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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Translations of Beowulf + A Critical Biography + +Author: Chauncey Brewster Tinker + +Release Date: July 1, 2008 [EBook #25942] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRANSLATIONS OF BEOWULF *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, David Starner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class = "mynote"> +<p><a name = "start" id = "start">This text</a> includes a few +characters that require utf-8 (unicode) file encoding.</p> + +<p class = "inset"> +œ (“oe” ligature)<br> +ā ē ī ō ū ȳ ǣ (vowels with macron or “long” mark)<br> +ǽ (æ with accent)<br> +ȝ (yogh)<br> +þ̷ þ̸ (thorn with line, typically abbreviating “that”)</p> + +<p>Most of these letters are rare and occur only in the quotations from +Old English. If any of them do not display properly—in particular, +if the diacritic does not appear directly above the letter—or if +the apostrophes and quotation marks in this paragraph appear as garbage, +you may have an incompatible browser or unavailable fonts. First, make +sure that the browser’s “character set” or “file encoding” is set to +Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change your browser’s default +font.</p> + +<p>Typographical errors are shown in the text with <ins class = +"correction" title = "like this">mouse-hover popups</ins>. The +translations of Ettmüller, Simrock, Heyne and Simons were checked +against the original texts. In German texts, the word or word element +“wohl” is consistently spelled “wol”. All asterisks are in the +original.</p> + +</div> + +<div class = "titlepage"> + +<h2>YALE STUDIES IN ENGLISH</h2> + +<h3 class = "smallcaps">ALBERT S. COOK, Editor</h3> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>XVI</h2> + +<h1>THE TRANSLATIONS OF BEOWULF</h1> + +<h2>A CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<h6>BY</h6> + +<h3>CHAUNCEY B. TINKER</h3> + +<h5>A PORTION OF A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE PHILOSOPHICAL<br> +FACULTY OF YALE UNIVERSITY IN CANDIDACY FOR<br> +THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY</h5> + +</div> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<h6>Originally Published 1903</h6> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<div class = "preface"> + +<span class = "pagenum">3</span> + +<h3><a name = "preface" id = "preface">PREFACE</a></h3> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">The</span> following pages are designed to +give a historical and critical account of all that has been done in the +way of translating <i>Beowulf</i> 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 <i>Bibliothek der angelsächsischen Poesie</i> in +1859; for until the publication of this work every editor of the poem +was also its translator.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Beowulf</i>.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">4</span> +interpretation of the poem; at other periods, a translation lays +claim to our attention chiefly as imparting the literary features of the +original.</p> + +<p>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, <i>Beowulf</i> is an +<i>English</i> 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.</p> + +<p>An asterisk is placed before the titles of books which the present +writer has not seen.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<i>July</i>, 1902.</p> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">5</span> +<h3><a name = "contents" id = "contents">TABLE OF CONTENTS</a></h3> + +<table class = "toc" summary = "contents"> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class = "number smaller">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +<p>Preliminary Remarks on the Beowulf Manuscript</p> +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#prelim">7</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Sharon Turner’s Extracts +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_turner">9</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Thorkelin’s Edition +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_thorkelin">15</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Grundtvig’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_grundtvig">22</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Conybeare’s Extracts +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_conybeare">28</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Kemble’s Edition +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_kemble">33</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Ettmüller’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_ettmuller">37</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Schaldemose’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_schaldemose">41</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Wackerbarth’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_wackerbarth">45</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Thorpe’s Edition +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_thorpe">49</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Grein’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_grein">55</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Simrock’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_simrock">59</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Heyne’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_heyne">63</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +von Wolzogen’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_wolzogen">68</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Arnold’s Edition +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_arnold">71</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Botkine’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_botkine">75</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Lumsden’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_lumsden">79</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Garnett’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_garnett">83</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Grion’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_grion">87</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Wickberg’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_wickberg">90</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Earle’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_earle">91</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +J. L. Hall’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_jl_hall">95</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Hoffmann’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_hoffmann">99</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Morris and Wyatt’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_morris_wyatt">104</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Simons’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_simons">109</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Steineck’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_steineck">112</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +J. R. Clark Hall’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_jrc_hall">114</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Tinker’s Translation +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#trans_tinker">118</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan = "2"> +<span class = "pagenum">6</span> +<h4>APPENDIX I</h4> + +<h5>INCOMPLETE TRANSLATIONS, AND PARAPHRASES</h5> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Leo’s Digest +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#para_leo">121</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Sandras’s Account +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#para_sandras">123</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +E. H. Jones’s Paraphrase +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#para_jones">123</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Zinsser’s Selection +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#para_zinsser">126</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Gibb’s Paraphrase +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#para_gibb">128</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Wägner and MacDowall’s Paraphrase +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#para_wagner_macdowall">130</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Therese Dahn’s Paraphrase +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#para_dahn">132</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Stopford Brooke’s Selections +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#para_brooke">135</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Miss Ragozin’s Paraphrase +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#para_ragozin">138</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +A. J. Church’s Paraphrase +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#para_church">141</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Miss Thomson’s Paraphrase +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#para_thomson">143</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan = "2"> +<h4>APPENDIX II</h4> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +<p>A Bibliography of Works which translate Selections from ‘Beowulf’ +into English</p> +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#biblio">146</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan = "2"> +<h4>APPENDIX III</h4> + +<h5>TWO WORKS NAMED ‘BEOWULF’</h5> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> + I. Manno’s Romance +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#appIII_manno">148</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +II. S. H. Church’s Poem +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#appIII_church">148</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class = "space"> +<td class = "smallcaps"> +Index of Translators +</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#index">149</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +</div> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<span class = "pagenum">7</span> +<h2>THE TRANSLATIONS OF BEOWULF</h2> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<div class = "maintext"> + +<h3><a name = "prelim" id = "prelim">PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE<br> +BEOWULF MANUSCRIPT</a></h3> + +<p><span class = "firstword">The</span> unique manuscript of the +<i>Beowulf</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Thesaurus</i>. The poem is thus described:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘Tractatus nobilissimus Poeticè scriptus. Præfationis hoc est initium.’ +</blockquote> + +<p>The first nineteen lines follow, transcribed with a few errors.</p> + +<blockquote> +‘Initium autem primi Capitis sic se habet.’ +</blockquote> + +<p>Lines 53–73, transcribed with a few errors.</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + +<p>No further notice was taken of the MS. until 1786, when Thorkelin<a +class = "tag" name = "tag_prelim1" id = "tag_prelim1" href = +"#note_prelim1">1</a> made two transcripts of it.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">8</span> +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 <i>Autotypes</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" +name = "tag_prelim2" id = "tag_prelim2" href = "#note_prelim2">2</a>, +and the false readings which he introduced were never got rid of until +the Zupitza <i>Autotypes</i> 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<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_prelim3" id = "tag_prelim3" href = "#note_prelim3">3</a>.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_prelim1" id = "note_prelim1" href = +"#tag_prelim1">1.</a> +See infra, <a href = "#trans_thorkelin">p. 16</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_prelim2" id = "note_prelim2" href = +"#tag_prelim2">2.</a> +See infra, <a href = "#trans_thorpe">p. 49</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_prelim3" id = "note_prelim3" href = +"#tag_prelim3">3.</a> +See infra on Thorkelin, <a href = "#trans_thorkelin">p. 19</a>; +Conybeare, <a href = "#trans_conybeare">p. 29</a>; Kemble, <a href += "#trans_kemble">p. 34</a>; Thorpe, <a href = +"#trans_thorpe">p. 51</a>; Arnold, <a href = +"#trans_arnold">p. 72</a>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">9</span> + +<h3><a name = "trans_turner" id = "trans_turner"> +SHARON TURNER’S EXTRACTS</a></h3> + +<p><span class = "firstword">The</span> 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.</p> + +<p>Being Volume IV of the History of the Anglo-Saxons from their +earliest appearance above the Elbe, etc. London, 1799–1805. +8<sup>o</sup>, pp. 398–408.</p> + +<p>Second Edition, corrected and enlarged. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, +& Orme, 1807. 2 vols., 4<sup>o</sup>. <i>Beowulf</i> described, Vol. +II, pp. 294–303.</p> + +<p>Third Edition. London, 1820.</p> + +<p>Fourth Edition. London, 1823.</p> + +<p>Fifth Edition. (1827?)</p> + +<p>Sixth Edition. London, 1836.</p> + +<p>Seventh Edition. London, 1852.</p> + +<p>Reprints: Paris, 1840; Philadelphia, 1841.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Translation of Extracts from the first two Parts.</p> + + +<h5>Points of Difference between the Various Editions.</h5> + +<p>A part of this may be stated in the words of the author:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + +<span class = "pagenum">10</span> +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_turner1" id = "tag_turner1" href = "#note_turner1">1</a> had +mentioned the <i>Beowulf</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>editio princeps</i> of Thorkelin<a class = "tag" name = "tag_turner2" +id = "tag_turner2" href = "#note_turner2">2</a>. 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.</p> + +<p>No further changes were made in later editions of the History.</p> + +<p>Detailed information regarding differences between the first three +editions may be found below.</p> + + +<h5>Turner, and his Knowledge of Old English.</h5> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_turner3" id = "tag_turner3" +href = "#note_turner3">3</a>. 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 +<span class = "pagenum">11</span> +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 <i>Paraphrase</i> of Cædmon he is, of course, familiar; but +his knowledge of <i>Beowulf</i> and <i>Judith</i> 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.</p> + + +<h5>Lines in the Poem Translated by Turner.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h5><a name = "trans_turner_account" id = "trans_turner_account"> +Turner’s Account of Beowulf in the First Edition of his +History.</a></h5> + +<blockquote> +‘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<a class += "tag" name = "tag_turner4" id = "tag_turner4" href = +"#note_turner4">4</a>.” 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 +<span class = "pagenum">12</span> +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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>The Story of the Poem as Interpreted by Turner.</h5> + +<p class = "center smaller"> +[Dots indicate the position of the quotations.]</p> + +<p>‘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:</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p><span class = "firstword">Hunferth</span> spoke</p> +<p>The son of Ecglafe;</p> +<p>Who had sat at the foot</p> +<p>Of the lord of the Scyldingi</p> +<p>Among the band of the battle mystery.</p> +<p>To go in the path of Beowulf</p> +<p>Was to him a great pride;</p> +<p>He was zealous</p> +<p>That to him it should be granted</p> +<p>That no other man</p> +<span class = "pagenum">13</span> +<p class = "indent"> +Was esteemed greater in the world</p> +<p>Under the heavens than himself.</p> +<p class = "indent"> +‘Art thou Beowulf</p> +<p>He that with such profit</p> +<p>Dwells in the expansive sea,</p> +<p>Amid the contests of the ocean?</p> +<p>There yet<a class = "tag" name = "tag_turner5" id = "tag_turner5" +href = "#note_turner5">5</a> for riches go!</p> +<p>You try for deceitful glory</p> +<p>In deep waters<a class = "tag" name = "tag_turner6" id = +"tag_turner6" href = "#note_turner6">6</a>.—</p> +<p>Nor can any man,</p> +<p>Whether dear or odious,</p> +<p>Restrain you from the sorrowful path—</p> +<p>There yet<a class = "tag" name = "tag_turner7" id = "tag_turner7" +href = "#note_turner7">7</a> with eye-streams</p> +<p>To the miserable you<a class = "tag" name = "tag_turner8" id = +"tag_turner8" href = "#note_turner8">8</a> flourish:</p> +<p>You meet in the sea-street;</p> +<p>You oppress with your hands;</p> +<p><a class = "tag" name = "tag_turner9" id = "tag_turner9" href = +"#note_turner9">9</a>You glide over the ocean’s waves;</p> +<p>The fury of winter rages,</p> +<p>Yet on the watery domain</p> +<p>Seven nights have ye toiled.’</p> +</div> + +<p>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.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">14</span> +<p>In the second edition the following lines were added:—</p> + +<p>‘After Hunferthe, another character is introduced:</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Dear to his people,</p> +<p>of the land of the Brondingi;</p> +<p>the Lord of fair cities,</p> +<p>where he had people,</p> +<p>barks, and bracelets,</p> +<p>Ealwith, the son of Beandane,</p> +<p>the faithful companion</p> +<p>menaced.</p> +<p class = "indent"> +“Then I think</p> +<p>worse things will be to thee,</p> +<p>thou noble one!</p> +<p>Every where the rush</p> +<p>of grim battle will be made.</p> +<p>If thou darest the grendles,</p> +<p>the time of a long night</p> +<p>will be near to thee.”’</p> +</div> + + +<h5><a name = "trans_turner_third" id = "trans_turner_third"> +Third Edition.</a></h5> + +<p>‘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.</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p class = "indent"> +“Art thou Beowulf,</p> +<p>he that with such profit</p> +<p>labours on the wide sea,</p> +<p>amid the contests of the ocean?</p> +<p>There you for riches,</p> +<p>and for deceitful glory,</p> +<p>explore its bays</p> +<p>in the deep waters,</p> +<p>till you sleep with your elders.</p> +<p>Nor can any man restrain you,</p> +<p>whether dear or odious to you,</p> +<p>from this sorrowful path.</p> +<p>There you rush on the wave;</p> +<p>there on the water streams:</p> +<span class = "pagenum">15</span> +<p>from the miserable you flourish.</p> +<p>You place yourselves in the sea-street;</p> +<p>you oppress with your hands;</p> +<p>you glide over the ocean</p> +<p>through the waves of its seas.</p> +<p>The fury of the winter rages,</p> +<p>yet on the watery domain</p> +<p>seven nights have ye toiled.”’</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Extracts.</h5> + +<p>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 <i>Beowulf</i>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Turner is to be censured for allowing an account of <i>Beowulf</i> 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.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_turner1" id = "note_turner1" href = +"#tag_turner1">1.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#prelim">p. 7</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_turner2" id = "note_turner2" href = +"#tag_turner2">2.</a> +See infra, <a href = "#trans_thorkelin">p. 15</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_turner3" id = "note_turner3" href = +"#tag_turner3">3.</a> +See the Life of Turner by Thomas Seccombe, <i>Dict. Nat. Biog.</i></p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_turner4" id = "note_turner4" href = +"#tag_turner4">4.</a> +Wanley, Catal. Saxon MS., p. 218.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_turner5" id = "note_turner5" href = +"#tag_turner5">5.</a> +Second edition—</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Ever acquired under heaven</p> +<p>more of the world’s glory</p> +<p>than himself. </p> +</div> + +<p> +<a name = "note_turner6" id = "note_turner6" href = +"#tag_turner6">6.</a> +Second edition—ye.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_turner7" id = "note_turner7" href = +"#tag_turner7">7.</a> +Second edition adds—</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +Ye sleep not with your ancestors. </p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_turner8" id = "note_turner8" href = +"#tag_turner8">8.</a> +Second edition omits.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_turner9" id = "note_turner9" href = +"#tag_turner9">9.</a> +Second edition reads—</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>You glide over the ocean</p> +<p>on the waves of the sea.</p> +</div> + +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_thorkelin" id = "trans_thorkelin"> +THORKELIN’S EDITION</a></h3> + +<p><span class = "firstword">De</span> | Danorum | Rebus Gestis Secul +<span class = "smallroman">III</span> & <span class = +"smallroman">IV</span> | Poema Danicum Dialecto Anglosaxonica. | Ex +Bibliotheca Cottoniana Musaei Britannici | edidit versione lat. et +indicibus auxit | Grim. Johnson Thorkelin. <ins class = "correction" +title = "periods . printed as shown">Dr J V.</ins> | Havniæ +<span class = "pagenum">16</span> +Typis Th. E. Rangel. | <span class = "smallroman">MDCCXV</span>. 4to, +pp. xx, 299, appendix 5.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +First Edition. First Translation (Latin).</p> + + +<h5>Circumstances of Publication.</h5> + +<p>The words of Wanley cited above<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_thorkelin1" id = "tag_thorkelin1" href = "#note_thorkelin1">1</a> +did not pass unnoticed in Denmark. Thorkelin tells us in his +introduction that it had long been the desire of Suhm<a class = "tag" +name = "tag_thorkelin2" id = "tag_thorkelin2" href = +"#note_thorkelin2">2</a>, Langebeck, Magnusen, and other Danish scholars +to inspect the MS. in the British Museum. The following is Thorkelin’s +account of his editorial labors:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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 <span class = "smallcaps">Christiano VII.</span> et <span class += "smallcaps">Frederico VI.</span> iter in Britanniam anno seculi +præteriti <span class = "smallroman">LXXXVI</span>. 