indignantly that he had won a good sword instead
of the golden chain, and that it was sharp enough both to pierce
the hide of the monster and to cut out a slanderous tongue.

_Criticism of the Paraphrase._

The extract gives a good idea of the author’s sins of omission and
commission. It will be seen, for example, that the tone of the entire
passage is altered. The bit of repartee in the last sentence is wholly
foreign to the Beowulf manner, which is outright and downright--the very
opposite of subtilty. The false manner is evident at once when we
compare the reply of the hero in the original, ‘Thou art the murderer of
thine own brethren, and thou shalt be damned in Hell. Wait till
to-night, and thou shalt see which of us is the stronger.’

The story is, if possible, more garbled than the style. The mission of
the minstrel and the mangled account of the swimming-match have no
essential or artistic relation to the context. They are merely inserted
to add to the action of the piece.

The popularity of the book is attested by the number of editions through
which it has passed. The volume contains also paraphrases of the legends
about Arthur, Charlemagne, and Tannhäuser, as well as the story of the
Nibelungs. These must account for its enduring success; but it is
unfortunate that this, the poorest of the Beowulf paraphrases, should
thus have found an audience which it did not deserve and could never
have commanded for itself.

[Footnote 1: Woodcuts; inaccurate.]

[Footnote 2: A prize offered by King Hygelak for the victor in
the match.]

THERESE DAHN’S PARAPHRASE

Walhall. Germanische Götter- und Heldensagen. Für Alt und Jung am
deutschen Herd erzählt von Felix Dahn und Therese Dahn, geb. Freiin von
Droste-Hülshoff. Mit neunundfünfzig Bildertafeln, Textbildern,
Kopfleisten und Schlussstücken nach Federzeichnungen von Johannes
Gehrts. Kreuznach, Verlag von R. Voigtländer, 1883.

Seventh Edition, 1885.

Eleventh Edition, 1891.

Twelfth Edition (Leipzig), 1898.

8vo, _Beowulf_ (by Therese Dahn[1]), pp. 361-405, with two
illustrations.

A Paraphrase in German Prose for General Readers.

_Therese Dahn._

Therese Dahn, born Freiin von Droste-Hülshoff, was born in 1845, and
married Felix Dahn in 1873. With him she published in 1873 at Leipzig a
volume of poems (_Gedichte_). For certain of her verses in this volume
she received high praise. She has since continued creative work. She
resides at Breslau, where Felix Dahn is professor in the University.
Of the stories in the present volume she wrote, beside _Beowulf_, _Die
Wölsungen_, _Kudrun_, the story of König Wilkinus, &c., _Wieland der
Schmied_, _Walther und Hildgund_, and the stories from the _Dietrich_
saga and the _Nibelungen_ saga.

_Nature of the Paraphrase._

The following parts of the story are omitted entirely: the account of
the first King Beowulf in the Prolog; the Sigemund episode, Hrothgar’s
Discourse; the Thrytho episode; the Freawaru episode; Beowulf’s account
of his Fight with Grendel as told to King Hygelac; the Battle of
Ravenswood.

Other changes in the story are as follows: the sorrows of the Danes as
told in the Prolog are attributed to the reign of King Heremod; in a
separate Kapitel (III) are gathered the Sorrows of King Hrethel, the
account of Ongentheow, the Fall of Hygelac, and the Death of Heardred.
The Fight at Finnsburg is added and an original beginning provided
for it.

Obscure words, phrases, and lines are omitted; and explanatory words are
inserted from time to time.

_Indebtedness to Simrock._

The translation was evidently made with Simrock’s translation[2] in
hand; possibly it may have been made directly from that version.
Evidence of the dependence upon Simrock may be found at every step. The
forms of the proper names invented by Simrock are repeated here (e.g.,
Aeskhere, Hädkynn, Ochthere). His renderings of the unique words in the
poem (sometimes in a slightly simplified form) are used in the
paraphrase. Often the original word used by Simrock is added in
parentheses (cf., e.g., Simrock, p. 72.6 with Dahn, p. 382, and p. 73.44
with Dahn, p. 383). Further evidence may be found by comparing the
extracts given in this work.

EXTRACT.

_Hunferd_, des Königs erster Sänger, hub da ein Streitlied an; ihm
war Beowulfs Ankunft leid: denn er liebte es nicht, dass ein ihn
anderer an Ruhm übertreffe.

‘Bist du der Beowulf, der einst im Wettkampf mit _Breka_ durch die
See schwamm? Wo ihr tollkühn in vermessenem Mut euer Leben in den
tiefen Wassern wagtet? Weder Freund noch Feind konnten euch
abhalten. Da rudertet ihr in den Sund, masset die Meeresstrassen,
schlugt die Wasser mit den Händen, über die Tiefen gleitend. Die
winterkalte See stürmte und brauste: sieben Nächte schwammt ihr im
Wasser. Breka besiegte dich: er hatte mehr Kraft. Die Hochflut
warf ihn am nächsten Morgen ans Land, von we er in seine Heimat
eilte, in das Land der _Brondinge_, wo er über Burg und Volk
gebietet.’ --Page 370.

_Criticism of the Paraphrase._

In many places the work is practically a translation, so closely has the
original been followed. The style is agreeable and simple; but most of
what is beautiful in the diction belongs to Simrock rather than to Frau
Dahn.

The omissions are the most sensible that I have found in a paraphrase.
Nothing of first importance has been lost.

[Footnote 1: See p. 662.]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 59.] [[Simrock]]

STOPFORD BROOKE’S SELECTIONS

The History of Early English Literature, being the History of English
Poetry from its Beginnings to the Accession of King Ælfred. By Stopford
A. Brooke. New York and London: The Macmillan Co., 1892. 8vo, _Beowulf_,
pp. 12-92.

English Literature from the Beginning to the Norman Conquest. By
Stopford A. Brooke. New York and London: The Macmillan Co., 1898.
8vo, _Beowulf_, pp. 58-83.

Digest, Running Comment, and Translation of Copious Extracts into
Imitative Measures.

_Reasons for including this Book._

This volume is included here because of the great influence it has had
in forming popular notions regarding the _Beowulf_. The eminence of Mr.
Brooke as a critic and as a poet has given him the attention of an
audience hardly commanded by any other writer included in this paper.

Again, the number of lines actually translated by Mr. Brooke is equal to
that in many of the volumes described in this section.

_Difference between the two Editions._

The account in the second volume is much shorter than that in the first;
only twelve pages are given to the story of Beowulf, while the first
volume gives forty-three. The later book omits all discussion of the
episodes, and, although parts of the older volume are retained, the
matter is, in general, re-written.

_Method of Translation._

Translated extracts accompany the story as told by Mr. Brooke.

In his Preface (p. ix), the author speaks of the futility of prose
translations of poetry, and of the inadequacy of modern English media
for translating the spirit of the poetry. Finally he adopts a line which
he hopes will ‘fulfil the needs and follow closely the peculiarities’ of
Old English.

‘I chose after many experiments, the trochaic movement used in
this book, each half-line consisting of trochees following one
another, with a syllable at the end, chiefly a long one, to mark
the division of the line. I varied the line as much as I could,
introducing, often rashly, metrical changes; for the fault of this
movement is its monotony. I have sometimes tried an iambic
movement, but rarely; for this trochaic line with a beat at the
end of each half-verse seemed to me to get the nearest to the
sound of the Anglo-Saxon line, even though it is frequently
un-similar to that line itself. I used alliteration whenever I
could, and stressed as much as possible the alliterated words, and
I changed the length of the line with the changes of the original.
But when I could not easily alliterate my line or stress the
alliterated word, I did not try to do so.’

The author adopts an archaic diction. The word-order of the Old English
is followed whenever possible.

_Text Used._

The text appears to be that of Grein-Wülker (1883).

EXTRACT[1].

There at haven stood, hung with rings the ship,
Ice-bright, for the outpath eager, craft of Aethelings.
So their lord, the well-beloved, all at length they laid
In the bosom of the bark, him the bracelet-giver,--
By the mast the mighty king. Many gifts were there
Fretted things of fairness brought from far-off ways.--
Never heard I of a keel hung more comelily about
With the weeds of war, with the weapons of the battle,
With the bills and byrnies. On his breast there lay
A great heap of gems that should go with him,
Far to fare away in the Flood’s possession[2]. --Page 26.

[Footnote 1: The swimming-match is not available for illustration
here.]

[Footnote 2: In the second edition, the penultimate line reads,
‘Jewels great and heaped,’ &c.]