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). +</blockquote> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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 <span class += "smallroman">MDCCCVII</span> confecerim, idem brevi +editurus . . .’ (p. xv). +</blockquote> + +<p>Just at this time, unfortunately, Copenhagen was stormed by the +English fleet, and Thorkelin’s text and notes were +<span class = "pagenum">17</span> +burned with his library. But the transcripts were saved. Thorkelin +renewed his labors under the patronage of Bülow, and at length published +in 1815.</p> + + +<h5>Thorkelin, and his Interpretation of the Beowulf.</h5> + +<p>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 <i>Beowulf</i>. Grundtvig said that +the transcript of the <i>Beowulf</i> must have been the work of one +wholly ignorant of Old English<a class = "tag" name = "tag_thorkelin3" +id = "tag_thorkelin3" href = "#note_thorkelin3">3</a>. 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.</p> + +<p>We have seen how Sharon Turner<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_thorkelin4" id = "tag_thorkelin4" href = "#note_thorkelin4">4</a> +could describe the <i>Beowulf</i>. 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<a class = "tag" +name = "tag_thorkelin5" id = "tag_thorkelin5" href = +"#note_thorkelin5">5</a>.’ 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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_thorkelin6" id += "tag_thorkelin6" href = "#note_thorkelin6">6</a>.’ He regards Beowulf +and a son of Hunferth as participating +<span class = "pagenum">18</span> +in that expedition. He failed to identify Hnæf, or Hengest, or Hrothulf, +&c.</p> + + +<h4>Extract<a class = "tag" name = "tag_thorkelin7" id = +"tag_thorkelin7" href = "#note_thorkelin7">7</a>.</h4> + +<table class = "verse" summary = "parallel poems"> +<tr> +<td>Hunferþ maleode</td> +<td></td> +<td><i>Hunferd</i> loquebatur</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Ecglafes bearn</td> +<td></td> +<td><i>Ecglavi</i> filius,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Þe æt fotum sæt</td> +<td></td> +<td>Qui ad pedes sedit</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Frean Scyldinga</td> +<td></td> +<td>Domini Scyldingorum,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>On band beadu</td> +<td></td> +<td>Emeritus stipendiis</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Rune wæs him</td> +<td></td> +<td>Momordit eum</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Beowulfes siþ modges</td> +<td></td> +<td><i>Beowulfi</i> itinere elati</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Mere faran</td> +<td></td> +<td>Maria sulcando</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Micel æfþunca</td> +<td></td> +<td>Magna indignatio,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>For þon þe he ne uþe</td> +<td class = "number">10</td> +<td>Propterea quod ille nesciret</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Þæt ænig oþer man</td> +<td></td> +<td>Ullum alium virum</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Æfre mærþa</td> +<td></td> +<td>Magis celebrem</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Þon ma middangardes</td> +<td></td> +<td>In mundo</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Gehedde under heofenum</td> +<td></td> +<td>Nominari sub coelo</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Þon he sylfa eart</td> +<td></td> +<td>Quam se ipsum.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Þu se Beowulf</td> +<td></td> +<td>Tu sis <i>Beowulfus</i>,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Se þe wiþ breccan</td> +<td></td> +<td>Qui ob prædas</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Wunne on sidne sæ</td> +<td></td> +<td>Ceris per latum æquor</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Ymb sund flite</td> +<td></td> +<td>Et maria pugnas.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Þær git for wlence</td> +<td class = "number">20</td> +<td>Ibi vos ob divitias</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Wada cunnedon</td> +<td></td> +<td>Vada explorastis,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>And for dol gilpe</td> +<td></td> +<td>Et ob falsam gloriam</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>On deop wæter</td> +<td></td> +<td>Profundas æquas.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Aldrum neþdon</td> +<td></td> +<td>Annis subacto</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Ne mic ænig mon</td> +<td></td> +<td>Non mihi aliquis</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Ne leof ne laþ</td> +<td></td> +<td>Amicus aut hostis</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Belean mighte.</td> +<td></td> +<td>Objicere potest,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Sorh fullne siþ</td> +<td></td> +<td>Illacrimabiles expeditiones.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Þa git on sund reon.</td> +<td></td> +<td>Ubi vos per æquora ruistis,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Þa git ea gor stream</td> +<td class = "number">30</td> +<td>Ibi fluctus sanguinis rivis</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Earmum þehton</td> +<td></td> +<td>Miseri texistis.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Mæton mere stræta</td> +<td></td> +<td>Metiti estis maris strata:</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Mundum brugdon</td> +<td></td> +<td>Castella terruistis:</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Glidon ofer garsecg</td> +<td></td> +<td>Fluitavistis trans æquora.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Geofon yþum</td> +<td></td> +<td>Salis undæ</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Weol wintris wylm</td> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">19</span> +</td> +<td>Fervuerunt nimborum æstu.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Git on wæteris æht</td> +<td></td> +<td>Vos in aquarum vadis</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Seofon night swuncon</td> +<td></td> +<td>Septem noctibus afflicti fuistis.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>He þe at sunde</td> +<td></td> +<td>Ille cum sundum</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Oferflat hæfde</td> +<td class = "number">40</td> +<td>Transvolasset,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Mare mægen</td> +<td></td> +<td>Magis intensæ vires</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Þa hine on morgen tid</td> +<td></td> +<td>Illum tempore matutino</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>On heaþo Ræmis</td> +<td></td> +<td>In altam Ræmis</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Holm up æt baer</td> +<td></td> +<td>Insulam advexere.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Þonon he gesohte</td> +<td></td> +<td>Deinde petiit</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Swæsne.</td> +<td></td> +<td>Dulcem,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Leof his leodum</td> +<td></td> +<td>Charam suo populo</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Lond Brondinga</td> +<td></td> +<td>Terram Brondingorum.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Freoþo burh fægere.</td> +<td></td> +<td>Libertate urbem conspicuam</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Þaer he folc ahte</td> +<td class = "number">50</td> +<td>Ibi populo possessam</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Burh and beagas</td> +<td></td> +<td>Urbem et opes</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Beot eal wiþ</td> +<td></td> +<td>Correpsit. Omne contra</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Þe sunu Beanstanes</td> +<td></td> +<td>Tibi filius <i>Beansteni</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Sode gelæste.</td> +<td></td> +<td>Vere persolvit.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<h5>Criticism of the Text.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + +<table class = "lines" summary = "details of translations"> +<tr> +<td class = "number"> +Line 1,</td> +<td><i>for</i> maleode <i>read</i> maþelode.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">4,</td> +<td><i>insert period after</i> Scyldinga.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">9,</td> +<td><i>insert period after</i> æfþunca.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">13,</td> +<td><i>for</i> middangardes <i>read</i> middangeardes.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">15,</td> +<td><i>for</i> þon <i>read</i> þon<i>ne</i>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">17,</td> +<td><i>for</i> breccan <i>read</i> brecan (i.e. Brecan).</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">25,</td> +<td><i>for</i> mic <i>read</i> inc.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">27,</td> +<td><i>for</i> mighte <i>read</i> mihte.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">37,</td> +<td><i>for</i> wæteris <i>read</i> wæteres.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">38,</td> +<td><i>for</i> night <i>read</i> niht.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">40,</td> +<td><i>insert period after</i> oferflat. +<span class = "pagenum">20</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">43,</td> +<td><i>for</i> heaþo Ræmis <i>read</i> heaþoræmes (i.e. +Heaþorǣmas).</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">46,</td> +<td><i>for</i> Swæsne <i>read</i> swæsne · ᛟ · +(<ins class = "correction" title = "second . invisible">i.e.</ins> +<ins class = "correction" title = "‘edhel’ is name of runic character">ēðel</ins>).</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">54,</td> +<td><i>for</i> sode <i>read</i> soðe.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>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.:—</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +Hwæt we Gardena. . . .</p> + +<p>Thorkelin perversely transcribed:—</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +Hwæt wegar Dena. . . .</p> + +<p>and for this combination of syllables he chose the +translation:—</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +Quomodo Danorum.</p> + +<p>There is, of course, no such word as ‘wegar’ in Old English.</p> + +<p>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.’</p> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">21</span> +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:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Reception of Thorkelin’s Edition.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + +<blockquote> +<span class = "smallcaps">Turner.</span> 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. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<span class = "smallcaps">Kemble</span>, see supra. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<span class = "smallcaps">Thorpe.</span> (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. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +See also Grundtvig’s criticism in <i>Beowulfs Beorh</i>, pp. +xvii ff. +</blockquote> + + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_thorkelin1" id = "note_thorkelin1" href = +"#tag_thorkelin1">1.</a> +Supra, p. 7.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_thorkelin2" id = "note_thorkelin2" href = +"#tag_thorkelin2">2.</a> +See also Grundtvig’s edition of the text of <i>Beowulf</i>, +p. xvi.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_thorkelin3" id = "note_thorkelin3" href = +"#tag_thorkelin3">3.</a> +See <i>Beowulfs Beorh</i>, p. xviii.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_thorkelin4" id = "note_thorkelin4" href = +"#tag_thorkelin4">4.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_turner_account">p. 11</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_thorkelin5" id = "note_thorkelin5" href = +"#tag_thorkelin5">5.</a> +See Thorkelin, p. 257.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_thorkelin6" id = "note_thorkelin6" href = +"#tag_thorkelin6">6.</a> +Ibid., p. 259.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_thorkelin7" id = "note_thorkelin7" href = +"#tag_thorkelin7">7.</a> +See Thorkelin, p. 40.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">22</span> + +<h3><a name = "trans_grundtvig" id = "trans_grundtvig"> +GRUNDTVIG’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>*Bjowulf’s <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘Drape’">Draape</ins>. Et Gothisk Helte-digt fra forrige Aar-tusinde af +Angel-Saxisk paa Danske Riim ved Nic. Fred. Sev. Grundtvig, Præst. +Kjøbenhavn, 1820<a class = "tag" name = "tag_grundtvig1" id = +"tag_grundtvig1" href = "#note_grundtvig1">1</a>. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. +lxxiv, 325.</p> + +<p>Bjovulvs-<ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘Drapen’">Draapen</ins>, et <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘Hoinordisk’">Høinordisk</ins> Heltedigt, fra Anguls-Tungen +fordansket af Nik. Fred. Sev. Grundtvig. Anden forbedrede Udgave. +Kiøbenhavn. Karl Schønbergs Forlag. 1865. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. xvi, +224.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +First Danish Translation. Ballad Measures.</p> + + +<h5>Grundtvig.</h5> + +<p>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 <i>Edda</i>. 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 <i>Beowulf</i> 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.</p> + + +<h5>Circumstances of Publication.</h5> + +<p>In <i>Beowulfs Beorh</i> (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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_grundtvig2" +id = "tag_grundtvig2" href = "#note_grundtvig2">2</a>. At that time, +however, he knew no Old English, +<span class = "pagenum">23</span> +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 <i>Copenhagen +Sketch-Book</i> (<i>Kjøbenhavns Skilderie</i>), 1815. When Thorkelin saw +the studies he was furious, and pronounced the discoveries mere +fabrications.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Anglo-Saxon Grammar</i> +(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.</p> + + +<h5>Progress of the Interpretation of the Poem.</h5> + +<p>Grundtvig was the first to understand the story of <i>Beowulf</i>. +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.</p> + + +<h5>Text Used.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">24</span> +<h5>Differences between the First and Second Editions.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h5><a name = "trans_grundtvig_aim" id = "trans_grundtvig_aim"> +Aim of the Volume, and Nature of the Translation.</a></h5> + +<p>We begin by quoting the author’s words:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_grundtvig3" id = +"tag_grundtvig3" href = "#note_grundtvig3">3</a>.’ —Pages xxxiv, +xxxv. +</blockquote> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">25</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallcaps">Sjette Sang.</h5> + +<p>Trætten med Hunferd Drost og Trøsten derover.</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Nu <i>Hunferd</i> tog til Orde<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_grundtvig4" id = "tag_grundtvig4" href = +"#note_grundtvig4">4</a>,</p> +<p>Og <i>Egglavs</i> Søn var han,</p> +<p>Men Klammeri han gjorde</p> +<p>Med Tale sin paa Stand.</p> +<p>Han var en fornem Herre,</p> +<p>Han sad ved Thronens Fod,</p> +<p>Men avindsyg desværre,</p> +<p>Han var ei Bjovulv god;</p> +<p>En Torn var ham i Øiet</p> +<p>Den Ædlings Herrefærd,</p> +<p>Som havde Bølgen pløiet</p> +<p>Og Ære høstet der;</p> +<p>Thi Hunferd taalte ikke,</p> +<p>Med Næsen høit i Sky,</p> +<p>At Nogen vilde stikke</p> +<p>Ham selv i Roes og Ry.</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent"> +‘Er du,’ see det var Skosen,</p> +<p>‘Den Bjovulv Mudderpram,</p> +<p>Som dykked efter Rosen</p> +<p>Og drev i Land med Skam,</p> +<p>Som kæppedes med <i>Brække</i></p> +<p>Og holdt sig ei for brav,</p> +<p>Dengang I, som to Giække,</p> +<p>Omflød paa vildne Hav!</p> +<p>I vilde med jer Svømmen</p> +<p>Paa Vandet giøre Blæst,</p> +<p>Men drev dog kun med Strømmen,</p> +<p>Alt som I kunde bedst;</p> +<span class = "pagenum">26</span> +<p>For aldrig Det ei keise</p> +<p>Jeg vilde slig en Klik,</p> +<p>Som for den Vendereise</p> +<p>I paa jert Rygte sik.</p> +<p>Paa Landet var I friske,</p> +<p>Men Vand kan slukke Ild,</p> +<p>I svømmed som to Fiske,</p> +<p>Ia, snart som døde Sild;</p> +<p>Da sagtnedes Stoheien,</p> +<p>Der Storm og Bølge strid</p> +<p>Ier viste Vinterveien</p> +<p>Alt i en Uges Tid.</p> +<p>Dog, om end Narre begge,</p> +<p>Kom du dog værst deran,</p> +<p>Thi fra dig svømmed Brække</p> +<p>Og blev din Overmand;</p> +<p>Du artig blev tilbage,</p> +<p>Der han en Morgenstund</p> +<p>Opskvulpedes saa fage</p> +<p>Paa høie Romøs Grund,</p> +<p>Hvorfra sin Kaas han satte</p> +<p>Til <i>Brondingernas</i> Land,</p> +<p>Med Borge der og Skatte</p> +<p>Han var en holden Mand;</p> +<p>Der havde han sit Rige,</p> +<p>Og deiligt var hans Slot,</p> +<p>Han elsket var tillige</p> +<p>Af hver sin Undersaat.</p> +<p>Saa <i>Bjansteens</i> Søn udførte</p> +<p>Alt hvad han trued med;</p> +<p>Men da du, som vi hørte,</p> +<p>Kom der saa galt afsted,</p> +<p>Saa tør jeg nok formode,</p> +<p>Om end du giør dig kry,</p> +<p>Det giør slet ingen Gode,</p> +<p>Du brænder dig paany;</p> +<p>Ia, vil en Nat du vove</p> +<p>At bie Grændel her,</p> +<p>Da tør derfor jeg love,</p> +<p>Dig times en Ufærd.’</p> +</div> + + +<span class = "pagenum">27</span> +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>The poem departs so far from the text of <i>Beowulf</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<a +class = "tag" name = "tag_grundtvig5" id = "tag_grundtvig5" href = +"#note_grundtvig5">5</a> 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 +<i>Beowulf</i> 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 <i>Beowulf</i> 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.’</p> + +<p>The same false manner is retained throughout the poem. In many places +it reads well—it is often an excellent +<span class = "pagenum">28</span> +story. But it can lay no claim to historic or poetic fidelity to the +<i>Beowulf</i>.</p> + + +<h5>Reception of the Book.</h5> + +<p>The book fell dead from the press. Grundtvig himself tells us that it +was hardly read outside his own house<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_grundtvig6" id = "tag_grundtvig6" href = "#note_grundtvig6">6</a>. +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.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_grundtvig1" id = "note_grundtvig1" href = +"#tag_grundtvig1">1.</a> +This volume I have never seen. My information regarding it is from a +scribe in the British Museum.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_grundtvig2" id = "note_grundtvig2" href = +"#tag_grundtvig2">2.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_thorkelin">p. 15</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_grundtvig3" id = "note_grundtvig3" href = +"#tag_grundtvig3">3.</a> +Translation by scribe in British Museum.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_grundtvig4" id = "note_grundtvig4" href = +"#tag_grundtvig4">4.</a> +Several variations in meter occur in the translation.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_grundtvig5" id = "note_grundtvig5" href = +"#tag_grundtvig5">5.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_grundtvig_aim">p. 24</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_grundtvig6" id = "note_grundtvig6" href = +"#tag_grundtvig6">6.</a> +See <i>Beowulfs Beorh</i>, p. xix.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_conybeare" id = "trans_conybeare"> +CONYBEARE’S EXTRACTS</a></h3> + +<p>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. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. +(viii), xcvi, 287.</p> + +<p>Anglo-Saxon Poem concerning the Exploits of Beowulf the Dane, pp. +30–167.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Translation of extracts into English blank verse, with the original text +of the extracts, and a literal translation of them into Latin prose.</p> + + +<h5>Circumstances of Publication.</h5> + +<p>The volume had its origin in the Terminal Lectures which the author +gave as Professor of Anglo-Saxon and +<span class = "pagenum">29</span> +Poetry at Oxford from 1809 to 1812<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_conybeare1" id = "tag_conybeare1" href = "#note_conybeare1">1</a>. +We know from an autobiographical note printed in the Introduction<a +class = "tag" name = "tag_conybeare2" id = "tag_conybeare2" href = +"#note_conybeare2">2</a> that the <i>Beowulf</i> 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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_conybeare3" id = "tag_conybeare3" href += "#note_conybeare3">3</a>.</p> + + +<h5>Conybeare, and the Progress of the Interpretation of the Poem.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +‘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 +<span class = "pagenum">30</span> +apologize for the occupying, by this Collation, so large a space of a +work strictly dedicated to other purposes.’ —Page 137, footnote. +</blockquote> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<table class = "verse" summary = "parallel poems"> +<tr> +<th class = "smallcaps">Conybeare.</th> +<th class = "smallcaps">Thorkelin.</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Hwæt we Gar-Dena</td> +<td>Hwæt wegar Dena</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>In ȝear-dagum</td> +<td>In geardagum</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Ðeod cyninga</td> +<td>Þeod cyninga</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Ðrym ȝefrunon,</td> +<td>Þrym gefrunon</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Hu ða Æðelingas</td> +<td>Hu ða æþelingas</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Ellen fremodon. —Page 82.</td> +<td>Ellen fremodon. —Page 3.