_Criticism of the Translation._

While the extracts cannot always be praised for their accuracy, they
are, perhaps, sufficiently faithful for a popular work. When the author
undertakes to emend the text for himself, or offers an original
interpretation, his work is not always trustworthy. Emendations in his
Beowulf selections, however, are rare.

The style of the extracts seems needlessly obscure. This is due in part
to following too closely the original word-order (see lines 4 and 5 of
the extract), and in part to the free use of archaic language. Mr.
Brooke does not hesitate to employ such forms as, ‘house-carles,’
‘grit-wall,’ ‘ness-slopes,’ ‘host-shafts,’ ‘war-wood,’ ‘gold-flakèd
shields,’ ‘grinning-masked helms,’ which it would seem must be quite
unintelligible to the majority of Mr. Brooke’s readers.

The verse, which has been fully discussed above, is, perhaps, the most
satisfactory feature of Mr. Brooke’s work. Of course it is not strictly
imitative, as he himself explains, but it gives a fairly good impression
of the movement of the Old English verse.

MISS RAGOZIN’S PARAPHRASE

Tales of the Heroic Ages. Siegfried, the Hero of the North, and Beowulf,
the Hero of the Anglo-Saxons, by Zenaïde A. Ragozin. G. P. Putnam’s
Sons, New York and London, 1898. 8vo, _Beowulf_, pp. 211-323, with Note
at p. 323, and with four illustrations by George T. Tobin.

School Edition, New York, W. B. Harison, 1900.

A Paraphrase in English Prose.

_The Author, and the Aim of her Book._

Miss Zenaïde Alexeievna Ragozin, a Russian by birth, an American by
adoption, has devoted herself to the popularization of history and
mythology. In the series _Stories of the Nations_, she has published,
_The Story of Chaldea_, _The Story of Assyria_, _The Story of Media,
Babylon, and Persia_, _The Story of Vedic India_. Of late she has turned
her attention to the mythology of the various European nations, and has
written of Siegfried, Frithjof, and Roland.

The object of her work may be given in her own words:--

‘(The series is) intended as parallel reading to history, and
planned to illustrate history.... Great changes are coming over
the schools, ... changes in the right direction, which may shortly
amount to a revolution, when there will be no reason why these
_Tales of the Heroic Ages_ should not, although addressed to young
people at large, find a place, if not in the school curriculum, at
least in the wide margin of so-called ‘Supplementary Reading.’ May
they prove acceptable, not alone to the young, to whom they are
specially addressed, but also, as has been felicitously said, to
“the old with young tastes.”’ --Pages xx, xxii.

_Method of Paraphrase._

‘(The style) should be simple and epical; faithfully following the
main lines, bringing out also the characteristic details--the
poetical beauties, picturesque traits, and original dialogue,
as much as may be consistent with necessary condensation and,
frequently, elimination. It should be a consecutive, lively
narrative, with the necessary elucidating explanations
incorporated in the text and with the fewest and briefest possible
footnotes, while it should contain no critical or mythological
digressions.... What we want in telling it to the young, is to
take the epic just as it is, condensing and expurgating, but not
changing; rendering the characters, scenes and situations with the
faithfulness and reverence due to the masterpiece of a race; using
as much as possible, especially in the dialogue, the words of the
original.... (The language) should be simple, though not untinged
with quaintness, and even in places a certain degree of archaism.’
--Pages xvi, xix, xxi.

_Indebtedness to Earle._

‘Professor Earle’s[1] version has been fully utilized in the
present volume, even to the extent of frequently making use of its
wording, where it is not too archaic or literal for ordinary
purposes.’ --Page 330, footnote.

Some notion of the extent of this borrowing may be had by examining the
extract printed below and the criticism that follows.

EXTRACT.

Yet there was one eye that gleamed not with merriment and
goodwill, one head that hatched no friendly thoughts, because the
heart swelled with malice and envy. Unferth it was, the king’s own
story-teller, who sat at his feet, to be ready at all times to
amuse him. He broached a quarrelsome theme--an adventure in
Beowulf’s youth, the only contest in his record the issue of
which, though hard fought, might be called doubtful. For this
Unferth was an envious wight, whose soul grudged that any man
should achieve greater things than himself.

‘Art thou not,’ he began tauntingly, ‘that same Beowulf who strove
with Breca on open sea in a swimming-match, in which ye both
wantonly exposed your lives, and no man, either friend or foe,
could turn you from the foolish venture? A se’nnight ye twain
toiled in the realm of the waters, and, if I err not, he outdid
thee in swimming, for he had greater strength. Wherefore I fear me
much that thou mayest meet with sorry luck if thou darest to bide
here for Grendel for the space of a whole night.’

_Criticism of the Paraphrase._

It may be inferred from the dependence upon the work of Earle that Miss
Ragozin’s knowledge of Old English is of the slightest. This inference
is borne out by frequent misapprehension of the original sense, due in
large measure to the use of a single translation. Thus on page 245,
Grendel is called ‘the God-sent scourge,’ and, again, on p. 322, Beowulf
is described as having been ‘most genial to his nobles.’ Both of these
errors are due to misapprehension of Professor Earle’s translation. The
list of proper names on p. 331 reveals an ignorance of some fundamental
facts of Old English pronunciation. Of course, an intimate knowledge of
the Beowulf style and diction is not indispensable to the writer of a
paraphrase, but the writer who has it will naturally be superior to the
writer without it. For illustration, Miss Thomson[2] never misinterprets
a passage as does Miss Ragozin on page 264, where nearly every sentence
is false to the Beowulf manner.

The paraphrase is slightly disfigured by the distinctively Romance words
which disfigure Earle’s translation.

But these slight defects need not blind us to the service done by Miss
Ragozin in making Beowulf accessible to school children. The style is,
in general, strong and effective, not without some of the beauty and
dignity of the Old English, but relieved of the more obscure and
recondite features of that style.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 91.] [[Earle]]

[Footnote 2: See infra, p. 143.] [[Thomson]]

MR. CHURCH’S PARAPHRASE

Heroes of Chivalry and Romance. By the Rev. A. J. Church, M.A. London:
Seeley and Company, 1898. 8vo, _Beowulf_, pp. 3-60. With two
illustrations in colours by George Morrow.

Beowulf Retold.

_Contents of the Volume._

‘The Story of Beowulf,’ ‘King Arthur and the Round Table,’ ‘The Treasure
of the Nibelungs.’

_Indebtedness to Kemble and Earle._

‘In writing the story of Beowulf I have been helped by Kemble’s
translation and notes[1], and still more by Professor Earle’s[2]
admirable edition.’ --Author’s Note.

_Nature of the Paraphrase._

All obscure words (especially kennings) and lines are dropped. Many
explanatory remarks are inserted to elucidate the story. All speeches
are greatly shortened. Beowulf’s tale of the fight is omitted entirely.
The episodes are omitted, with the exception of the Sigemund episode,
one-half of which is translated into heroic couplets, and the Finn
episode, which is referred to in a single stanza which paraphrases the
story.

_Concerning the Author._

The Rev. Alfred John Church (born 1829) is known chiefly for his
popularizations of the classics. His best-known works are _Stories from
Homer_ and _Stories from Virgil_. The present volume is an attempt to do
for some of the Germanic legends what had already been done for Homer
and Virgil.

EXTRACT.

But while they feasted envy stirred in the heart of Unferth, son
of Ecglaf. He was the King’s orator, and he took it ill that
Beowulf should have come to the land of the Danes on this great
enterprise, for he was one who could not endure that any man under
heaven should do greater deeds than himself. Therefore he stood up
in the hall and spake: ‘Art thou that Beowulf who contended with
Breca in swimming on the open sea? ‘Twas, indeed, a foolhardy
thing so to put your lives in jeopardy, yet no man could turn you
from your adventure. Seven days and nights ye toiled, one against
the other, but he in the end prevailed, for he had the greater
strength. And on the eighth morning the waves cast him ashore on
the land of the Heathoram, whence he journeyed back to the city of
the Bronding, of which he was lord. So did Breca, son of Beanstan,
make good his boast against thee.’

_Criticism of the Paraphrase._

The extract is so much fuller than the other parts of the paraphrase
that it hardly gives a fair notion of the nature of the work. The author
has appreciated the dramatic quality of the swimming episode and
preserved it nearly entire. Other parts of the story are much less
fortunate.

A little knowledge of Old English would have done the author no harm,
and would have saved him from some errors. His most evident mistakes are
in the forms of the proper names. Such forms as these occur in his book:
Veleda, Hugon, Weopstan (sic), Hrethin, Hrethet.