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "full" colspan = "2"> +<p>The translations are even more interesting:—</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Aliquid nos <i>de</i> Bellicorum Danorum</td> +<td>Quomodo Danorum</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>In diebus antiquis</td> +<td>In principio</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Popularium regum</td> +<td>Populus Regum</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Gloriâ accepimus,</td> +<td>Gloriam auxerit,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Quomodo tunc principes</td> +<td>Quomodo principes</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Virtute valuerint.</td> +<td>Virtute promoverit.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Conybeare apparently knew nothing of the critical work of Grundtvig. +This is not surprising when we remember that <i>Kjøbenhavns +Skilderie</i> was probably not known outside +<span class = "pagenum">31</span> +of Denmark<a class = "tag" name = "tag_conybeare4" id = "tag_conybeare4" +href = "#note_conybeare4">4</a>. Moreover, it is to be remembered that +Conybeare’s extracts from the <i>Beowulf</i> are not really later than +Grundtvig’s translation, since they were made in the same year, 1820<a +class = "tag" name = "tag_conybeare5" id = "tag_conybeare5" href = +"#note_conybeare5">5</a>.</p> + + +<h5>Aim of the Volume, and Nature of the Translations.</h5> + +<p>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 <i>Beowulf</i>, 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.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<p>‘At a single stroke he (Beowulf) cut through the “<i>ringed +bones</i>” of her neck, and</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Through the frail mantle of the quivering flesh</p> +<p>Drove with continuous wound. She to the dust</p> +<p>Fell headlong,—and, its work of slaughter done,</p> +<p>The gallant sword dropp’d fast a gory dew.</p> +<p>Instant, as though heaven’s glorious torch had shone,</p> +<p>Light was upon the gloom,—all radiant light</p> +<p>From that dark mansion’s inmost cave burst forth.</p> +<p>With hardier grasp the thane of Higelac press’d</p> +<span class = "pagenum">32</span> +<p>His weapon’s hilt, and furious in his might</p> +<p>Paced the wide confines of the Grendel’s hold<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_conybeare6" id = "tag_conybeare6" href = +"#note_conybeare6">6</a>.’</p> +</div> + +<p class = "page"> +Page 58; <i>Beo.</i>, 1565–75.</p> + +<h5 class = "smallcaps">Latin Translation.</h5> + +<blockquote> +... 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 (<i>sc.</i> Iratus et constans animi). +</blockquote> + +<p class = "page"> +Pages 113, 114.</p> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translations.</h5> + +<p>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 <i>Beowulf</i>, for it is self-conscious. Like <i>Beowulf</i> +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 <i>Beowulf</i>. 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.</p> + + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_conybeare1" id = "note_conybeare1" href = +"#tag_conybeare1">1.</a> +See Editor’s Prefatory Notice, p. (iii).</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_conybeare2" id = "note_conybeare2" href = +"#tag_conybeare2">2.</a> +See Prefatory Notice, p. (v), footnote.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_conybeare3" id = "note_conybeare3" href = +"#tag_conybeare3">3.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_turner_third">pp. 14 f.</a></p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_conybeare4" id = "note_conybeare4" href = +"#tag_conybeare4">4.</a> +p. 23. Grundtvig is once mentioned in the notes, but the reference is +from the editor, not the author.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_conybeare5" id = "note_conybeare5" href = +"#tag_conybeare5">5.</a> +p. 29.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_conybeare6" id = "note_conybeare6" href = +"#tag_conybeare6">6.</a> +Conybeare did not translate the episode of the swimming-match.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">33</span> + +<h3><a name = "trans_kemble" id = "trans_kemble"> +KEMBLE’S EDITIONS</a></h3> + +<p>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. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. xxii, 260. +Edition limited to 100 copies.</p> + +<p>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. +8<sup>o</sup>, pp. xxxii, 263.</p> + +<p>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. +8<sup>o</sup>, pp. lv, 127, appendix, 179.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +First English Translation. Prose.</p> + + +<h5>The 1833 Volume.</h5> + +<p>A sufficient account of this volume is given by Professor Earle, who +says of it:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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.’ —<i>Deeds of +Beowulf</i>, pp. xix, xx. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>The Text of 1835. Kemble’s Scholarship.</h5> + +<p>But whatever may be said of the text of 1833, there is nothing but +praise for the edition of 1835. In this book +<span class = "pagenum">34</span> +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:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_kemble1" id = +"tag_kemble1" href = "#note_kemble1">1</a>. 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.</p> + +<p>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<a class = +"tag" name = "tag_kemble2" id = "tag_kemble2" href = +"#note_kemble2">2</a>. It is to +<span class = "pagenum">35</span> +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 <i>Beowulf</i>. Take, e.g., the +word <i>hose</i> in line 924. This word does not appear elsewhere in Old +English; it does not appear in Lye’s <i>Dictionary</i>, 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. +<i>hansa</i>, OHG. <i>hansa</i>, &c., derived the meaning +<i>turma</i>—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 <i>heaðo.</i>. Thus +he laid the foundation of all modern studies on the Old English +compound.</p> + + +<h5>Further Critical Material Afforded by the Volume of 1837.</h5> + +<p>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 +<i>Beowulf</i>. 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 <i>Sprachschatz</i><a class = "tag" name += "tag_kemble3" id = "tag_kemble3" href = "#note_kemble3">3</a>.</p> + + +<h5>Aim of Kemble’s Translation.</h5> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">36</span> +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.</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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.’ — +</blockquote> + +<p class = "page"> +Postscript to the Preface, p. 1.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallroman">VIII.</h5> + +<blockquote> +Hunferth the son of Eglaf spake, <i>he</i> that sat at the feet of the +Lord of the Scyldings; he bound up<a class = "tag" name = "tag_kemble4" +id = "tag_kemble4" href = "#note_kemble4">4</a> 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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_kemble5" id = +"tag_kemble5" href = "#note_kemble5">5</a> 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<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_kemble6" id = "tag_kemble6" href = "#note_kemble6">6</a> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">37</span> +a nation, a town, and rings. All his promise to thee, the son +of Beanstan truly performed.’ +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>Kemble’s scholarship enabled him to get a full understanding of the +poem, and thus to make the first really adequate translation of +<i>Beowulf</i>. 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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_kemble7" id = +"tag_kemble7" href = "#note_kemble7">7</a>. Kemble’s editions became at +once the authoritative commentary on the text, and held this position +until the appearance of Grein’s <i>Bibliothek</i> (1857). In this latter +book, Kemble’s text was the principal authority used in correcting the +work of Thorpe<a class = "tag" name = "tag_kemble8" id = "tag_kemble8" +href = "#note_kemble8">8</a>. In spite of the fact that this is a +literal translation, it sometimes attains strength and beauty by reason +of its very simplicity.</p> + + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_kemble1" id = "note_kemble1" href = +"#tag_kemble1">1.</a> +See Wyatt’s text, lines 51, 158, 250, 255, 599, &c.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_kemble2" id = "note_kemble2" href = +"#tag_kemble2">2.</a> +See article in the <i>Dictionary of National Biography</i>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_kemble3" id = "note_kemble3" href = +"#tag_kemble3">3.</a> +See infra, pp. 56 ff.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_kemble4" id = "note_kemble4" href = +"#tag_kemble4">4.</a> +<i>bound up</i>, onband, now generally translated ‘unbind.’</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_kemble5" id = "note_kemble5" href = +"#tag_kemble5">5.</a> +<i>blame</i>, belēan, rather ‘dissuade’ than ‘blame.’</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_kemble6" id = "note_kemble6" href = +"#tag_kemble6">6.</a> +<i>with the waves of the deep</i>, &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.’</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_kemble7" id = "note_kemble7" href = +"#tag_kemble7">7.</a> +See supra on Turner, p. 9; Thorkelin, p. 15; Grundtvig, p. 22; +Conybeare, p. 28.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_kemble8" id = "note_kemble8" href = +"#tag_kemble8">8.</a> +See infra, <a href = "#trans_thorpe">p. 49</a>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_ettmuller" id = "trans_ettmuller"> +ETTMÜLLER’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>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. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. 191.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +First German Translation. Imitative measures.</p> + + +<h5>Ettmüller.</h5> + +<p>Ernst Moritz Ludwig Ettmüller (1802–77), at the time of the +publication of this book, was professor of the German +<span class = "pagenum">38</span> +language and literature in the Gymnasium at Zürich. He had already +appeared as a translator with a work entitled <i>Lieder der Edda von den +Nibelungen</i>. Later he edited selections from the <i>Beowulf</i> in +his <i>Engla and Seaxna Scôpas and Bôceras</i> (1850). This text +incorporated many new readings. Ettmüller was the first to question the +unity of the <i>Beowulf</i>, 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.</p> + + +<h5>Theory of Translation.</h5> + +<p>Ettmüller gives full expression to his theories and aims:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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 <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘gewonnen’">gewonnenen</ins> 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. +</blockquote> + + +<span class = "pagenum">39</span> +<h5>Text, and Indebtedness to Preceding Scholars.</h5> + +<p>The translation is founded on Kemble’s text of 1835<a class = "tag" +name = "tag_ettmuller1" id = "tag_ettmuller1" href = +"#note_ettmuller1">1</a>, to which the introduction and notes are also +indebted.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Deutsche Mythologie</i> (1833), the <i>Deutsche +Rechtsalterthümer</i> (1828), and the <i>Deutsche Sagen</i> +(1816–8). Cf. lines 458, 484.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<div class = "verse lines"> +<p>Ecglâfes Sohn Hûnferdh da sagte,</p> +<p>der zu Füssen sass dem Fürsten der Skildinge,</p> +<p>entband Beadurunen—ihm war Beowulfes Beginn,</p> +<p>des muthigen Meergängers, mächtig zuwider;</p> +<p>ungern sah er, dass ein andrer Mann</p> +<p>irgend Machtruhmes mehr in Mittelgart,</p> +<p>auf Erden äufnete denn er selber—:</p> +<p>‘Bist du der Beowulf, der mit Breca kämpfte</p> +<span class = "linenum">600</span> +<p>in sausender See, im Sundkampfe?</p> +<p>Ihr da aus Übermuth Untiefen prüftet</p> +<p>und aus Tollmuth ihr in tiefem Wasser</p> +<p>das Leben wagtet; liesset keinen,</p> +<p>nicht Freund noch Feind, da fernen euch</p> +<p>von der sorgvollen That, als zur See ihr rudertet.</p> +<p>Dort ihr den Egistrom mit Armen wandtet,</p> +<p>masset die Meerstrasse, mischtet mit Händen,</p> +<p>glittet über’s Geerried (Glanderfluthen</p> +<p>warf Winters Wuth!), in Wassers Gebiet</p> +<span class = "linenum">610</span> +<p>sieben Nächt’ ihr sorgtet: Er, Sieger der Wogen,</p> +<p>hatte mehr der Macht, denn zur Morgenzeit ihn</p> +<p>bei <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘Headoræmes’">Headhoræmes</ins> die Hochfluth antrug.—</p> +<p>Von dannen er suchte die süsse Heimat,</p> +<p>lieb seinen Leuten, das Land der Brondinge,</p> +<p>die feste Friedeburg, da Volk er hatte,</p> +<p>Burg und Bauge;—All Erbot wider dich</p> +<p>der Sohn Beanstânes sorglichst erfüllte.’</p> +</div> + + +<span class = "pagenum">40</span> +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>In his translation Ettmüller followed in the steps of Kemble<a class += "tag" name = "tag_ettmuller2" id = "tag_ettmuller2" href = +"#note_ettmuller2">2</a>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<a +class = "tag" name = "tag_ettmuller3" id = "tag_ettmuller3" href = +"#note_ettmuller3">3</a>. 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.</p> + +<p>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. <i>beadu-runen</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum">41</span> +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.</p> + + +<h5>Reception of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_ettmuller4" id = "tag_ettmuller4" href = "#note_ettmuller4">4</a>, +the next German scholar, took his inspiration from Kemble<a class = +"tag" name = "tag_ettmuller5" id = "tag_ettmuller5" href = +"#note_ettmuller5">5</a> and Thorpe<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_ettmuller6" id = "tag_ettmuller6" href = "#note_ettmuller6">6</a> +rather than from Ettmüller.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_ettmuller1" id = "note_ettmuller1" href = +"#tag_ettmuller1">1.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_kemble">p. 33</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_ettmuller2" id = "note_ettmuller2" href = +"#tag_ettmuller2">2.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_kemble">p. 33</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_ettmuller3" id = "note_ettmuller3" href = +"#tag_ettmuller3">3.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_grundtvig">p. 22</a>, and infra, <a href = +"#trans_schaldemose">p. 41 ff.</a></p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_ettmuller4" id = "note_ettmuller4" href = +"#tag_ettmuller4">4.</a> +See infra, <a href = "#trans_grein">p. 55</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_ettmuller5" id = "note_ettmuller5" href = +"#tag_ettmuller5">5.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_kemble">p. 33</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_ettmuller6" id = "note_ettmuller6" href = +"#tag_ettmuller6">6.</a> +See infra, <a href = "#trans_thorpe">p. 49</a>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_schaldemose" id = "trans_schaldemose"> +SCHALDEMOSE’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>Beo-wulf og Scopes <ins class = "correction" title = "letter ‘edh’ printed as d with bar">Widsið</ins>, to angelsaxiske Digte, med +Oversættelse og oplysende Anmærkninger udgivne af Frederik Schaldemose. +Kjøbenhavn, 1847.</p> + +<p>Anden Udgave, Kjøbenhavn, 1851. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. ii, 188.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Second Danish Translation.</p> + + +<h5>Nature of the Volume, and Indebtedness to Previous Scholars.</h5> + +<p>In this book the Old English text and the Danish translation were +printed in parallel columns. The text, which was taken literally from +Kemble<a class = "tag" name = "tag_schaldemose1" id = "tag_schaldemose1" +href = "#note_schaldemose1">1</a>, need not detain us here. No mention +is made of the work of Leo<a class = "tag" name = "tag_schaldemose2" id += "tag_schaldemose2" href = "#note_schaldemose2">2</a>, Ettmüller<a +class = "tag" name = "tag_schaldemose3" id = "tag_schaldemose3" href = +"#note_schaldemose3">3</a>, or of the 1837 volume of Kemble, although +<span class = "pagenum">42</span> +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.</p> + +<p>The translation is literal. Grundtvig’s translation<a class = "tag" +name = "tag_schaldemose4" id = "tag_schaldemose4" href = +"#note_schaldemose4">4</a> 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 <i>apparatus criticus</i> +for the Danish student.</p> + + +<h5>Schaldemose.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>His interest in <i>Beowulf</i> seems to have been, like that of +Thorkelin<a class = "tag" name = "tag_schaldemose5" id = +"tag_schaldemose5" href = "#note_schaldemose5">5</a>, 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 +<i>Beowulf</i>.</p> + +<p>It was hardly to be expected that a man whose life had been so +unsettled could materially advance the interpretation of Old English +poetry.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">43</span> +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<div class = "verse lines"> +<p>Hunferd sagde,</p> +<p>Sønnen af Ecglaf;</p> +<p>han sad ved Scyldinge-</p> +<p>Styrerens Fødder;</p> +<p>Kiv han begyndte,</p> +<p>thi kjær var ham ikke</p> +<p>Beowulfs Reise,</p> +<p>den raske Søfarers,</p> +<span class = "linenum">1000</span> +<p>men til Sorg og Harme,</p> +<p>thi han saae ei gjærne</p> +<p>at en anden Mand</p> +<p>meer Magtroes havde,</p> +<p>under Himmelens Skyer</p> +<p>end selv han aatte:</p> +<p>Er Du den Beowulf,</p> +<p>der med Breca kjæmped’</p> +<p>paa det vide Hav</p> +<p>i Væddesvømning,</p> +<span class = "linenum">1010</span> +<p>da I af Hovmod</p> +<p>Havet udforsked’,</p> +<p>og dumdristige</p> +<p>i dybe Vande</p> +<p>vovede Livet;</p> +<p>ei vilde Nogen,</p> +<p>Ven eller Fjende,</p> +<p>afvende eders</p> +<p>sorgfulde Tog;</p> +<p>til Søen I da roed,</p> +<span class = "linenum">1020</span> +<p>vendte med Armene</p> +<p>de vilde Bølger,</p> +<p>maalde Havveien,</p> +<p>med Hænderne brød den,</p> +<p>og svam over Havet</p> +<p>mens Søen vælted</p> +<p>vinterlige Vover;</p> +<p>saa paa Vandenes Ryg</p> +<p>I strede syv Nætter;</p> +<p>han, Seirer paa Havet,</p> +<span class = "linenum">1030</span> +<p>aatte meer Styrke,</p> +<span class = "pagenum">44</span> +<p>thi aarle on Morgenen</p> +<p>til Headhoræmes</p> +<p>Havet ham førde;</p> +<p>derfra han søgde</p> +<p>sit Fædrenerige,</p> +<p>feiret af Sine,</p> +<p>Brondinge-Landet</p> +<p>det fagre Fristed,</p> +<p>hvor et Folk han havde,</p> +<span class = "linenum">1040</span> +<p>Borge og Ringe.</p> +<p>Saa blev hvad Beanstans</p> +<p>Søn Dig loved’</p> +<p>sikkerlig opfyldt.</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Text and Translation.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I can find no evidence for the reiterated<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_schaldemose6" id = "tag_schaldemose6" href = +"#note_schaldemose6">6</a> 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.</p> + + +<h5>Reception of the Volume.</h5> + +<p>It is a tribute to the Danish interest in Beowulf that Schaldemose’s +volume soon passed into a second edition. +<span class = "pagenum">45</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_schaldemose1" id = "note_schaldemose1" href = +"#tag_schaldemose1">1.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_kemble">p. 33</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_schaldemose2" id = "note_schaldemose2" href = +"#tag_schaldemose2">2.</a> +See infra, <a href = "#para_leo">p. 121</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_schaldemose3" id = "note_schaldemose3" href = +"#tag_schaldemose3">3.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_ettmuller">p. 37</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_schaldemose4" id = "note_schaldemose4" href = +"#tag_schaldemose4">4.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_grundtvig">p. 22</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_schaldemose5" id = "note_schaldemose5" href = +"#tag_schaldemose5">5.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_thorkelin">p. 15</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_schaldemose6" id = "note_schaldemose6" href = +"#tag_schaldemose6">6.</a> +See Wülker, <i>Ang. Anz.</i> IV, 69; Wackerbarth’s ed. (see infra, +<a href = "#trans_wackerbarth">p. 45</a>).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_wackerbarth" id = "trans_wackerbarth"> +WACKERBARTH’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>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. +8<sup>o</sup>, pp. xlvi, 159.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Second English Translation. Ballad Measures.</p> + + +<h5>Circumstances of Publication.</h5> + +<p>In the introduction Wackerbarth gives a full account of the history +of the book:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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 +<span class = "pagenum">46</span> +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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Indebtedness to preceding Scholars.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Style and Diction.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallcaps">Canto VIII.</h5> + +<div class = "verse lines"> +<p>But haughty Hunferth, Ecg-láf’s Son</p> +<p>Who sat at royal Hróth-gár’s Feet</p> +<p>To bind up Words of Strife begun</p> +<p class = "indent"> +And to address the noble Geat.</p> +<span class = "pagenum">47</span> +<span class = "linenum">5</span> +<p>The proud Sea-Farer’s Enterprize</p> +<p>Was a vast Grievance in his Eyes:</p> +<p>For ill could bear that jealous Man</p> +<p>That any other gallant Thane</p> +<p>On earth, beneath the Heavens’ Span,</p> +<span class = "linenum">10</span> +<p class = "indent"> +Worship beyond his own should gain.</p> +<p>‘Art thou Beó-wulf,’ then he cry’d,</p> +<p>‘With Brecca on the Ocean wide</p> +<p class = "indent"> +That didst in Swimming erst contend,</p> +<p>Where ye explor’d the Fords for Pride</p> +<span class = "linenum">15</span> +<p>And risk’d your Lives upon the Tide</p> +<p class = "indent"> +All for vain Glory’s empty End?</p> +<p>And no Man, whether Foe or Friend,</p> +<p>Your sorry Match can reprehend.</p> +<p>O’er Seas ye rowed, your Arms o’erspread</p> +<span class = "linenum">20</span> +<p>The Waves, and Sea-paths measuréd.</p> +<p>The Spray ye with your Hands did urge,</p> +<p>And glided o’er the Ocean’s Surge;</p> +<p>The Waves with Winter’s fury boil’d</p> +<p>While on the watery Realm ye toil’d,</p> +<span class = "linenum">25</span> +<p class = "indent"> +Thus seven Nights were told,</p> +<p>Till thee at last he overcame,</p> +<p>The stronger in the noble Game.</p> +<p>Then him at Morn the billowy Streams</p> +<p>In triumph bare to Heatho-rǽmes</p> +<span class = "linenum">30</span> +<p>From whence he sought his Fatherland,</p> +<p>And his own Brondings’ faithful Band,</p> +<p>Where o’er the Folk he held Command,</p> +<p class = "indent"> +A City, Rings, and Gold.</p> +<p>His Promise well and faithfully</p> +<span class = "linenum">35</span> +<p>Did Beanstán’s Son perform to thee;</p> +<p>And ill I ween, though prov’d thy Might</p> +<p>In Onslaught dire and deadly Fight,</p> +<p>Twill go with thee, if thou this Night</p> +<p class = "indent"> +Dar’st wait for Grendel bold.’</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>Wackerbarth’s translation is not to be considered as a rival of +Kemble’s<a class = "tag" name = "tag_wackerbarth1" id = +"tag_wackerbarth1" href = "#note_wackerbarth1">1</a>—the author +did not wish it to be +<span class = "pagenum">48</span> +so considered. Kemble addressed the world of scholars; Wackerbarth the +world of readers. Wackerbarth rather resembles Conybeare<a class = "tag" +name = "tag_wackerbarth2" id = "tag_wackerbarth2" href = +"#note_wackerbarth2">2</a> in trying to reproduce the <i>spirit</i> 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 <i>Beowulf</i> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Beowulf</i> +should avoid Scott. Scott’s medievalism is hundreds of years and miles +away from the medievalism of <i>Beowulf</i>. His is the self-conscious, +dramatic, gorgeous age of +<span class = "pagenum">49</span> +chivalry, of knight and lady, of pomp and pride. <i>Beowulf</i> is +simple to bareness.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Beowulf</i> according to Wackerbarth than no +<i>Beowulf</i> at all.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_wackerbarth1" id = "note_wackerbarth1" href = +"#tag_wackerbarth1">1.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_kemble">p. 33</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_wackerbarth2" id = "note_wackerbarth2" href = +"#tag_wackerbarth2">2.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_conybeare">p. 28</a>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_thorpe" id = "trans_thorpe"> +THORPE’S EDITION</a></h3> + +<p>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. <span class = "smallroman">M.DCCC.LV.</span></p> + +<p>*Reprinted, 1875. 12<sup>o</sup>, pp. xxxiv, 330.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Third English Translation. Short Lines.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">50</span> +<h5>Author’s Prefatory Remarks.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘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. . . . +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +‘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. . . . +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +‘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. . . . +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +‘Very shortly after I had collated it, the manuscript suffered still +further detriment. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +‘In forming this edition I resolved to proceed independently of the +version or views of every preceding editor.’ —Pages vii, viii, +xii, xiii. +</blockquote> + + +<h5><a name = "trans_thorpe_text" id = "trans_thorpe_text"> +Criticism of Thorpe’s Text.</a></h5> + +<p>Considering the amount of time that had elapsed between this and the +edition of Kemble<a class = "tag" name = "tag_thorpe1" id = +"tag_thorpe1" href = "#note_thorpe1">1</a>, 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, +<span class = "pagenum">51</span> +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:—</p> + +<table class = "lines" summary = "details of translations"> +<tr> +<td class = "number">Line 319 (158)<a class = "tag" name = "tag_thorpe2" +id = "tag_thorpe2" href = "#note_thorpe2">2</a>,</td> +<td><p><i>banan</i> (misreads MS. in footnote).</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">487 (241),</td> +<td><p><i>Ic</i> (word emended from <i>le</i> without noting MS. +form).</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1160 (578),</td> +<td><p><i>hwæþere</i> (emends without noting the MS. form).</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1207 (601),</td> +<td><i>ac him</i> (omits a word).</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">4408 (2201),</td> +<td><p><i>hilde hlemmum</i> (MS. misread in a footnote. Emendation +unnecessary).</p></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>At line 2218 the MS., badly mutilated at this point, reads,</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +<i>. . . slæpende be syre . . . de þeofes cræfte.</i></p> + +<span class = "pagenum">52</span> +<p><a name = "trans_thorpe_comp" id = "trans_thorpe_comp">In Thorpe’s +edition</a> the line reads (4443),</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +<i>... slæpende be fire, fyrena hyrde þeófes cræfte.</i></p> + +<p>Not only does he fail to state that he has changed MS. <i>sy</i> to +<i>fi</i>, but he gives no indication that for the words <i>fyrena +hyrde</i> there is no room in the MS., and that the reading is entirely +of his own making.</p> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_thorpe3" id = "tag_thorpe3" href = +"#note_thorpe3">3</a>.</p> + +<table class = "verse" summary = "parallel poems"> +<tr> +<th class = "smallcaps">Thorpe.</th> +<td></td> +<th class = "smallcaps">Kemble.</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Þæt is undyrne,</td> +<td></td> +<td>þ̷ is un-dyrne,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>dryhten Higelác,</td> +<td></td> +<td>dryhten Hige-lác,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>(uncer) gemeting</td> +<td></td> +<td>. . . ge-meting</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>monegum fyra,</td> +<td></td> +<td>monegū fira</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>hwylce (orleg)-hwíl</td> +<td class = "number">5</td> +<td>hwylce . . . hwíl</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>uncer Grendles</td> +<td></td> +<td>uncer Grendles</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>wearð on þám wange,</td> +<td></td> +<td>wearð on wange,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>þær he worna fela</td> +<td></td> +<td>þær he worna fela</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Sige-Scyldingum</td> +<td></td> +<td>síge-(Scyl)dingum</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>sorge gefremede,</td> +<td class = "number">10</td> +<td>sorge ge-fremede,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>yrmðe tó aldre.</td> +<td></td> +<td>yrmð(o) tó aldre;</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Ic þæt eall gewræc,</td> +<td></td> +<td>ic þ̷ eall ge-wræc,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>swá ne gylpan þearf</td> +<td></td> +<td>swá (ne) gylpan ðearf</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Grendles maga</td> +<td></td> +<td>Grendeles maga</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>(ǽnig) ofer eorðan</td> +<td class = "number">15</td> +<td>(ǽnig) ofer eorðan</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>uht-hlem þone,</td> +<td></td> +<td>uht-hlem ðone,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>se þe lengest leofað</td> +<td></td> +<td>(se þe) lengest leofað</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>láðan cynnes.</td> +<td></td> +<td>ládan cynnes,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Fǽr-bifongen, . . .</td> +<td></td> +<td>(fǽr)-bí-fongen.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>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 <i>ne</i> +as if it were found in the MS. It is not there, and Kemble is right in +inclosing the letters in parentheses. The same +<span class = "pagenum">53</span> +thing is true of <i>Fǽr</i> in line 19, and Gren<i>dl</i>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.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallroman">VIII.</h5> + +<div class = "verse lines"> +<p>Hunferth spake,</p> +<p>Ecglaf’s son,</p> +<p>who at <i>the</i> feet sat</p> +<p>of <i>the</i> Scyldings’ lord;</p> +<p>unbound <i>a</i> hostile speech.</p> +<p>To him was <i>the</i> voyage of Beowulf,</p> +<p><i>the</i> bold sea-farer,</p> +<p><i>a</i> great displeasure;</p> +<span class = "linenum">1010</span> +<p>because he grudged</p> +<p>that any other man</p> +<p>ever more glories</p> +<p>of mid-earth</p> +<p>held under heaven</p> +<p>than himself:</p> +<p>‘Art thou the Beowulf</p> +<p>who with Breca strove</p> +<p>on <i>the</i> wide sea,</p> +<p>in <i>a</i> swimming strife,</p> +<span class = "linenum">1020</span> +<p>where ye from pride</p> +<p>tempted <i>the</i> fords,</p> +<p>and for foolish vaunt</p> +<p>in <i>the</i> deep water</p> +<p>ventured <i>your</i> lives?</p> +<p>Nor you any man,</p> +<p>nor friend nor foe,</p> +<p>might blame</p> +<p><i>for your</i> sorrowful voyage,</p> +<p>when on <i>the</i> sea ye row’d,</p> +<span class = "linenum">1030</span> +<p>when ye <i>the</i> ocean-stream,</p> +<p>with <i>your</i> arms deck’d,</p> +<p>measur’d <i>the</i> sea-ways,</p> +<p>with <i>your</i> hands vibrated <i>them</i>,</p> +<span class = "pagenum">54</span> +<p>glided o’er <i>the</i> main;</p> +<p>ocean boil’d with waves,</p> +<p>with winter’s fury:</p> +<p>ye on <i>the</i> water’s domain,</p> +<p><i>for</i> seven nights toil’d.</p> +<p>He thee in swimming overcame,</p> +<span class = "linenum">1040</span> +<p><i>he</i> had more strength,</p> +<p>when him at morning tide,</p> +<p>on to Heatho-ræmes</p> +<p><i>the</i> sea bore up;</p> +<p>whence he sought</p> +<p><i>his</i> dear country,</p> +<p><i>the</i> beloved of his people,</p> +<p><i>the</i> Brondings’ land,</p> +<p><i>his</i> fair, peaceful burgh,</p> +<p>where he <i>a</i> people own’d,</p> +<span class = "linenum">1050</span> +<p><i>a</i> burgh and rings.</p> +<p>All <i>his</i> promise to thee</p> +<p>Beanstan’s son</p> +<p>truly fulfil’d.</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>ipso facto</i> 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.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">55</span> +<h5>Influence of Thorpe’s Edition.</h5> + +<p>The influence of this edition has been considerable. It was the +principal authority used by Grein<a class = "tag" name = "tag_thorpe4" +id = "tag_thorpe4" href = "#note_thorpe4">4</a> and Heyne<a class = +"tag" name = "tag_thorpe5" id = "tag_thorpe5" href = +"#note_thorpe5">5</a> in constructing their texts. Thus its influence +was felt in all texts down to the publication of the Zupitza +<i>Autotypes</i> (1882). Thomas Arnold<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_thorpe6" id = "tag_thorpe6" href = "#note_thorpe6">6</a> copied the +text almost word for word.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_thorpe1" id = "note_thorpe1" href = +"#tag_thorpe1">1.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_kemble">p. 33</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_thorpe2" id = "note_thorpe2" href = +"#tag_thorpe2">2.</a> +The numbers in parentheses are those of Wyatt’s text.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_thorpe3" id = "note_thorpe3" href = +"#tag_thorpe3">3.</a> +Line 3995 in Kemble; 4004 in Thorpe.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_thorpe4" id = "note_thorpe4" href = +"#tag_thorpe4">4.</a> +See infra, <a href = "#trans_grein">p. 55</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_thorpe5" id = "note_thorpe5" href = +"#tag_thorpe5">5.</a> +See infra, <a href = "#trans_heyne">p. 63</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_thorpe6" id = "note_thorpe6" href = +"#tag_thorpe6">6.</a> +See infra, <a href = "#trans_arnold">p. 71</a>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_grein" id = "trans_grein"> +GREIN’S TRANSLATIONS</a></h3> + +<p>Dichtungen der Angelsachsen, stabreimend übersetzt von C. W. M. +Grein. Erster Band. Göttingen: Georg H. Wigand, 1857. 8<sup>o</sup>, +Beowulf, pp. 223–308. Zweite (Titel-) Auflage, 1863.</p> + +<p>Beowulf. Stabreimend übersetzt von Professor Dr. C. W. M. Grein. +Zweite Auflage. Kassel: Georg H. Wigand, 1883. 8<sup>o</sup>, +pp. 90.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Second German Translation. Imitative Measures.</p> + + +<h5>Grein’s Preparation for Scholarly Work.</h5> + +<p>Christian Wilhelm Michael Grein<a class = "tag" name = "tag_grein1" +id = "tag_grein1" href = "#note_grein1">1</a> (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 <i>Phoenix</i>, +‘Der Vogel Phoenix: ein angelsächsisches Gedicht, stabreimend +übersetzt,’ +<span class = "pagenum">56</span> +Rinteln, 1854. In the same year he printed a translation of the +<i>Heliand</i>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h5><a name = "trans_grein_texts" id = "trans_grein_texts"> +Grein’s Texts.</a></h5> + +<p>The text of <i>Beowulf</i> is found in Grein’s <i>Bibliothek der +angelsächsichen Poesie</i>, Erster Band, Göttingen, 1857, where it +occupies pp. 255–341. A second edition, several times +re-edited, is <i>Beovulf, nebst den Fragmenten Finnsburg und +Waldere</i>, Kassel und Göttingen, 1867.</p> + +<p>Grein never saw the MS. of the poem<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_grein2" id = "tag_grein2" href = "#note_grein2">2</a>. 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,</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +<i>be fire, fyrena hyrde</i>,</p> + +<p>following Thorpe<a class = "tag" name = "tag_grein3" id = +"tag_grein3" href = "#note_grein3">3</a>. 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.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">57</span> +<p>Like Kemble, Grein had a supreme respect for the readings of the MS., +and he announced his intention of following this reading wherever +possible:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +(<i>Bibl.</i>). +</blockquote> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Grein was extremely clever in filling the lacunae of the MS., and his +conjectural emendations are frequently retained by later editors.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h5>Theory of Translation.</h5> + +<p>Grein’s theory of translation is sufficiently expressed in the +Vorrede to the <i>Dichtungen</i>:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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 +<span class = "pagenum">58</span> +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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Differences between the two Editions.</h5> + +<p>The second edition of the translation (see supra, <ins class = +"correction" title = "error for ‘p. 55’"><a href = +"#trans_grein">p. 65</a></ins>) was edited from Grein’s +‘Handexemplar’ of the <i>Dichtungen</i> after his death by Professor +Wülker, who has also re-edited the text of the <i>Bibliothek</i>. The +differences are seldom more than verbal, and are largely in the early +parts of the poem. The second edition is, of course, superior.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallroman">III.</h5> + +<div class = "verse lines"> +<p class = "indent"> +Darauf sprach Hunferd, Ecglafs Sohn,</p> +<span class = "linenum">500</span> +<p>der zu den Füssen sass dem Fürst der Skildinge,</p> +<p>entband Streitrunen, (ihm war Beowulfs Reise</p> +<p>des mutigen Seefahrers sehr zum Aerger,</p> +<p>da er durchaus nicht gönnte, dass ein anderer Mann</p> +<p>je mehr des Ruhmes in dem Mittelkreise</p> +<span class = "linenum">505</span> +<p>besässe unterm Himmel, denn er selber hatte):</p> +<p>‘Bist du der Beowulf, der einst mit Breka schwamm</p> +<p>im Wettkampfe durch die weite See,</p> +<p>wo in Verwegenheit ihr die Gewässer prüftet</p> +<p>und aus tollem Prahlen in die tiefen Fluten</p> +<span class = "linenum">510</span> +<p>wagtet euer Leben? Nicht wehren konnt’ euch beiden</p> +<p>weder Lieb noch Leid der Leute einer</p> +<span class = "pagenum">59</span> +<p>die sorgenvolle Fahrt, als in den Sund ihr rudertet,</p> +<p>wo ihr den Oceansstrom mit euren Armen decktet,</p> +<p>die Holmstrassen masset, mit den Händen schluget</p> +<span class = "linenum">515</span> +<p>und über den Ocean glittet: der Eisgang des Winters</p> +<p>wallete in Wogen; in des Wassers Gebiet</p> +<p>plagtet ihr euch sieben Nächte. Im Schwimmspiel überwand er dich:</p> +<p>er hatte mehr der Macht; zur Morgenzeit</p> +<p>trug ihn der Holm da zu den Headorämen.</p> +<span class = "linenum">520</span> +<p>Von dannen suchte er die süsse Heimat</p> +<p>lieb seinen Leuten, das Land der Brondinge,</p> +<p>die liebliche Friedeburg, wo er sein Volk hatte,</p> +<p>Burg und Bauge. Da hatte all sein Erbot wider dich</p> +<p>vollbracht in Wahrheit Beanstans Sohn<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_grein4" id = "tag_grein4" href = "#note_grein4">4</a>.’</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The translation became at once the standard commentary on +<i>Beowulf</i>, 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.</p> + + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_grein1" id = "note_grein1" href = "#tag_grein1">1.</a> +For biographical facts see Grein-Wülker, <i>Bibliothek</i>, Band III, +2te Hälfte, p. vii.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_grein2" id = "note_grein2" href = "#tag_grein2">2.</a> +See Grein-Wülker, <i>Bibliothek</i>, Vorrede.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_grein3" id = "note_grein3" href = "#tag_grein3">3.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_thorpe_comp">p. 52</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_grein4" id = "note_grein4" href = "#tag_grein4">4.</a> +The second edition presents no variation from this save the omission of +the comma in line 501.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_simrock" id = "trans_simrock"> +SIMROCK’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>Beowulf. Das älteste deutsche Epos. Uebersetzt und erläutert von Dr. +Karl Simrock. Stuttgart und Augsburg: J. G. Cotta’scher Verlag, 1859. +8<sup>o</sup>, pp. iv, 203.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Third German Translation. Imitative Measures.</p> + + +<h5>Simrock.</h5> + +<p>Dr. Karl Simrock (1802–1876) brought to the translation of +<i>Beowulf</i> the thorough knowledge of a scholar, +<span class = "pagenum">60</span> +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 <i>Beowulf</i>, 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 <i>Nibelungenlied</i>, a work +which, in 1892, had passed into its fifty-second edition. As an original +poet, Simrock is remembered for his <i>Wieland der Schmied</i> (1835), +and <i>Gedichte</i> (1844).</p> + + +<h5>Object of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>Simrock wished to do for <i>Beowulf</i> what he had done for the +<i>Nibelungenlied</i>, <i>Walther von der Vogelweide</i>, and <i>Der +arme Heinrich</i>. He objected to the too literal work of Ettmüller<a +class = "tag" name = "tag_simrock1" id = "tag_simrock1" href = +"#note_simrock1">1</a> and Grein<a class = "tag" name = "tag_simrock2" +id = "tag_simrock2" href = "#note_simrock2">2</a>, hoping in his own +work to make the poem readable and to dispense with a ‘note for every +third word’:</p> + +<blockquote> +‘Geist und Stimmung einer fernen Heldenzeit anklingen zu lassen, und +doch dem Ausdruck die frische Farbe des Lebens zu verleihen.’ +—Vorrede, iii. +</blockquote> + +<p>In this ambition he was justified by his success as a translator of +Old German poetry.</p> + + +<h5>Nature of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">61</span> +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.</p> + +<p>The feature of his translation for which Simrock was most concerned +was the measure:</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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 <ins +class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘Gedichtes’">Gedichts</ins> +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. +</blockquote> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h5>Relation of Translation and other Parts of the Book.</h5> + +<p>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 <i>Beowulf</i>, and an argument for the German origin of +the poem. But the translation is the <i>raison d’être</i> 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 <i>Beowulf</i>, he is obliged to place the poem +at the end of the Finnsburg episode (in <i>Beowulf</i>), 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<a class = +"tag" name = "tag_simrock3" id = "tag_simrock3" href = +"#note_simrock3">3</a>, has been generally repudiated.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">62</span> +<h5>Text, and Indebtedness to Preceding Scholars.</h5> + +<p>The text followed is Grein’s (1857)<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_simrock4" id = "tag_simrock4" href = "#note_simrock4">4</a>. The +translator acknowledges his indebtedness to the versions of Ettmüller +and Grein.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallcaps">8. Hunferd.</h5> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Da begann Hunferd, Ecglafs Sohn,</p> +<p>Der zu Füssen sass dem Fürsten der Schildinge,</p> +<p>Kampfrunen zu entbinden: ihm war Beowulfs Kunft,</p> +<p>Des kühnen Seeseglers, schrecklich zuwider.</p> +<p>Allzu ungern sah er, dass ein anderer Mann</p> +<p>In diesem <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘Mittelkreis’">Mittelkreiss</ins> mehr des Ruhmes</p> +<p>Unterm Himmel hätte als Hunferd selbst:</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent"> +‘Bist du der Beowulf, der mit <i>Breka</i> schwamm</p> +<p>Im Wettkampf einst durch die weite See?</p> +<p>Wo ihr tollkühn Untiefen prüftet,</p> +<p>Mit vermessnem Muth in den Meeresschlünden</p> +<p>Das Leben wagtet? Vergebens wehrten euch</p> +<p>Die Lieben und Leiden, die Leute zumal</p> +<p>So sorgvolle Reise, als ihr zum Sunde rudertet,</p> +<p>Das angstreiche Weltmeer mit Armen decktet,</p> +<p>Die Meerstrassen masset, mit den Händen schlugt</p> +<p>Durch die Brandung gleitend; aufbrauste die Tiefe</p> +<p>Wider des Winters Wuth. Im Wasser mühtet ihr</p> +<p>Euch sieben Nächte: da besiegt’ er dich im <ins class = +"correction" title = "‘i’ invisible">Schwimmen</ins>.