The diction is unfortunate. The coast-warden becomes a ‘squire’ (p. 7);
Heorot is a ‘banqueting hall’ (p. 4, showing the influence of Kemble’s
translation); Beowulf and Breca were ‘pages at the King’s court’ (p. 13,
showing the influence of Earle’s translation).

Petty inaccuracies occur throughout, such as, ‘I counsel that thou
refuse not’ (p. 9); ‘A faithful squire must needs know the troubles of
his lord’ (p. 7). In point of accuracy this version is quite inferior to
the work of Miss Thomson[3]; and in point of style and atmosphere to
that of Mr. Jones[4], Miss Ragozin[5], or Miss Thomson. The book,
however, is readable, and the author’s name will doubtless serve to give
it a certain success.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 33.] [[Kemble]]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 91.] [[Earle]]

[Footnote 3: See infra, p. 143.] [[Thomson]]

[Footnote 4: See supra, p. 123.] [[Sandras]]

[Footnote 5: See supra, p. 138.] [[Ragozin]]

MISS THOMSON’S PARAPHRASE

The Adventures of Beowulf, translated from the Old English and adapted
to the Use of Schools by Clara Thomson[1]. London: Horace Marshall and
Son, 1899. 8vo, pp. 95. In the ‘New English Series,’ edited by E. E.
Speight.

A Paraphrase in English Prose.

_Aim of the Volume._

‘It is meant mainly to arouse in children an interest in the
beginnings of our literature--a subject that is still terribly
neglected in schools. It makes no pretension to being an adequate
or satisfactory version for grown-up readers.’ --Page 6.

_Method of Paraphrase._

‘[Discrepancies in the poem] I have endeavoured to smooth over by
omission or by very slight additions; and whenever of two readings
of a doubtful passage, one is more easily comprehensible than the
other, I have always adhered to this, even if on philological
grounds it seems less probable.’...

‘Many of the episodes in the story have been greatly shortened or
altogether omitted, since they interrupt the course of the
narrative, or divert the interest from the main theme.’
--Pages 5, 6.

This statement is more modest than need be. It will be found that only
two of the episodes are passed without mention--the Prolog and the Tale
of Thrytho. The Legend of Sigemund and the Tale of Finn are rather fully
treated, and the Story of Freawaru and the Battle of Ravenswood are both
referred to. In each case the episodes are carefully woven into the
story, and that without superfluous words.

The words and sentences which are supplied are very carefully chosen,
and most of them have a prototype somewhere in the poem.

EXTRACT.

Now, though most of Hrothgar’s men rejoiced to see Beowulf, and
honoured him for his generous thought in coming to their help,
there was one who looked on him with dislike and envy, and was
jealous of the favour shown him by the king. This was Hunferth,
who was sitting on the daïs at Hrothgar’s feet. And when he heard
what this visitor intended to do, he grew angry and moody, because
he could not bear that any other man on earth should obtain
greater honour than he himself. So he began to rake up old tales
that he had heard of Beowulf, and tried to turn them to his hurt,
saying scornfully:

‘Art thou that Beowulf who once strove on the wide sea in a
swimming-match with Breca, when ye two in boasting dared to breast
the wave, and for vainglory risked your lives in the deep water?
There was no man, friend nor foe, who could dissuade you from that
sorrowful journey; but ye swam in the surf, stretching out your
arms over the waves, and stirring up the surge with your hands. So
did ye glide across the ocean, while the waves weltered in wintry
storms, and for seven nights ye laboured in the tumult of the
seas. But in the end the victory was with Breca, for his might was
the greater. Then on the morning of the eighth day the tide bore
him to the shore of Norway, whence he visited his beloved home,
the fair city of safety, where he ruled over many people, over
towns and treasure. Truly he did perform all his boast against
thee.’

_Criticism of the Paraphrase._

In the opinion of the present writer, no better paraphrase of _Beowulf_
exists.

It is perhaps unfortunate that the word ‘translated’ is used on the
title-page, for this is misleading. The proper form is that used on the
cover of the book, ‘Beowulf, told by Miss Clara Thomson.’

It were sufficient praise to point out that the author has contrived to
retain practically all of the poem, without ever falsifying its spirit
by introducing a superabundance of explanatory phrases[2]. She is always
true to the story (as Miss Ragozin[3] is not, for example, in the first
section of her work); she is equally true to the spirit of the poem (as
Mr. Gibb[4] is not). The style is both vigorous and simple, not unworthy
of the story it tells.