</p> +<p>Seiner Macht war mehr: in des Morgens Frühe</p> +<p>Hob ihn die Hochflut zu den <i>Headorämen</i>.</p> +<p>Von dannen sucht’ er die süsse Heimat,</p> +<p>Das Leutenliebe, das Land der <i>Brondinge</i>,</p> +<p>Die feste Friedensburg, wo er Volk besass,</p> +<p>Burg und Bauge. Sein Erbieten hatte dir</p> +<p>Da <i>Beanstans</i> Geborner vollbracht und +geleistet.’</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>Simrock’s translation is commendable for its faithfulness. It is, +moreover, a simple and readable version, though in +<span class = "pagenum">63</span> +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.</p> + + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_simrock1" id = "note_simrock1" href = +"#tag_simrock1">1.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_ettmuller">p. 37</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_simrock2" id = "note_simrock2" href = +"#tag_simrock2">2.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_grein">p. 55</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_simrock3" id = "note_simrock3" href = +"#tag_simrock3">3.</a> +See infra, <a href = "#trans_hoffmann">p. 99</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_simrock4" id = "note_simrock4" href = +"#tag_simrock4">4.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_grein_texts">p. 56</a>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_heyne" id = "trans_heyne"> +HEYNE’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>Beowulf. Angelsächsisches Heldengedicht übersetzt von Moritz Heyne. +Paderborn: Druck und Verlag von Ferd. Schöningh, 1863. 12<sup>o</sup>, +pp. viii, 127.</p> + +<p>Zweite Auflage. Paderborn: Schöningh, 1898. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. viii, +134.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Fourth German Translation. Iambic Pentameter.</p> + + +<h5>Heyne.</h5> + +<p>The name of Moritz Heyne is one of the most illustrious in the +history of Beowulf scholarship. The Heyne editions of the text<a class = +"tag" name = "tag_heyne1" id = "tag_heyne1" href = "#note_heyne1">1</a> +have been standard for nearly forty years, +<span class = "pagenum">64</span> +while the translation has been recently reprinted (1898). Beside his +work on the <i>Beowulf</i>, this scholar was to become prominent as +editor of the <i>Heliand</i> and of <i>Ulfilas</i>, and as one of the +staff appointed to complete Grimm’s Dictionary.</p> + +<p>At the time when he printed his edition of the <i>Beowulf,</i> Heyne +was a student at Halle, and but twenty-six years of age (born 1837)<a +class = "tag" name = "tag_heyne2" id = "tag_heyne2" href = +"#note_heyne2">2</a>. In his work he had some assistance from Professor +Leo<a class = "tag" name = "tag_heyne3" id = "tag_heyne3" href = +"#note_heyne3">3</a> of Halle.</p> + + +<h5><a name = "trans_heyne_relation" id = "trans_heyne_relation"> +Relation of Text and Translation.</a></h5> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_heyne4" id = "tag_heyne4" href += "#note_heyne4">4</a> in collating the two transcripts made by +Thorkelin<a class = "tag" name = "tag_heyne5" id = "tag_heyne5" href = +"#note_heyne5">5</a>. It thus came a stage nearer the MS. readings than +any other existing edition, while it avoided the unnecessary conjectures +of the Danish editor.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h5>Differences between the First and Second Editions of the +Translation.</h5> + +<p>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, +<span class = "pagenum">65</span> +and some changes are made for the improvement of the meter.</p> + +<p>The first edition contains 3201 lines; the second 3207. The theory +and aim of the translation are not changed at all.</p> + + +<h5>Aim of Heyne’s Translation.</h5> + +<p>In this translation of the <i>Beowulf</i>, Heyne attempts to +popularize what he considers the most beautiful of the Old English +poems. He says of it—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘Es ist nicht die erste, die <ins class = "correction" title = "word is emphatic (gesperrt) in Heyne original">ich</ins> 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. +</blockquote> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_heyne6" id = "tag_heyne6" href += "#note_heyne6">6</a> and Simrock<a class = "tag" name = "tag_heyne7" +id = "tag_heyne7" href = "#note_heyne7">7</a> had been in a more +elaborate <i>format</i>, while Grein’s translation<a class = "tag" name += "tag_heyne8" id = "tag_heyne8" href = "#note_heyne8">8</a> was not +only expensive, but encumbered with other work, and intended primarily +for the scholar.</p> + + +<h5>Nature of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘Die vorliegende Uebertragung ist so frei, dass sie das für uns schwer +oder gar nicht genau nachzubildende <ins class = "correction" title = +"text reads ‘alliterierende’">allitterierende</ins> Versmass des +Originals gegen fünffüssige <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘Iamben’">Jamben</ins> aufgibt, und zu Gunsten des +<span class = "pagenum">66</span> +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. +</blockquote> + +<p>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—</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Hē bēot ne āleh, l. 80 (he belied not his promise)</p> +<p>Was er gelobt, erfüllt er.</p> +</div> + +<p>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).</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallroman">IX.</h5> + +<div class = "verse lines"> +<span class = "linenum">500</span> +<p>Da sagte Hunferd, Ecglafs Sohn, der Hrodgar</p> +<p>zu Füssen sass, dem Herrn der Schildinge,</p> +<p>des Streites Siegel löste er (denn sehr</p> +<p>war Beowulfes Ankunft ihm verhasst,</p> +<p>des kühnen Meerbefahrers; er vergönnte</p> +<span class = "linenum">505</span> +<p>es Niemand, mehr des Ruhmes als er selber</p> +<p>sich unterm Himmel jemals zu erwerben):</p> +<p>‘Bist du der Beowulf, der einst mit Breca</p> +<p>sich auf der weiten See im Schwimmkampf mass,</p> +<p>als ihr euch kühnlich in die Tiefen stürztet,</p> +<span class = "linenum">510</span> +<p>und mit <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘verwegnen’">verwegnem</ins> Brüsten euer Leben</p> +<p>im tiefen Wasser wagtet? Niemand konnte,</p> +<p>nicht Freund, nicht Feind, des mühevollen Weges</p> +<p>euch hindern. Da schwammt ihr hinaus <ins class = "correction" title += "text shown as printed">in See</ins>,</p> +<p>wo ihr die wilde Flut mit Armen decktet,</p> +<span class = "linenum">515</span> +<p>des Wassers Strassen masset und die Hände</p> +<p>die Wogen werfen liesst; so glittet ihr</p> +<p>hin übers Meer. Die winterlichen Wellen,</p> +<span class = "pagenum">67</span> +<p>sie giengen hoch. Der Tage sieben mühtet</p> +<p>ihr euch im Wasser: jener überwand dich</p> +<span class = "linenum">520</span> +<p>im Schwimmen, denn er hatte grössre Kraft.</p> +<p>Da trug die Hochflut ihn zur Morgenzeit</p> +<p>auf zu den Hadorämen, von wo aus er,</p> +<p>der seinem Volke liebe, seinen Erbsitz</p> +<p>im Land der Brandinge, die schöne Burg</p> +<span class = "linenum">525</span> +<p>erreichte. Dort besass er Land und Leute</p> +<p>und Schätze. Was er gegen dich gelobt,</p> +<p>das hatte <ins class = "correction" title = "text corrects misspelled ‘Banstan’ in Heyne original">Beanstans</ins> Sohn fürwahr erfüllt.’</p> +</div> + +<p>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 <i>beadu-runen onband</i> should be noticed, and +compared with the translations of Ettmüller, Grein, and Simrock, who +have respectively—</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p><i>entband beadurunen</i></p> +<p><i>entband Streitrunen</i></p> +<p><i>Kampfrunen . . . entbinden.</i></p> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_heyne1" id = "note_heyne1" href = "#tag_heyne1">1.</a> +There have been six—1863, 1868, 1873, 1879, 1888, 1898; the last +two are by Dr. Adolf Socin.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_heyne2" id = "note_heyne2" href = "#tag_heyne2">2.</a> +Heyne is at present Professor in the University of Göttingen.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_heyne3" id = "note_heyne3" href = "#tag_heyne3">3.</a> +See infra, <a href = "#para_leo">p. 121</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_heyne4" id = "note_heyne4" href = "#tag_heyne4">4.</a> +In <i>Beowulfs Beorh</i>. See also supra, <a href = +"#trans_grundtvig">p. 22</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_heyne5" id = "note_heyne5" href = "#tag_heyne5">5.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_thorkelin">p. 16</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_heyne6" id = "note_heyne6" href = "#tag_heyne6">6.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_ettmuller">p. 37</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_heyne7" id = "note_heyne7" href = "#tag_heyne7">7.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_simrock">p. 59</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_heyne8" id = "note_heyne8" href = "#tag_heyne8">8.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_grein">p. 55</a>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">68</span> + +<h3><a name = "trans_wolzogen" id = "trans_wolzogen"> +VON WOLZOGEN’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>Beovulf (Bärwelf). Das älteste deutsche Heldengedicht. Aus dem +Angelsächsischen von Hans von Wolzogen. Leipzig: Philipp Reclam, jun. +(1872?).</p> + +<p>Volume 430 of Reclam’s Universal-Bibliothek. Small 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. +104.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Fifth German Translation. Imitative Measures.</p> + + +<h5>Concerning the Translator.</h5> + +<p>Hans von Wolzogen (born 1848), popularly known as a writer on the +Wagnerian operas and as conductor of the <i>Bayreuther Blätter</i>, +translated three Germanic poems for Reclam’s ‘Bibliothek’: +<i>Beowulf</i>, 1872, <i>Der arme Heinrich</i>, 1873, and the +<i>Edda</i>, 1877. There is no evidence that he had any <i>special</i> +interest in Old English studies.</p> + + +<h5>Aim of the Volume.</h5> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_wolzogen1" id = "tag_wolzogen1" href = "#note_wolzogen1">1</a> and +the present translation, might read the <i>Beowulf</i> with no very +great difficulty. So von Wolzogen made his version ‘more literal than +Heyne’s, but freer than Simrock’s’ (p. 1).</p> + + +<h5>Nature of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">69</span> +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:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘... 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. +</blockquote> + +<p>The account of the Fall of Hygelac and of Heardred, 2354–96, is +shifted to line 2207 (p. 75).</p> + + +<h5>Text Used.</h5> + +<p>The translation is apparently founded on one of Grein’s texts<a class += "tag" name = "tag_wolzogen2" id = "tag_wolzogen2" href = +"#note_wolzogen2">2</a>, but the work is so inaccurate that exact +information on this point is impossible from merely internal +evidence.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallcaps">Dritter Gesang.</h5> +<h5 class = "smallroman">HUNFRID.</h5> + +<div class = "verse lines"> +<p><i>So sagte Hunfrid</i><a class = "tag" name = "tag_wolzogen3" id = +"tag_wolzogen3" href = "#note_wolzogen3">3</a>, der Sohn des +<i>Eckleif</i>,</p> +<p>Dem Schildingenfürsten zu Füssen gesessen,</p> +<p>Kampfrunen entbindend (es kränkte des <i>Bärwelf</i></p> +<p><i>Muthige Meerfahrt</i> mächtig den Stolzen,</p> +<span class = "linenum">5</span> +<p>Der an Ehren nicht mehr einem andern Manne</p> +<p>Zu gönnen gemeint war im Garten der Mitte,</p> +<p>Als wie unter’m Himmel erworben er selbst!):</p> +<p>‘Bist du der <i>Bärwelf</i>, der mit <i>Brecht</i> bekämpfte</p> +<p>Auf weiter See im Wetteschwimmen,</p> +<span class = "linenum">10</span> +<p>Da übermüthig und ehrbegierig</p> +<p>Eu’r Leben ihr wagtet in Wassertiefen,</p> +<span class = "pagenum">70</span> +<p><i>Die beid’ ihr durchschwammt?</i> Da brachte zum Schwanken</p> +<p>Den Vorsatz der furchtbaren Fahrt euch Keiner</p> +<p><i>Mit Bitten und Warnen</i>, <i>und</i> Beide durchtheiltet</p> +<span class = "linenum">15</span> +<p>Mit gebreiteten Armen die Brandung ihr rudernd,</p> +<p>Durchmasset das Meer mit <i>meisternden</i> Händen</p> +<p>Auf wogenden Wegen, während der Wirbelsturm</p> +<p>Rast’ in den Well’n, und <i>ihr rangt mit</i> dem Wasser</p> +<p>Durch sieben Nächte. Der Sieger im Neidspiel</p> +<span class = "linenum">20</span> +<p>Zeigte sich mächt’ger; zur Zeit des Morgens</p> +<p>Riss zu den Haduraumen die Flut ihn;</p> +<p>ins eigene Erbe enteilt’ er von dort,</p> +<p>Zum Lande der Brandinge, lieb seinen <i>Mannen</i>,</p> +<p>Zur bergenden Burg. Da gebot er dem Volke</p> +<span class = "linenum">25</span> +<p><i>Schlossreich und schatzreich</i>. Wie geschworen, so hielt</p> +<p>Sein Versprechen dir redlich der Sprössling des <i>Bonstein</i>.’</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>Von Wolzogen’s translation is hardly trustworthy. A specimen of +his free interpretation of the <i>Beowulf</i> diction may be seen in the +footnote on page 13, where he defines <i>horngēap</i> (i.e. ‘with wide +intervals between its pinnacles of horn’) as ‘hornreich,’ and translates +<i>hornreced</i>, ‘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),</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p class = "halfline"> +<i>Ic him þēnode</i></p> +<p><i>deoran sweorde swā hit gedēfe wæs.</i></p> +</div> + +<span class = "pagenum">71</span> +<p>which is translated,</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p class = "halfline"> +dawider doch diente</p> +<p>Mein treffliches Schwert, das treu mir beistand. (p. 27.)</p> +</div> + +<p>This is not paraphrase; it is sheer misapprehension of the Old +English.</p> + +<p>A similar misapprehension is seen in line 15 of the extract,</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +Mit Bitten und Warnen,</p> + +<p>which we are asked to accept as a translation for</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +ne lēof nē lāð. (l. 511.)</p> + +<p>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).</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_wolzogen1" id = "note_wolzogen1" href = +"#tag_wolzogen1">1.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_grein">p. 55</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_wolzogen2" id = "note_wolzogen2" href = +"#tag_wolzogen2">2.</a> +See Vorbemerkung, p. 3.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_wolzogen3" id = "note_wolzogen3" href = +"#tag_wolzogen3">3.</a> +The italics, save those used for proper names (which are von +Wolzogen’s), indicate inaccurate renderings.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_arnold" id = "trans_arnold"> +ARNOLD’S EDITION</a></h3> + +<p>Beowulf, a heroic poem of the eighth century, with a +translation, notes, and appendix, by Thomas Arnold, M.A. London: +Longmans, Green & Co., 1876. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. xliii, 223.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Fourth English Translation. Prose.</p> + + +<h5>Circumstances of Publication.</h5> + +<p>No edition of the text of <i>Beowulf</i> had appeared in England +since the work of Thorpe<a class = "tag" name = "tag_arnold1" id = +"tag_arnold1" href = "#note_arnold1">1</a>, now twenty years +<span class = "pagenum">72</span> +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.</p> + + +<h5>Relation of the Parts.</h5> + +<p>The Introduction contained a new theory of the origin of the poem<a +class = "tag" name = "tag_arnold2" id = "tag_arnold2" href = +"#note_arnold2">2</a>. But the important part of the book was the text +and translation. There is no glossary<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_arnold3" id = "tag_arnold3" href = "#note_arnold3">3</a>. 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.</p> + + +<h5>Nature of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>The translation is a literal prose version, printed under the text. +It resembles Kemble’s work<a class = "tag" name = "tag_arnold4" id = +"tag_arnold4" href = "#note_arnold4">4</a>, rather than Thorpe’s<a class += "tag" name = "tag_arnold5" id = "tag_arnold5" href = +"#note_arnold5">5</a>. It eschews unwieldy compounds, and makes no +attempt to acquire an archaic flavor. Supplied words are bracketed.</p> + + +<h5><a name = "trans_arnold_crit" id = "trans_arnold_crit"> +Criticism of the Text.</a></h5> + +<p>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., +<span class = "pagenum">73</span> +but this appears to have been nothing <ins class = "correction" title = +"text reads ‘mroe’">more</ins> 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 <i>Autotypes</i>, I have found the +following errors:—</p> + +<table class = "lines" summary = "details of translations"> +<tr> +<td>Line 2219<a class = "tag" name = "tag_arnold6" id = "tag_arnold6" +href = "#note_arnold6">6</a>,</td> +<td>þeowes <i>for</i> þeofes.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">2220,</td> +<td>biorn <i>for</i> beorna.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">2211,</td> +<td>geweoldum <i>for</i> ge weoldum.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">2223,</td> +<td>b <i>for</i> þ.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">2225,</td> +<td>wea . . . <i>for</i> weal . . .</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">2226,</td> +<td>inwlitode, inwatode <i>for</i> mwatide.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>Professor Garnett<a class = "tag" name = "tag_arnold7" id = +"tag_arnold7" href = "#note_arnold7">7</a> 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<a +class = "tag" name = "tag_arnold8" id = "tag_arnold8" href = +"#note_arnold8">8</a>, is repeated bodily in Arnold’s. Yet there was no +excuse at this time for the retention of many of these readings. +Grundtvig<a class = "tag" name = "tag_arnold9" id = "tag_arnold9" href = +"#note_arnold9">9</a> had corrected several of them as early as 1861 by +his collation of the Thorkelin transcripts<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_arnold10" id = "tag_arnold10" href = "#note_arnold10">10</a>; Heyne +had got rid of them by collating Thorpe’s work with Kemble’s<a class = +"tag" name = "tag_arnold11" id = "tag_arnold11" href = +"#note_arnold11">11</a> and Grundtvig’s. Arnold makes almost no +<span class = "pagenum">74</span> +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.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallroman">VIII.</h5> + +<blockquote> +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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>The translation is literal, and its value is therefore in direct +ratio to the value of the text, which has been discussed above.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_arnold1" id = "note_arnold1" href = +"#tag_arnold1">1.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_thorpe">p. 49</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_arnold2" id = "note_arnold2" href = +"#tag_arnold2">2.</a> +A theory which the author continued to regard as partially tenable. See +<i>Notes on Beowulf</i> (London, 1898), p. 114.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_arnold3" id = "note_arnold3" href = +"#tag_arnold3">3.</a> +Contrast this with the editions of Heyne. See p. 64.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_arnold4" id = "note_arnold4" href = +"#tag_arnold4">4.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_kemble">p. 33</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_arnold5" id = "note_arnold5" href = +"#tag_arnold5">5.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_thorpe">p. 49</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_arnold6" id = "note_arnold6" href = +"#tag_arnold6">6.</a> +The numbers are those of Wyatt’s text; for Zupitza’s and Arnold’s +add 1.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_arnold7" id = "note_arnold7" href = +"#tag_arnold7">7.</a> +See <i>Amer. Journal of Philol.</i> I. 1. 90.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_arnold8" id = "note_arnold8" href = +"#tag_arnold8">8.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_thorpe_text">p. 51</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_arnold9" id = "note_arnold9" href = +"#tag_arnold9">9.</a> +See <i>Beowulfs Beorh</i>, and <a href = "#trans_grundtvig">p. +22</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_arnold10" id = "note_arnold10" href = +"#tag_arnold10">10.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_thorkelin">p. 15</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_arnold11" id = "note_arnold11" href = +"#tag_arnold11">11.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_kemble">p. 33</a>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">75</span> + +<h3><a name = "trans_botkine" id = "trans_botkine"> +BOTKINE’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>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. +8<sup>o</sup>, pp. 108.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +First French Translation. Prose.</p> + + +<h5>Old English Studies in France.</h5> + +<p>The only attention that <i>Beowulf</i> had received in France prior +to this time was in the work of Sandras, <i>De Carminibus Cædmoni +adiudicatis</i><a class = "tag" name = "tag_botkine1" id = +"tag_botkine1" href = "#note_botkine1">1</a>. Other scholars, if they +devoted themselves to English at all, studied chiefly the later periods +of the literature<a class = "tag" name = "tag_botkine2" id = +"tag_botkine2" href = "#note_botkine2">2</a>. In 1867 the author of the +article on <i>Beowulf</i> 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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_botkine3" id = +"tag_botkine3" href = "#note_botkine3">3</a>. This was the first +scholarly attention that the poem received in France. In the following +year Botkine’s translation appeared.</p> + +<p>France has added nothing to our knowledge of <i>Beowulf</i>; 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.</p> + + +<h5>Aim of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>It will be made evident in the section that follows on the nature of +Botkine’s translation that his work could never +<span class = "pagenum">76</span> +have been intended for scholars. Had it been so intended, the translator +would have rendered more literally. His introduction<a class = "tag" +name = "tag_botkine4" id = "tag_botkine4" href = "#note_botkine4">4</a> +proves that the book was addressed to the general reader rather than the +student of Old English.</p> + +<p>The Introduction deals with the nature of Old English poetry, and +makes historical and critical remarks on the <i>Beowulf</i>. There are +occasional notes explanatory of the text.</p> + +<p>In his critical work the author is chiefly indebted to Grein<a class += "tag" name = "tag_botkine5" id = "tag_botkine5" href = +"#note_botkine5">5</a> and Heyne<a class = "tag" name = "tag_botkine6" +id = "tag_botkine6" href = "#note_botkine6">6</a>.</p> + + +<h5>Nature of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +‘Il ne faut pas oublier que, la langue française différant complètement +<span class = "pagenum">77</span> +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. +</blockquote> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>For example, the original has:—</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Þǣr æt hȳðe stōd hringed-stefna</p> +<p>īsig ond ūt-fūs. (l. 32 f.)</p> +</div> + +<p>which Botkine renders:—</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +Dans la porte se trouvait une barque bien équipée. (p. 29.)</p> + +<p>The principal passages which Botkine omits entirely are: 1002b-1008a; +1057b-1062; 1263–1276; 1679–1686.</p> + + +<h5>Text Used.</h5> + +<p>The author seems to have been well acquainted with the scholarly work +done on <i>Beowulf</i> up to his time. He mentions in his Notes the +interpretations of Grein, Grundtvig<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_botkine7" id = "tag_botkine7" href = "#note_botkine7">7</a>, +Ettmüller<a class = "tag" name = "tag_botkine8" id = "tag_botkine8" href += "#note_botkine8">8</a>, Thorpe<a class = "tag" name = "tag_botkine9" +id = "tag_botkine9" href = "#note_botkine9">9</a>, and Kemble<a class = +"tag" name = "tag_botkine10" id = "tag_botkine10" href = +"#note_botkine10">10</a>. He appears to follow, in general, the text of +Heyne, not, however, invariably.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallroman">IX.</h5> + +<blockquote> +Hunferth, fils d’Ecglaf, qui était assis aux pieds du prince des +Scyldingas, parla ainsi (l’expédition de Beowulf<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_botkine11" id = "tag_botkine11" href = "#note_botkine11">11</a> le +remplissait de chagrin, parce qu’il ne voulait pas convenir qu’aucun +homme<a class = "tag" name = "tag_botkine12" id = "tag_botkine12" href = +"#note_botkine12">12</a> eût plus de gloire<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_botkine13" id = "tag_botkine13" href = "#note_botkine13">13</a> que +lui-même): +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +‘N’es-tu pas le Beowulf qui essaya ses forces à la nage sur la +<span class = "pagenum">78</span> +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<a class = "tag" +name = "tag_botkine14" id = "tag_botkine14" href = +"#note_botkine14">14</a>, vous avez suivi les sentiers de l’océan. +L’hiver agitait les vagues<a class = "tag" name = "tag_botkine15" id = +"tag_botkine15" href = "#note_botkine15">15</a>. 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<a +class = "tag" name = "tag_botkine16" id = "tag_botkine16" href = +"#note_botkine16">16</a> 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.’ +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Extract and Translation.</h5> + +<p>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—</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p class = "halfline"> +þā git on sund rēon;</p> +<p>þǣr git ēagor-strēam earmum þehton,</p> +<p>mǣton mere-strǣta, mundum brugdon,</p> +<p>glidon ofer gār-secg.</p> +</div> + +<p class = "page"> +ll. 512, ff.</p> + +<p>A part of the story has been thrown away with the adjectives. The +force and beauty of the passage are gone.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">79</span> +sense. Instances of this may be brought forward from the Finn +episode:</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p class = "halfline"> +Folcwaldan sunu</p> +<p>dōgra gehwylce Dene weorþode,</p> +<p>Hengestes hēap hringum wenede,</p> +<p>efne swā swīðe sinc-gestrēonum</p> +<p>fǣttan goldes, swā hē Frēsena cyn</p> +<p>on bēor-sele byldan wolde.</p> +</div> + +<p class = "page"> +ll. 1089 ff.</p> + +<p>The idea is misinterpreted in Botkine’s—</p> + +<blockquote> +Le fils de Folcwalda (stipulait qu’il) leur ferait chaque jour une +distribution de trésors. (p. 50.) +</blockquote> + +<p>Again, at line 1117 it is said of the lady—</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +earme on eaxle ides gnornode,</p> + +<p>meaning that the lady stood by the body (shoulder) of the corpse as +it lay on the pyre. Botkine makes of this—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘Elle poussait des lamentations en s’appuyant sur le bras de son fils.’ +(p. 50.) +</blockquote> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_botkine1" id = "note_botkine1" href = +"#tag_botkine1">1.</a> +See infra, <a href = "#para_sandras">p. 123</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_botkine2" id = "note_botkine2" href = +"#tag_botkine2">2.</a> +Save Michel. An account of his work may be found in Wülker’s +<i>Grundriss</i>, § 102.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_botkine3" id = "note_botkine3" href = +"#tag_botkine3">3.</a> +<i>Analyse historique et géographique.</i> Paris, Leroux, 1876.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_botkine4" id = "note_botkine4" href = +"#tag_botkine4">4.</a> +p. 4.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_botkine5" id = "note_botkine5" href = +"#tag_botkine5">5.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_grein">p. 55</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_botkine6" id = "note_botkine6" href = +"#tag_botkine6">6.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_heyne">p. 63</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_botkine7" id = "note_botkine7" href = +"#tag_botkine7">7.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_grundtvig">p. 22</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_botkine8" id = "note_botkine8" href = +"#tag_botkine8">8.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_ettmuller">p. 37</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_botkine9" id = "note_botkine9" href = +"#tag_botkine9">9.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_thorpe">p. 49</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_botkine10" id = "note_botkine10" href = +"#tag_botkine10">10.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_kemble">p. 33</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_botkine11" id = "note_botkine11" href = +"#tag_botkine11">11.</a> +Omits mōdges mere-faran.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_botkine12" id = "note_botkine12" href = +"#tag_botkine12">12.</a> +Omits middan-geardes.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_botkine13" id = "note_botkine13" href = +"#tag_botkine13">13.</a> +Omits under heofonum.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_botkine14" id = "note_botkine14" href = +"#tag_botkine14">14.</a> +Omits lines 513–515<sup>a</sup>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_botkine15" id = "note_botkine15" href = +"#tag_botkine15">15.</a> +Omits wintrys wylum.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_botkine16" id = "note_botkine16" href = +"#tag_botkine16">16.</a> +Omits lēof his lēodum.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_lumsden" id = "trans_lumsden"> +LUMSDEN’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>Beowulf, an Old English Poem, translated into Modern Rhymes, by +Lieut.-Colonel H. W. Lumsden<a class = "tag" name = "tag_lumsden1" id = +"tag_lumsden1" href = "#note_lumsden1">1</a>. London: C. Kegan Paul +& Co., 1881. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. xx, 114.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">80</span> +<p>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. +8<sup>o</sup>, pp. xxx, 179.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Fifth English Translation. Ballad Measures.</p> + + +<h5>Differences between the two Editions, and Indebtedness to Preceding +Scholars.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Aim and Nature of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>Lumsden’s desire was to produce a readable version of the poem. Thus +his work resembles that of Wackerbarth<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_lumsden2" id = "tag_lumsden2" href = "#note_lumsden2">2</a>; 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.</p> + +<p>No attempt is made to preserve alliteration or archaic diction.</p> + +<p>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).</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">81</span> +<h5>Texts Used.</h5> + +<p>The translation is based on Grein’s text of 1857<a class = "tag" name += "tag_lumsden3" id = "tag_lumsden3" href = "#note_lumsden3">3</a> and +Arnold’s text (1876)<a class = "tag" name = "tag_lumsden4" id = +"tag_lumsden4" href = "#note_lumsden4">4</a>. Garnett has shown<a class += "tag" name = "tag_lumsden5" id = "tag_lumsden5" href = +"#note_lumsden5">5</a> 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.</p> + + +<h4>Extract<a class = "tag" name = "tag_lumsden6" id = "tag_lumsden6" +href = "#note_lumsden6">6</a>.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallcaps">IV. Hunferd and Beowulf.</h5> + +<div class = "verse lines"> +<p>Hunferd the son of Ecglaf spoke—at Hrothgar’s feet +sat he—</p> +<p>And thus let loose his secret grudge; (for much did him displease</p> +<p>The coming of Beowulf now—bold sailor o’er the seas.</p> +<p>To none on earth would he allow a greater fame ’mong men</p> +<p>Beneath the heavens than his): ‘Art thou the same Beowulf then,</p> +<p>Who swam a match with Breca once upon the waters wide,</p> +<p>When ye vainglorious searched the waves, and risked your lives for +pride</p> +<p>Upon the deep? Nor hinder you could any friend or foe</p> +<p>From that sad venture. Then ye twain did on the waters row;</p> +<span class = "linenum">10</span> +<p>Ye stretched your arms upon the flood; the sea-ways ye did mete;</p> +<p>O’er billows glided—with your hands them tossed—though +fiercely beat</p> +<p>The rolling tides and wintry waves! Seven nights long toilèd ye</p> +<p>In waters’ might; but Breca won—he stronger was than thee!</p> +<p>And to the Hathoræms at morn washed shoreward by the flood,</p> +<p>Thence his loved native land he sought—the Brondings’ country +good,</p> +<p>And stronghold fair, where he was lord of folk and burg and +rings.</p> +<p>Right well ’gainst thee his vaunt he kept.</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">82</span> +passages that do not easily lend themselves to translation; cf. lines +11, 12. At line 2258 Lumsden translates:—</p> + +<div class = "verse lines"> +<p class = "halfline"> +The mail that bite of sword</p> +<p>O’er clashing shield in fight withstood must follow its dead +lord.</p> +<p>Never again shall corselet ring as help the warriors bear</p> +<p>To comrades far.</p> +</div> + +<p>The Old English from which this passage is taken reads:—</p> + +<div class = "verse lines"> +<p>ge swylce sēo here-pād, sīo æt hilde gebād</p> +<p>ofer borda gebræc bite īrena,</p> +<span class = "linenum">2260</span> +<p>brosnað æfter beorne; ne mæg byrnan hring</p> +<p>æfter wīg-fruman wīde fēran</p> +<p>hæleðum be healfe.</p> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Beowulf</i>.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>They mourned their king and chanted dirge, and much of him they +said;</p> +<p>His worthiness they praised, and judged his deeds with tender +dread.</p> +</div> + +<p>But, like Wackerbarth’s, Lumsden’s translation had the advantage of +being readable.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_lumsden1" id = "note_lumsden1" href = +"#tag_lumsden1">1.</a> +Col. Lumsden’s translation of the Battle of Maldon, <i>Macmillan’s +Magazine</i>, 55: 371, has been generally admired.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_lumsden2" id = "note_lumsden2" href = +"#tag_lumsden2">2.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_wackerbarth">p. 45</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_lumsden3" id = "note_lumsden3" href = +"#tag_lumsden3">3.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_grein">p. 56</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_lumsden4" id = "note_lumsden4" href = +"#tag_lumsden4">4.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_arnold_crit">p. 72</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_lumsden5" id = "note_lumsden5" href = +"#tag_lumsden5">5.</a> +See <i>American Journal of Philology</i>, ii. p. 355.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_lumsden6" id = "note_lumsden6" href = +"#tag_lumsden6">6.</a> +From the second edition.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">83</span> + +<h3><a name = "trans_garnett" id = "trans_garnett"> +GARNETT’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>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. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. xl, 107.</p> + +<p>Second Edition, Ginn, Heath, & Co., 1885. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. +xlvi, 110.</p> + +<p>Third Edition, Ginn & Co., 1892. Reprinted 1899. 8<sup>o</sup>, +pp. liii, 110.</p> + +<p>Fourth Edition, 1900.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Sixth English Translation. Imitative Measures.</p> + + +<h5>Differences between the Editions.</h5> + +<p>In the second edition the translation was collated with the +Grein-Wülker text, and wherever necessary, with the Zupitza +<i>Autotypes</i>. Additions were made to the bibliography:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + +<p>The third and fourth editions are simple reprints, with some +additions to the bibliography.</p> + + +<h5>Circumstances of Publication.</h5> + +<p>As has been pointed out above in the sections on Arnold<a class = +"tag" name = "tag_garnett1" id = "tag_garnett1" href = +"#note_garnett1">1</a> and Lumsden<a class = "tag" name = "tag_garnett2" +id = "tag_garnett2" href = "#note_garnett2">2</a>, no satisfactory +literal translation of <i>Beowulf</i> existed in English. Furthermore, +an American translation had never appeared. It was with a view to +presenting the latest German interpretations of the poem +<span class = "pagenum">84</span> +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.</p> + + +<h5>Texts Used.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h5>Method of Translation.</h5> + +<p>The translation is intended for ‘the general reader’ and for the ‘aid +of students of the poem.’ —Preface to second edition.</p> + +<p>The translation is a literal line-for-line version. Of this feature +of his work Professor Garnett says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Nature of the Verse-form.</h5> + +<blockquote> +<ins class = "correction" title = "open quote invisible">‘In</ins> +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 +<span class = "pagenum">85</span> +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. +</blockquote> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallroman">III.</h5> + +<p class = "center"> +Hunferth’s taunt. The swimming-match with Breca. + Joy in Heorot.</p> + +<div class = "verse lines"> +<span class = "linenum">IX.</span> +<p>Hunferth then spoke, the son of Ecglaf,</p> +<span class = "linenum">500</span> +<p>Who at the feet sat of the lord of the Scyldings,</p> +<p>Unloosed his war-secret (was the coming of Beowulf,</p> +<p>The proud sea-farer, to him mickle grief,</p> +<p>For that he granted not that any man else</p> +<p>Ever more honor of this mid-earth</p> +<span class = "linenum">505</span> +<p>Should gain under heavens than he himself):</p> +<p>‘Art thou that Beowulf who strove with Breca</p> +<p>On the broad sea in swimming-match,</p> +<p>When ye two for pride the billows tried</p> +<p>And for vain boasting in the deep water</p> +<span class = "linenum">510</span> +<p>Riskéd your lives. You two no man,</p> +<p>Nor friend nor foe, might then dissuade</p> +<p>From sorrowful venture, when ye on the sea swam,</p> +<p>When ye the sea-waves with your arms covered,</p> +<p>Measured the sea-ways, struck with your hands,</p> +<span class = "linenum">515</span> +<p>Glided o’er ocean; with its great billows</p> +<p>Welled up winter’s flood. In the power of the waters</p> +<p>Ye seven nights strove: he in swimming thee conquered,</p> +<p>He had greater might. Then him in the morning</p> +<p>On the Heathoremes’ land the ocean bore up,</p> +<span class = "linenum">520</span> +<p>Whence he did seek his pleasant home,</p> +<p>Dear to his people, the land of the Brondings</p> +<p>His fair strong city, where he had people,</p> +<p>A city and rings. All his boast against thee</p> +<p>The son of Beanstan truly fulfilled.’</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>The translation, in its revised form, is throughout a faithful +version of the original text. The fault of Garnett’s +<span class = "pagenum">86</span> +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 +<i>æf-þunca</i>, a unique word which suggests at once vexation, +mortification, and jealousy. Had the poet simply meant to express the +notion of <i>grief</i>, he would have used <i>sorh</i>, <i>cearu</i>, or +some other common word. In line 508 ‘pride’ hardly gives full expression +to the idea of <i>wlence,</i> which signifies not only <i>pride</i>, but +<i>vain pride, of empty end</i>. In line 517 ‘conquered’ is insufficient +as a translation of <i>oferflāt</i>, which means to <i>overcome in +swimming, to outswim</i>.</p> + +<p>Examples of this sort can be brought forward from any part of the +poem. At line 2544 Garnett translates—</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +Struggles of battle when warriors contended,</p> + +<p>a translation of—</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +Gūða . . . þonne hnitan fēðan</p> + +<p>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.’</p> + +<p>At line 2598 we find—</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +they to wood went</p> + +<p>for</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +hȳ on holt bugon,</p> + +<p>which, whatever be the meaning of ‘bugon,’ is surely a misleading +translation.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">87</span> +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.</p> + + +<h5>Reception of Garnett’s Translation.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_garnett1" id = "note_garnett1" href = +"#tag_garnett1">1.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_arnold">p. 71</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_garnett2" id = "note_garnett2" href = +"#tag_garnett2">2.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_lumsden">p. 79</a>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_grion" id = "trans_grion"> +GRION’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>Beovulf, poema epico anglosassone del vii secolo, tradotto e +illustrato dal Dott. Cav. Giusto Grion, Socio Ordinario.</p> + +<p><i>In</i> Atti della Reale Accademia Lucchese di Scienze, Lettere ed +Arti. Tomo XXII. Lucca: Tipografia Giusti, 1883. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. +197–379.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +First Italian Translation. Imitative Measures.</p> + +<p class = "mynote"> +In the Italian text, all apostrophes are spaced as in the original.</p> + + +<h5>Contents.</h5> + +<p>Full discussions of (1) Mito; (2) Storia; (3) Letteratura. The latter +is a fairly complete bibliography of what had been done on +<i>Beowulf</i> up to this time.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">88</span> +<h5>Author’s Preliminary Remarks.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘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 <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘si’">sì</ins> 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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Texts Used.</h5> + +<p>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).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h5>Method of Translation.</h5> + +<p>The translation is literal; the medium an imitative measure of four +principal stresses, varied occasionally by the expanded line. The +diction is simple.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallroman">VIII.</h5> + +<div class = "verse lines"> +<p>Hunferd disse, il nato di Eclaf,</p> +<span class = "linenum">500</span> +<p>che a’ piedi sedea del prence de’ Schildinghi,</p> +<p>sbrigliò accenti di contesta—eragli la gita di Beóvulf,</p> +<p>del coraggioso navigatore, molto a fastidio,</p> +<p>perchè non amava, che un altro uomo</p> +<p>vieppiù di gloria nell’ orbe di mezzo</p> +<span class = "linenum">505</span> +<p>avesse sotto il cielo che lui stesso—:</p> +<p>‘Sei tu quel Beóvulf, che con Breca nuotò</p> +<span class = "pagenum">89</span> +<p>nel vasto pelago per gara marina,</p> +<p>quando voi per baldanza l’acque provaste,</p> +<p>e per pazzo vanto nel profondo sale</p> +<span class = "linenum">510</span> +<p>la vita arrischiaste? nè voi uomo alcuno,</p> +<p>nè caro nè discaro, distorre potè</p> +<p>dalla penosa andata, quando remigaste nell’ alto,</p> +<p>la corrente dell’ oceano colle braccia coprendo</p> +<p>misuraste le strade del mare, colle mani batteste,</p> +<span class = "linenum">515</span> +<p>e scivolaste sopra l’astato. Nelle onde del ghebbo</p> +<p>vagavano i cavalloni d’inverno: voi nel tenere dell’ acqua</p> +<p>sette notti appenàstevi. Egli nel nuoto ti superò,</p> +<p>ebbe più forza. E al tempo mattutino lo</p> +<p>portò suso il flutto verso la marittima Ramia</p> +<span class = "linenum">520</span> +<p>donde ei cercò la dolce patria,</p> +<p>cara a sue genti, la terra dei Brondinghi,</p> +<p>il vago castel tranquillo, ov’ egli popolo avea,</p> +<p>rocche e gioie. Il vanto intero contro te</p> +<p>il figlio di Beanstan in verità mantenne.’