It will be surprising if Miss Thomson’s work is not popular in England,
and the book should be known and used in this country.

[Footnote 1: Miss Thomson is better known as the biographer of
Samuel Richardson. See _Samuel Richardson, a Biographical and
Critical Study_. London, 1900.]

[Footnote 2: The author’s argument against inserting the Prolog
is sound enough; but the omission of any part of the poem in a
paraphrase so good as Miss Thomson’s is to be regretted.]

[Footnote 3: See supra, p. 138.] [[Ragozin]]

[Footnote 4: See supra, p. 128.] [[Gibb]]

APPENDIX II

A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS WHICH CONTAIN SELECTIONS FROM BEOWULF
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH

(_Only works which translate at least thirty lines are noted._)

TEN BRINK, BERNHARD, AND KENNEDY, HORACE, in Early English Literature
(to Wiclif). London and New York, 1883. Verse.

BROWN, ANNA R., in Poet Lore, II, 133, 185. Verse, ll. 26-53, and
1493-1571.

GUMMERE, F. B., in the American Journal of Philology, VII, 77,
ll. 1-52. Verse.

---- in Germanic Origins (New York, 1892), pp. 109 ff. Verse.

LONGFELLOW, HENRY WADSWORTH, in Poets and Poetry of Europe, lines 18-40;
53-83; 189-257; 1789-1803; 2455-2462. Verse.

MORLEY, HENRY, in English Writers, I, pp. 287 ff. (second edition,
London, 1887). Verse.

ROBINSON, W. CLARKE, in Introduction to our Early English Literature
(London, 1885). Lines 87-98 (verse), and 1-52 (prose).

SMITH, C. SPRAGUE, in the New Englander, IV, p. 49. Lines 711-838;
Section XII, Section XIII, 1493-1652; Section XXIII, Section XXIV.
Verse.

SWEET, HENRY, in Warton’s History of English Poetry, ed. W. Carew
Hazlitt (London, 1877). Vol. II, pp. 11-12. Prose.

TOLMAN, A. H., in Transactions of the Modern Language Association, III,
pp. 19 ff. In the ‘Style of Anglo-Saxon Poetry.’ Prose.

_Incomplete Paraphrase._

PALMER, BERTHA, in Stories from the Classic Literature of many Nations
(New York, 1898), pp. 262-263. Beowulf’s Fight with Grendel, using J. L.
Hall’s translation as a basis.

APPENDIX III

TWO WORKS NAMED ‘BEOWULF’

Beowulf, Roman von Karl Manno (pseud. Carl von Lemcke). In _Deutsche
Roman-Zeitung_, Jahrg. 19, Bde. 1, 2. Berlin, 1882.

A modern romance, having no relation to the Old English poem.

II.

_Mr. S. H. Church’s ‘Beowulf.’_

Beowulf, a Poem by Samuel Harden Church. New York: Stokes and Co., 1901.

An original poem, using some of the Beowulf material.

After speaking of his original intention of translating the _Beowulf_,
which he later discarded, the author says:--

‘I have ... composed an original narrative in which the leading
characters and some of the incidents of the early work[1] have
been freely used, but as materials only. I have transferred to my
hero, Beowulf, the picturesque history of Sceaf[2]; have changed
the relationship of characters and incidents; have inserted the
illumination of Beowulf’s soul, and his banishment; and have
introduced the love motive between Beowulf and Freaware that runs
through the poem to the end. Indeed the structure, language,
style, description, elaboration, interpretation, and development
of the story are new. I have arbitrarily laid the scene in
England, under purely idealized conditions; and have initiated
nearly all that the poem contains of womanhood, of love, of
religion, of state-policy, and of domestic life and manners. It
is clear, therefore, that my work must not be judged either as a
translation, version, or paraphrase of the old Beowulf.’

[Footnote 1: i.e., the translation.]