</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>The present writer cannot attempt a literary criticism of the +translation.</p> + +<p>In purpose and method this version may be compared with that of +Kemble<a class = "tag" name = "tag_grion1" id = "tag_grion1" href = +"#note_grion1">1</a> and of Schaldemose<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_grion2" id = "tag_grion2" href = "#note_grion2">2</a>. 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<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_grion3" id = "tag_grion3" href = "#note_grion3">3</a>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_grion1" id = "note_grion1" href = "#tag_grion1">1.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_kemble">p. 33</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_grion2" id = "note_grion2" href = "#tag_grion2">2.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_schaldemose">p. 41</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_grion3" id = "note_grion3" href = "#tag_grion3">3.</a> +Of a work by G. Schuhmann, mentioned by Wülker in his <i>Grundriss</i>, +§ 209, I can ascertain nothing.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">90</span> + +<h3><a name = "trans_wickberg" id = "trans_wickberg"> +WICKBERG’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>Beowulf, <ins class = "correction" title = "error for ‘et’?">en</ins> +fornengelsk hjeltedikt, öfversatt af Rudolf Wickberg. Westervik, +C. O. Ekblad & Comp., 1889. 4<sup>o</sup>, pp. 48, double +columns.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +First Swedish Translation. Imitative Measures.</p> + + +<h5>Aim of the Volume.</h5> + +<p>The translator begins his introduction with a discussion of the +importance of <i>Beowulf</i> as a historical document. For this reason +he is especially interested in the episodes:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Nature of the Translation.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Texts Used.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">91</span> +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallroman">8.</h5> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Ecglafs son Hunferð talade;</p> +<p>Vid Scyldingafurstens fötter satt han,</p> +<p>Löste stridsrunan—den modige sjöfaranden</p> +<p>Beovulfs resa förtröt honom mycket,</p> +<p>Förty han unnade ej, att någon annan man</p> +<p>Under himlen skulle någonsin vinna</p> +<p>Större ära på jorden än han sjelf—:</p> +<p>‘Är du den Beovulf, som mätte sig med Breca</p> +<p>I kappsimning öfver det vida hafvet,</p> +<p>Der I öfvermodigt pröfvaden vågorna</p> +<p>Och för djerft skryt vågaden lifvet</p> +<p>I det djupa vattnet? Ej kunde någon man,</p> +<p>Ljuf eller led, förmå eder att afstå</p> +<p>Från den sorgfulla färden. Sedan summen I i hafvet,</p> +<p>Der I med armarna famnaden hafsströmmen,</p> +<p>Mätten hafsvågorna, svängden händerna,</p> +<p>Gleden öfver hafsytan; vintersvallet</p> +<p>Sjöd i vågorna. I sträfvaden sju nätter</p> +<p>I hafvets våld; han öfvervann dig i simning,</p> +<p>Hade större styrka. Sedan vid morgontiden</p> +<p>Bar hafvet upp honom till de krigiska rämerna.</p> +<p>Derifrån uppsökte han, dyr för de sina,</p> +<p>Sitt kära odal i brondingarnes land,</p> +<p>Den fagra fridsborgen, der han hade folk,</p> +<p>Berg och ringar. Hela sitt vad med dig</p> +<p>Fullgjorde noga Beanstans son.’</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_earle" id = "trans_earle"> +EARLE’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>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). +8<sup>o</sup>, pp. c, 203.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Seventh English Translation. Prose.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">92</span> +<h5>Circumstances of Publication.</h5> + +<p>Sixteen years had elapsed since the publication of a scholarly +translation in England—for Lumsden’s<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_earle1" id = "tag_earle1" href = "#note_earle1">1</a> can hardly be +said to count as such. In the meantime Heyne’s text<a class = "tag" name += "tag_earle2" id = "tag_earle2" href = "#note_earle2">2</a> had passed +into a fifth edition (1888); Wülker’s revision of Grein’s +<i>Bibliothek</i> had appeared with a new text of <i>Beowulf</i> (1881); +Zupitza’s <i>Autotypes</i> 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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_earle3" id = +"tag_earle3" href = "#note_earle3">3</a>, Cosijn<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_earle4" id = "tag_earle4" href = "#note_earle4">4</a>, Kluge<a +class = "tag" name = "tag_earle5" id = "tag_earle5" href = +"#note_earle5">5</a>, and Bugge<a class = "tag" name = "tag_earle6" id = +"tag_earle6" href = "#note_earle6">6</a> 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.</p> + + +<h5>Aim of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h5>Texts Used.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + +<p>But the translator does not depend slavishly upon his text. He +frequently uses emendations suggested by the scholars mentioned above, +especially those of Professor +<span class = "pagenum">93</span> +Sophus Bugge in <i>Studien über das Beowulfsepos</i><a class = "tag" +name = "tag_earle7" id = "tag_earle7" href = "#note_earle7">7</a>; see +lines 457, 871, 900, 936, 1875, 2275.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallroman">VIII.</h5> + +<blockquote> +<i>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.</i> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +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 <i>that</i> +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.’ +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>As a whole, the translation may fairly be called faithful. The +emendations from which Professor Earle sometimes +<span class = "pagenum">94</span> +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</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p><i>Ic þis gid be þē āwraec</i></p> +<p>It is about thee . . . that I have told this tale,</p> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Similarly, he often reads into a single word more than it can +possibly bear. At line 371 he translates—</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p><i>Hrothgar, helm Scyldinga,</i></p> +<p>Hrothgar, crown of Scyldings.</p> +</div> + +<p>But ‘crown’ is an impossible rendering of ‘helm,’ which is here used +figuratively to denote the idea of protection<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_earle8" id = "tag_earle8" href = "#note_earle8">8</a>, rather than +the idea of the crowning glory of kingship. Further, in the same +passage, 375–6, <i>heard eafora</i> (bold son), is wrenched into +meaning ‘grown-up son.’ These are but two examples of what is common +throughout the translation.</p> + + +<h5>Diction.</h5> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">95</span> +‘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.’</p> + +<p>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 <i>Beowulf</i> itself.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_earle1" id = "note_earle1" href = "#tag_earle1">1.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_lumsden">p. 79</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_earle2" id = "note_earle2" href = "#tag_earle2">2.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_heyne_relation">p. 64</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_earle3" id = "note_earle3" href = "#tag_earle3">3.</a> +Paul und Braune’s <i>Beiträge</i>, XI, 328; Ang. XIV, 133.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_earle4" id = "note_earle4" href = "#tag_earle4">4.</a> +<i>Beiträge</i>, VIII, 568; <i>Aanteekeningen</i>, Leiden 1891.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_earle5" id = "note_earle5" href = "#tag_earle5">5.</a> +<i>Beiträge</i>, IX, 187; VIII, 532.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_earle6" id = "note_earle6" href = "#tag_earle6">6.</a> +<i>Beiträge</i>, XI, 1; <i>Studien über das Beowulfsepos</i>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_earle7" id = "note_earle7" href = "#tag_earle7">7.</a> +<i>Beiträge</i>, XI, 1 ff.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_earle8" id = "note_earle8" href = "#tag_earle8">8.</a> +See the glossaries of Grein and Wyatt.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_jl_hall" id = "trans_jl_hall"> +J. L. HALL’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + + +<p>Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem, translated by John Lesslie Hall. +Boston: D. C. Heath and Co., 1892 (May 7).</p> + +<p>Reprinted 1900. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. xviii, 110.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Eighth English Translation. Imitative Measures.</p> + + +<h5>Circumstances of Publication.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h5>Aim of the Translation.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + + +<span class = "pagenum">96</span> +<h5>Nature of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>The translation is in imitative measures and in archaic style.</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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. . . . +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +‘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. . . . +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +‘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. . . . +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Text.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + +<p>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).</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">97</span> +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallroman">IX.</h5> + +<h5 class = "smallcaps">Unferth taunts Beowulf.</h5> + +<div class = "verse lines"> + +<p class = "sidenote"> +Unferth, a thane of Hrothgar, is jealous of Beowulf, and undertakes to +twit him.</p> + +<p>Unferth spoke up, Ecglaf his son,</p> +<p>Who sat at the feet of the lord of the Scyldings,</p> +<p>Opened the jousting (the journey of Beowulf,</p> +<p>Sea-farer doughty, gave sorrow to Unferth</p> +<span class = "linenum">5</span> +<p>And greatest chagrin, too, for granted he never</p> +<p>That any man else on earth should attain to,</p> +<p>Gain under heaven, more glory than he):</p> + +<p class = "sidenote"> +Did you take part in a swimming-match with Breca?</p> + +<p>‘Art thou that Beowulf with Breca did struggle,</p> +<p>On the wide sea-currents at swimming contended,</p> +<span class = "linenum">10</span> +<p>Where to humor your pride the ocean ye tried,</p> +<p>From vainest vaunting adventured your bodies</p> + +<p class = "sidenote"> +’Twas mere folly that actuated you both to risk your lives on the +ocean.</p> + +<p>In care of the waters? And no one was able</p> +<p>Nor lief nor loth one, in the least to dissuade you</p> +<p>Your difficult voyage; then ye ventured a-swimming,</p> +<span class = "linenum">15</span> +<p>Where your arms outstretching the streams ye did cover,</p> +<p>The mere-ways measured, mixing and stirring them,</p> +<p>Glided the ocean; angry the waves were,</p> +<p>With the weltering of winter. In the water’s possession,</p> +<p>Ye toiled for a seven-night; he at swimming outdid thee,</p> +<span class = "linenum">20</span> +<p>In strength excelled thee. Then early at morning</p> +<p>On the Heathoremes’ shore the holm-currents tossed him,</p> +<p>Sought he thenceward the home of his fathers,</p> +<p>Beloved of his liegemen, the land of the Brondings,</p> +<p>The peace-castle pleasant, where a people he wielded</p> +<span class = "linenum">25</span> + +<p class = "sidenote"> +Breca outdid you entirely. Much more will Grendel outdo you, if you vie +with him in prowess.</p> + +<p>Had borough and jewels. The pledge that he made thee</p> +<p>The son of Beanstan hath soothly accomplished.</p> +<p>Then I ween thou wilt find thee less fortunate issue,</p> +<p>Though ever triumphant in onset of battle,</p> +<p>A grim grappling, if Grendel thou darest</p> +<span class = "linenum">30</span> +<p>For the space of a night near-by to wait for!</p> +</div> + + +<span class = "pagenum">98</span> +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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 <i>dol-gilpe</i>—a great +improvement over Garnett’s rendering, ‘for pride.’ Similarly, ‘mixing +and stirring’ is given as a translation of <i>mundum brugdon</i>. 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:—</p> + +<table class = "lines" summary = "details of translations"> +<tr><td> +<p>548, ‘the north-wind whistled, fierce in our faces,’ for +<i>norþan-wind heaðo-grim ondhwearf</i>.</p> + +<p>557, ‘my obedient blade,’ for <i>hilde-bille</i>.</p> + +<p>568, ‘foam-dashing currents,’ for <i>brontne ford</i>.</p> + +<p>587, ‘with cold-hearted cruelty thou killedst thy brothers,’ for +<i>ðū þīnum brōðrum tō banan wurde</i>.</p> + +<p>606, ‘the sun in its ether robes,’ for <i>sunne swegl-wered</i>.</p> + +<p>838, ‘in the mist of the morning,’ for <i>on morgen</i>.</p> + +<p>1311, ‘As day was dawning in the dusk of the morning,’ for +<i>ǣr-dæge</i>.</p> +</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>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<ins class = "correction" title += "close quote missing">.’ </ins></p> + +<p>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, +<span class = "pagenum">99</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p class = "indent"> +The atheling of Geatmen uttered these words and</p> +<p>Heroic did hasten. —Page 51, line 19.</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent"> +In war ’neath the water the work with great pains I</p> +<p>Performed. —Page 57, line 6.</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent"> +Gave me willingly to see on the wall a</p> +<p>Heavy old hand-sword. —Page 57, line 11.</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent"> +The man was so dear that he failed to suppress the</p> +<p>Emotions that moved him. —Page 64, line 59.</p> +</div> + +<p>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 <i>Beowulf</i> of an +ending so light as <ins class = "correction" title = "open quote invisible">‘the’</ins> or ‘a’ in the verses quoted above.</p> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_hoffmann" id = "trans_hoffmann"> +HOFFMANN’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>Beówulf. Aeltestes deutsches Heldengedicht. Aus dem Angelsächsischen +übertragen von P. Hoffmann. Züllichau. Verlag von Herm. Liebich (1893?). +8<sup>o</sup>, pp. iii, 183.</p> + +<p>*Zweite Ausgabe, Hannover, Schaper, 1900.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Sixth German Translation. Nibelungen Measures.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">100</span> +<h5>The Translator.</h5> + +<p>In <i>Minerva</i> (1902), P. Hoffmann is recorded as ‘Ord. Professor’ +of Philosophy and Pedagogy at Gent.</p> + + +<h5>Aim of the Volume.</h5> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_hoffmann1" id = "tag_hoffmann1" +href = "#note_hoffmann1">1</a>, the version of von Wolzogen as not +sufficiently clear and beautiful<a class = "tag" name = "tag_hoffmann2" +id = "tag_hoffmann2" href = "#note_hoffmann2">2</a>, and the version of +Heyne as not sufficiently varied in form<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_hoffmann3" id = "tag_hoffmann3" href = "#note_hoffmann3">3</a> +(Vorwort, i). He regards the <i>Beowulf</i> as of great importance +in inspiring patriotism—he always calls the poem German—and +even offers a comparison of <i>Beowulf</i> with Emperor William I. With +the scholarship of his subject the author hardly seems concerned.</p> + + +<h5>Text, and Relation of Parts.</h5> + +<p>The translation is founded on Grein’s text of 1867<a class = "tag" +name = "tag_hoffmann4" id = "tag_hoffmann4" href = +"#note_hoffmann4">4</a>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h5>Nature of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>The translation is in the so-called Nibelungen measures. Archaisms +and unnatural compounds are avoided.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">101</span> +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallcaps">Viertes Abenteuer.</h5> + +<h5 class = "smallroman">VON BEOWULF’S SCHWIMMFAHRT.</h5> + +<div class = "verse lines"> +<p class = "indent"> +Da hub der Sohn der Ecglaf, Hunferd, zu reden an;</p> +<p>Er sass dem Herrn der Schildinge zu Füssen, und begann</p> +<p>Kampfworte zu entbieten. Dass her Beowulf kam,</p> +<p>Der kühne Meerdurchsegler, schuf seinem Herzen bitter’n Gram.</p> + +<span class = "linenum">5</span> +<p class = "stanza indent"> +Dass unter dem Himmel habe ein andrer Recke mehr,</p> +<p>Denn er, des Ruhms auf Erden, war ihm zu tragen schwer:</p> +<p>‘Bist <i>der</i> Beówulf Du, der einst sich in der weiten Flut</p> +<p>Mit Breca mass im Schwimmen? Zu hoch vermass sich da Dein Mut!</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent"> +‘Ihr spranget in die Wellen, vermessen wagtet ihr</p> +<span class = "linenum">10</span> +<p>Das Leben in die Tiefe, aus Ruhm und Ehrbegier!</p> +<p>Die Fahrt, die schreckensvolle, nicht Freund noch Feind verleiden</p> +<p>Euch konnte. Also triebet im Sund dahin ihr Beiden!</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent"> +‘Als ihr mit Euren Armen des Meeres Breite decktet,</p> +<p>Die Meeresstrassen masset, die Hände rudernd recktet</p> +<span class = "linenum">15</span> +<p>Durch Brandungswirbel gleitend, vom Wintersturm getrieben</p> +<p>Hoch auf die Wellen schäumten; ihr mühtet Euch der Nächte sieben!</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent"> +‘So rangt ihr mit den Wogen! Da wurde Dir entrafft</p> +<p>Der Sieg von ihm, im Schwimmen, sein war die gröss’re Kraft,</p> +<p>Ihn trug der Hochflut Wallen am Morgen an den Strand</p> +<span class = "linenum">20</span> +<p>Der Hadurämen, bald er von da die süsse Heimat wiederfand.</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent"> +‘Im Lande der Brondinge wie gerne man ihn sah!</p> +<p>Zu seiner schönen Feste kam er wieder da,</p> +<p>Wo er zu eigen hatte Mannen, Burg und Ringe,</p> +<p>Der Sohn Beanstan’s hatte geleistet sein Erbot Dir allerdinge!’</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘Die Uebersetzungen von Grein, Holder und Möller sind mir nicht +zugänglich gewesen, auch wie es scheint, nicht sehr bekannt.’ +</blockquote> + +<p>It is not surprising that Hoffmann is unacquainted with the +translations of Holder and Möller, as these works have +<span class = "pagenum">102</span> +never been made; but that a German translator should ignore the version +of Grein is a revelation indeed.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Bibliothek</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>Examples of antiquated renderings may be brought forward:—</p> + +<table class = "lines" summary = "details of translations"> +<tr> +<td class = "number">P. 1,</td> +<td>line 1, Wie grosse Ruhmesthaten.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">2,</td> +<td><p>line 1, So soll mit Gaben werben im Vaterhause schon.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">21,</td> +<td><p>line 15 (see Extract), Vom Wintersturm getrieben Hoch auf die +Wellen schäumten.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">84,</td> +<td>line 3, Mothrytho.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>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—</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p class = "indent"> +Ueber Burg und Mannen nun herrschte manches Jahr</p> +<p>Beówulf der Schilding. Wie hold dem König war</p> +<p>Sein Volk! in allen Landen seinen Ruhm man pries</p> +<p>Als lange schon sein Vater von dieser Erde Leben liess.</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Literary Criticism.</h5> + +<p>The translation resembles the work of Lumsden<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_hoffmann5" id = "tag_hoffmann5" href = "#note_hoffmann5">5</a> and +Wackerbarth<a class = "tag" name = "tag_hoffmann6" id = "tag_hoffmann6" +href = "#note_hoffmann6">6</a> 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. +<span class = "pagenum">103</span> +The style and medium chosen are not well fitted to render the spirit of +the poem. The <i>Nibelungenlied</i> is a poem of the late twelfth +century. The <i>Beowulf</i> at latest belongs to the eighth. To choose +for the translation of <i>Beowulf</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Commonplace expressions, incident perhaps upon the use of the +measure, are not unfrequent. Thus</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +Gesagt! gethan!</p> + +<p>translates</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +ond þæt geæfndon swā (line 538).</p> + +<p>Traces of this are also found in the extract; see beginning of last +stanza.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_hoffmann1" id = "note_hoffmann1" href = +"#tag_hoffmann1">1.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_simrock">p. 59</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_hoffmann2" id = "note_hoffmann2" href = +"#tag_hoffmann2">2.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_wolzogen">p. 68</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_hoffmann3" id = "note_hoffmann3" href = +"#tag_hoffmann3">3.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_heyne">p. 63</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_hoffmann4" id = "note_hoffmann4" href = +"#tag_hoffmann4">4.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_grein">p. 56</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_hoffmann5" id = "note_hoffmann5" href = +"#tag_hoffmann5">5.</a> +See <a href = "#trans_lumsden">p. 79</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_hoffmann6" id = "note_hoffmann6" href = +"#tag_hoffmann6">6.</a> +See <a href = "#trans_wackerbarth">p. 45</a>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">104</span> + +<h3><a name = "trans_morris_wyatt" id = "trans_morris_wyatt"> +MORRIS AND WYATT’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>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 4<sup>o</sup>, pp. vi, 119.