[Footnote 2: Scyld]

INDEX OF TRANSLATORS

Arnold, Thomas, 71-4.
Botkine, L., 75-9.
ten Brink, B., and Kennedy, H. M., 146.
Brooke, S. A., 135-7.
Brown, Anna R., 146.
Church, A. J., 141-3.
Conybeare, J. J., 28-32.
Cox and Jones, _see_ Jones.
Dahn, T., 132-4.
Earle, John, 91-5.
Ettmüller, L., 37-41.
Garnett, J. M., 83-7.
Gibb, J., 128-30.
Grein, C. W. M., 55-9.
Grion, G., 87-9.
Grundtvig, N. F. S., 22-8.
Gummere, F. B., 146.
Hall, John Lesslie, 95-9.
Hall, John R. Clark, 114-8.
Heyne, M., 63-7.
Hoffmann, P., 99-103.
Jones, E. H., 123-5.
Kemble, J. M., 33-7.
Kennedy, H. M., _see_ ten Brink.
Lemcke, Carl von, _see_ Manno.
Leo, H., 121-3.
Longfellow, H. W., 146.
Lumsden, H. W., 79-82.
MacDowall, M. W., 130-2.
Morley, H., 146.
Morris, W., 104-9.
Palmer, B., 147.
Ragozin, Z. A., 138-40.
Robinson, W. C., 146.
Sandras, G. S., 123.
Schaldemose, F., 41-5.
Simons, L., 109-11.
Simrock, K., 59-63.
Smith, C. S., 146.
Steineck, H., 112-4.
Sweet, H., 147.
Thomson, C., 143-5.
Thorkelin, G. J., 15-21.
Thorpe, B., 49-55.
Tinker, C. B., 118-20.
Tolman, A. H., 147.
Turner, S., 9-15.
Wackerbarth, A. D., 45-9.
Wägner, W., 130-2.
Wickberg, R., 90, 91.
von Wolzogen, H., 68-71.
Wyatt, A. J., 104-9.
Zinsser, G., 126-8.

* * * * *
* * * *
* * * * *

ERRATA (noted by transcriber):

The word “invisible” means that there is an appropriately sized gap,
but the character itself is not present.

In German texts, the word or word element “wohl” is consistently
spelled “wol”. Other variant spellings are not noted.

Translations marked with a bracketed asterisk [*] were checked against
the original texts.

THORKELIN
Dr J V. [_periods printed as shown_]
(Criticism) ... swæsne · ᛟ · (i.e. ēðel).
[_“edhel” is the name of the runic letter;
second period in “i.e.” invisible_]

GRUNDTVIG
Bjowulf’s Draape [Drape]
Bjovulvs-Draapen, et Høinordisk Heltedigt [Drapen ... Hoinordisk]

ETTMÜLLER[*]
(Theory) nach dem gewonnenen Schema [gewonnen]
(Extract) bei Headhoræmes [Headoræmes]

SCHALDEMOSE
Beo-wulf og Scopes Widsið [_letter ð printed as d with bar_]

SIMROCK[*]
(Nature) der Schönheit des Gedichts [Gedichtes]
(Extract) In diesem Mittelkreiss [Mittelkreis]
da besiegt’ er dich im Schwimmen.
[_letter “i” in “Schwimmen” invisible_]

HEYNE[*]
(Aim) nicht die erste, die ich biete
[_“ich” emphatic (gesperrt) in Heyne original_]
(Nature) allitterierende Versmass [alliterierende]
fünffüssige Jamben [Iamben]
(Extract) mit verwegnem Brüsten [verwegnen]
Da schwammt ihr hinaus in See [_shown as printed_]
das hatte Beanstans Sohn
[_text corrects misspelled “Banstan” in Heyne original_]

ARNOLD
(Criticism) nothing more than a transcription [mroe]

GARNETT
(Nature) ... ‘In respect to the rhythmical form
[_open quote invisible_]

GRION
[_All apostrophes are spaced as in the original_]
(Preliminary) e sì che nessuna parola [si che]

J. L. HALL
(Criticism) ... a gain has here and there been made.
[_close quote missing_]
’the’ or ‘a’ in the verses quoted above
[_open quote in “the” invisible_]

SIMONS[*]
Leeraar aan ’t koninklijk Athenaeum [aan’t]
(Aim and Contents) Geschiednis [Geschiedenis]
(Extract) Gij maat de zeebaan [zeebahn]

J. R. C. HALL
(Nature) without the translation (p. 7).
[_closing parenthesis invisible_]
(Criticism) ‘... the Weder-Geat Lord’s life.’
[_close quote missing_]

WÄGNER-MACDOWALL
Adapted from the Work of Dr. W. Wägner by M. W. MacDowall [W. M.]

RAGOZIN
_The Story of Vedic India_.
[_extraneous close quote at end of sentence_]

*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Translations of Beowulf - A Critical Bibliography" ***

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