</p> + +<p>Troy type. Edition limited to 300 copies on paper and eight on +vellum.</p> + +<p>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. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. x, +191.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Ninth English Translation. Imitative Measures.</p> + + +<h5>Differences between the First and Second Editions.</h5> + +<p>In the second edition a title-page is added. The running commentary, +printed in rubric on the margin of the first edition, is omitted.</p> + + +<h5>Text Used.</h5> + +<p>The translation is, in general, conformed to Wyatt’s text of 1894, +departing from it in only a few unimportant details.</p> + + +<h5>Part Taken in the Work by Morris and Wyatt respectively.</h5> + +<p>The matter is fortunately made perfectly clear in Mackail’s <i>Life +of William Morris</i>, vol. ii. p. 284:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘(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 +<span class = "pagenum">105</span> +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.’ +</blockquote> + +<p>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 <i>Volsunga Saga</i> 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<a class = "tag" name += "tag_morris_wyatt1" id = "tag_morris_wyatt1" href = +"#note_morris_wyatt1">1</a>. Nor has Mr. Wyatt shown a disposition to +claim a share in the work. In the preface to his edition of the text of +<i>Beowulf</i> (Cambridge, 1894), he says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘Mr. William Morris has taken the text of this edition as the basis of +his modern metrical rendering of the lay.’ —Page xiii. +</blockquote> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h5>Morris’s Theory of Translation.</h5> + +<p>None despised the merely literal rendering of an epic poem more than +William Morris. In writing of his version of the <i>Odyssey</i> to +Ellis, Morris said: ‘My translation is a real one so far, not a mere +periphrase of the original as <i>all</i> 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, +<span class = "pagenum">106</span> +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.</p> + +<p>But when he approached the translation of <i>Beowulf</i>, 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. <i>Beowulf</i> 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 <i>Beowulf</i>. 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.</p> + + +<h5>Nature of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>The translation of <i>Beowulf</i> 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 <i>ansȳn</i>, face, +251; ‘spearman’ from <i>garsecg</i>, ocean (see extract), ‘gift-scat’ +from <i>gif-sceatt</i>, gift of money, +<span class = "pagenum">107</span> +378; ‘the Maker’s own making’ from <i>metod-sceaft</i>, 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.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallcaps">IX. Unferth contendeth in words with +Beowulf.</h5> + +<div class = "verse lines"> +<p class = "indent"> +Spake out then Unferth that bairn was of Ecglaf,</p> +<span class = "linenum">500</span> +<p>And he sat at the feet of the lord of the Scyldings,</p> +<p>He unbound the battle-rune; was Beowulf’s faring,</p> +<p>Of him the proud mere-farer, mickle unliking,</p> +<p>Whereas he begrudg’d it of any man other</p> +<p>That he glories more mighty the middle-garth over</p> +<p>Should hold under heaven than he himself held:</p> +<p class = "indent"> +Art thou that Beowulf who won strife with Breca</p> +<p>On the wide sea contending in swimming,</p> +<p>When ye two for pride’s sake search’d out the floods</p> +<p>And for a dolt’s cry into deep water</p> +<span class = "linenum">510</span> +<p>Thrust both your life-days? No man the twain of you,</p> +<p>Lief or loth were he, might lay wyte to stay you</p> +<p>Your sorrowful journey, when on the sea row’d ye;</p> +<p>Then when the ocean-stream ye with your arms deck’d,</p> +<p>Meted the mere-streets, there your hands brandish’d!</p> +<p>O’er the Spearman ye glided; the sea with waves welter’d,</p> +<p>The surge of the winter. Ye twain in the waves’ might</p> +<p>For a seven nights swink’d. He outdid thee in swimming,</p> +<p>And the more was his might; but him in the morn-tide</p> +<p>To the Heatho-Remes’ land the holm bore ashore,</p> +<span class = "linenum">520</span> +<p>And thence away sought he to his dear land and lovely,</p> +<p>The lief to his people sought the land of the Brondings,</p> +<p>The fair burg peace-warding, where he the folk owned,</p> +<p>The burg and the gold rings. What to theeward he boasted,</p> +<p>Beanstan’s son, for thee soothly he brought it about.</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>The Morris-Wyatt translation is thoroughly accurate, and is, so to +speak, an official commentary on the text +<span class = "pagenum">108</span> +of Wyatt’s edition. It is therefore of importance to the student of the +<i>Beowulf</i>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Secondly, the translation is unreadable. There is an avalanche of +archaisms. One example of the extreme obscurity may be given:—</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>‘Then rathe was beroom’d, as the rich one was bidding,</p> +<p>For the guests a-foot going the floor all withinward.’</p> +</div> + +<p class = "page"> +l. 1975–76.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Morris himself was conscious of the obscurity of the work:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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 <i>Life</i>, ii. +284–5. +</blockquote> + +<p>Finally, the version does not <i>translate</i>. Words like ‘Spearman’ +for <i>Ocean</i>, and combinations like ‘the sight seen once only’ for +<i>the face</i>, can be understood only by the intimate student of Old +English poetry, and there is no reason why such a person should not +peruse <i>Beowulf</i> in +<span class = "pagenum">109</span> +the original tongue rather than in a translation occasionally as obscure +as the poem itself.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<p class = "footnote"> +<a name = "note_morris_wyatt1" id = "note_morris_wyatt1" href = +"#tag_morris_wyatt1">1.</a> +See Mackail’s <i>Life</i>, i. 198.</p> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_simons" id = "trans_simons"> +SIMONS’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>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 <ins class = "correction" title = "text has ‘aan’t’ without space">aan ’t</ins> koninklijk Athenaeum te Brussel. Gent, +A. Siffer, 1896. Large 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. 355.</p> + +<p>Published for the Koninklijke Vlaamsche Academie voor Taal- en +Letterkunde.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +First Dutch Translation. Iambic Pentameter.</p> + + +<h5>Aim and Contents of the Volume.</h5> + +<p>The author’s purpose, as stated in ‘Een Woord Vooraf,’ is to make the +<i>Beowulf</i> 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, +<span class = "pagenum">110</span> +Heldensage en Volksepos, <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘Geschiedenis’">Geschiednis</ins>, 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.</p> + + +<h5>Text Used.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘I have followed the text of Socin<a class = "tag" name = "tag_simons1" +id = "tag_simons1" href = "#note_simons1">1</a>; 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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Nature of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>It is a literal translation in iambic pentameter.</p> + +<blockquote> +‘Of the translation nothing in particular needs to be said. I have +followed my original as closely as possible.’ —Een Woord Vooraf. +</blockquote> + +<p>He adds that this was no easy task, as Dutch does not afford the same +variety of simile as the Old English.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<blockquote> +‘Moreover, the iambic pentameter lends itself well to division into +hemistichs, the principal characteristic of the ancient epic +versification.’ —Een Woord Vooraf. +</blockquote> + +<p>He has often preferred the simple alliteration (aa, bb) to the Old +English system<a class = "tag" name = "tag_simons2" id = "tag_simons2" +href = "#note_simons2">2</a>.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallroman">IX.</h5> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>En Hunferd zeide toen, de zoon van Ecglaf,</p> +<p>Die aan die voeten zat des Schyldingvorsten,</p> +<p>Het kampgeheim ontkeetnend: (Beowulfs aankomst,</p> +<span class = "pagenum">111</span> +<p>Des koenen golfvaart gaf hem grooten aanstoot,</p> +<p>Omdat hij geenszins aan een ander gunde</p> +<p>Der mannen, meerder roem op aard te rapen,</p> +<p>Beneên de wolken, dan hem was geworden.)</p> +<p>‘Zijt gij die Beowulf, die met Brecca aanbond</p> +<p>Den wedstrijd op de wijde zee, in ’t zwemmen</p> +<p>Met dezen streven dorst, toen boud gij beiden</p> +<p>Navorschtet in den vloed en gij uit grootspraak</p> +<p>Uw leven waagdet in het diepe water?</p> +<p>Geen stervling was in staat, noch vriend noch vijand,</p> +<p>De roekelooze reis u af te raden.</p> +<p>Toen braakt gij beiden roeiend door de baren</p> +<p>En dektet onder uwen arm de deining,</p> +<p>Gij maat de <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘zeebahn’">zeebahn</ins>, zwaaiend met de handen,</p> +<p>Doorgleedt de waterwieling, schoon met golven</p> +<p>De kil opklotste bij des winters branding.</p> +<p>Op deze wijze wurmdet gij te gader</p> +<p>Wel zeven nachten in ’t bezit der zeeën.</p> +<p>Doch gene ging in vaart u ver te boven;</p> +<p>Hij had toch meerder macht. De strooming stuwde</p> +<p>Hem met den morgen heen ten Headoraemen,</p> +<p>Van waar hij wedervond, de volksgevierde,</p> +<p>Het lieve stambezit, het land der Brondings,</p> +<p>De schoone schatburg, waar hij wapenlieden</p> +<p>En goed en goud bezat. De zoon van Beanstan</p> +<p>Hield tegen u geheel zijn woord in waarheid.’</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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 <i>beadu-runen +onband</i>.</p> + +<p>The present writer is unable to offer any literary criticism of the +translation.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_simons1" id = "note_simons1" href = +"#tag_simons1">1.</a> +Fifth edition of Heyne’s text, 1888.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_simons2" id = "note_simons2" href = +"#tag_simons2">2.</a> +At this point Simons speaks as if ab, ab, were the common form of +alliteration in Old English, whereas it is rather uncommon.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">112</span> + +<h3><a name = "trans_steineck" id = "trans_steineck"> +STEINECK’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>Altenglische Dichtungen (Beowulf, Elene, u.a.) in wortgetreuer +Uebersetzung von H. Steineck. Leipzig, 1898, O. R. Reisland. +8<sup>o</sup>, Beowulf, pp. 1–102.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Seventh German Translation. Line for line.</p> + + +<h5>Aim of the Volume, and Nature of the Translation.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Text Used.</h5> + +<p>The translation is based on Heyne’s text of 1863<a class = "tag" name += "tag_steineck1" id = "tag_steineck1" href = "#note_steineck1">1</a> +(Vorwort). Fragmentary passages are not restored.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallroman">IX.</h5> + +<div class = "verse lines"> +<span class = "linenum">500</span> +<p>Hunferd sprach, des Ecglâf Sohn,</p> +<p>Welcher zu Füssen sass des Herren der Scyldinge;</p> +<p>Er löste der Streiter Geheimniss—ihm war Beowulfs Fahrt,</p> +<p>Des mutigen Meerfahrers, zu grossem Neid,</p> +<p>Weil er nicht gönnte, dass irgend ein anderer</p> +<p>Jemals nun mehr Ruhmesthaten</p> +<p>Unter dem Himmel der Erde erwarb als er selbst:</p> +<p>‘Bist du Bêowulf, der du mit Breca kämpftest</p> +<p>Auf weiter See in einem Wettschwimmen,</p> +<p>Dort durchforschtet ihr beide aus Stolz die Fluten</p> +<p>Und wagtet aus verwegener Ruhmsucht im tiefen Wasser</p> +<span class = "linenum">510</span> +<p>Euer Leben? Euch beiden konnte keiner,</p> +<p>Weder Freund noch Feind, vorwerfen</p> +<span class = "pagenum">113</span> +<p>Die gefahrvolle Reise; da rudertet ihr beide im Wasser,</p> +<p>Dort überdecktet ihr beide den Wasserstrom mit Armen,</p> +<p>Ihr masst die Meeresstrassen, mit Händen schwangt ihr,</p> +<p>Ihr glittet über die Flut; das Meer wallte in Fluten,</p> +<p>Des Winters Gewoge; ihr mühtet euch in des Wassers Gewalt</p> +<p>Sieben Nächte ab; er besiegte dich beim Schwimmen,</p> +<p>Er hatte grössere Kraft. Da warf ihn in der Morgenzeit</p> +<p>An das Headoræmenland die See,</p> +<span class = "linenum">520</span> +<p>Von dort aus suchte er das traute Stammgut auf,</p> +<p>Der seinen Leuten Teure, das Land der Brondinge,</p> +<p>Die schöne Friedensburg, wo er Volk besass,</p> +<p>Burg und Ringe. Alles, wozu er sich dir verpflichtete,</p> +<p>Leistete der Sohn Bêanstâns wahrhaftig.’</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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 <i>Beowulf</i>, +should ignore the fruits of their efforts.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tag_steineck2" +id = "tag_steineck2" href = "#note_steineck2">2</a></p> + +<p>But there are evidences of an inaccuracy of a different kind that +betray a carelessness utterly reprehensible. The +<span class = "pagenum">114</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Steineck’s translation did not advance the interpretation of +<i>Beowulf</i> a whit. In point of accuracy the book is not worthy to +stand with good translations thirty years old.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_steineck1" id = "note_steineck1" href = +"#tag_steineck1">1.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_heyne_relation">p. 64</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_steineck2" id = "note_steineck2" href = +"#tag_steineck2">2.</a> +See also supra, <a href = "#prelim">p. 8</a>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_jrc_hall" id = "trans_jrc_hall"> +J. R. C. HALL’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_jrc_hall1" id = "tag_jrc_hall1" href = "#note_jrc_hall1">1</a>. +London: Swan Sonnenschein and Company, Lim., 1901. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. +xlv, 203.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Tenth English Translation. Prose.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">115</span> +<h5>Translator, and Circumstances of Publication.</h5> + +<p>Hitherto Dr. Hall had been chiefly known to the learned world for his +excellent <i>Anglo-Saxon Dictionary for Students</i>.</p> + +<p>Up to this time no prose translation had appeared in England since +1876, save Earle’s<a class = "tag" name = "tag_jrc_hall2" id = +"tag_jrc_hall2" href = "#note_jrc_hall2">2</a>, 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.</p> + + +<h5>Contents.</h5> + +<p>Unlike the preceding works on <i>Beowulf</i>, 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:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘The following pages comprise a short statement of what is actually +known with respect to the poem of <i>Beowulf</i>, 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. +</blockquote> + +<p>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 <i>Beowulf</i>—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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_jrc_hall3" +id = "tag_jrc_hall3" href = "#note_jrc_hall3">3</a>.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">116</span> +<h5>Text Used.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h5>Indebtedness to Preceding Scholars.</h5> + +<p>In his translation Dr. Hall seems to be most indebted to the work of +Professor Earle<a class = "tag" name = "tag_jrc_hall4" id = +"tag_jrc_hall4" href = "#note_jrc_hall4">4</a> (see lines 4, 71, 517, +852, 870, 926, 996, 1213, 1507, 2021, 3034, &c.).</p> + +<p>Frequent reference is also made to the work of Cosijn, +<i>Aanteekeningen op den Beowulf</i> (1892). The work of other scholars, +such as Bugge, Heyne, Socin, is also referred to.</p> + + +<h5>Nature of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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<ins class = +"correction" title = ") invisible">).</ins></p> + +<p>The rendering avoids archaisms.</p> + +<p>Bugge’s restoration is used at line 3150; the passage at line 2215 is +not restored.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallroman">VIII.</h5> + +<h5 class = "smallcaps">Unferth taunts Beowulf. Beowulf’s Contest with +Breca.</h5> + +<p class = "center smaller"> +(Lines 499–558.)</p> + +<blockquote> +(499–505). <i>Now comes a jarring note. Unferth, a Danish +courtier, is devoured by jealousy, and taunts Beowulf.</i> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +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 +<span class = "pagenum">117</span> +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. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +(506–528). <i>‘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!’</i> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +‘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.’ +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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 <i>Beowulf</i>:—</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">118</span> + +<table class = "lines" summary = "details of translations"> +<tr> +<td class = "number">Line 2507,</td> +<td>‘my unfriendly hug finished his bony frame.’</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">„ 2583,</td> +<td>‘The Geat’s free-handed friend crowed not in pride of victory.’</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">„ 2655,</td> +<td>‘Fell the foe and shield the Weder-Geat Lord’s life<ins class = +"correction" title = "close quote missing">.’</ins></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">„ 2688,</td> +<td>‘the public scourge, the dreadful salamander.’</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">„ 2834,</td> +<td>‘show his form’ (said of the Dragon).</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">„ 2885,</td> +<td>‘hopelessly escheated from your breed.’</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>It is also rather surprising to learn from Dr. Hall that Beowulf was +one of those that ‘advanced home government’ (l. 3005).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_jrc_hall5" id = "tag_jrc_hall5" href = "#note_jrc_hall5">5</a> and +more modern than Garnett’s<a class = "tag" name = "tag_jrc_hall6" id = +"tag_jrc_hall6" href = "#note_jrc_hall6">6</a>, its only rivals as a +literal translation. That it conveys an adequate notion of the style of +<i>Beowulf</i>, however, it is impossible to affirm.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_jrc_hall1" id = "note_jrc_hall1" href = +"#tag_jrc_hall1">1.</a> +Chiefly of Anglo-Saxon antiquities.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_jrc_hall2" id = "note_jrc_hall2" href = +"#tag_jrc_hall2">2.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_earle">p. 91</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_jrc_hall3" id = "note_jrc_hall3" href = +"#tag_jrc_hall3">3.</a> +See my forthcoming review of the book in the <i>Journal of Germanic +Philology</i>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_jrc_hall4" id = "note_jrc_hall4" href = +"#tag_jrc_hall4">4.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_earle">p. 91</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_jrc_hall5" id = "note_jrc_hall5" href = +"#tag_jrc_hall5">5.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_earle">p. 91</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_jrc_hall6" id = "note_jrc_hall6" href = +"#tag_jrc_hall6">6.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_garnett">p. 83</a>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "trans_tinker" id = "trans_tinker"> +TINKER’S TRANSLATION</a></h3> + +<p>Beowulf, translated out of the Old English by Chauncey Brewster +Tinker, M.A. New York: Newson and Co., 1902. 12<sup>o</sup>, pp. +158.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Eleventh English Translation. Prose.</p> + +<p class = "mynote"> +This is the author’s own translation.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">119</span> +<h5>Aim of the Volume and Nature of the Translation.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘The present translation of <i>Beowulf</i> 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. . . . +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +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. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +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. +</blockquote> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallcaps">VIII and IX.</h5> + +<blockquote class = "hanging"> +<i>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.</i> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<span class = "smallcaps">Unferth</span>, 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 +<span class = "pagenum">120</span> +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.’ +</blockquote> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">121</span> + +<h3><a name = "appI" id = "appI"> +APPENDIX I</a></h3> + +<h4>INCOMPLETE TRANSLATIONS, AND PARAPHRASES</h4> + + +<h3><a name = "para_leo" id = "para_leo"> +LEO’S DIGEST</a></h3> + +<p>Bëówulf, dasz<a class = "tag" name = "tag_leo1" id = "tag_leo1" href += "#note_leo1">1</a> 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. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. xx, 120.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Selections Translated into German Prose.</p> + + +<h5>Contents of the Volume, and Nature of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>This was the first German book to give any extended account of the +poem.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Beowulf</i>. 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 +<span class = "pagenum">122</span> +an understanding of the events and characters of the poem. Unfortunately +his omissions are often the most poetical lines of the <i>Beowulf</i>. +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.</p> + +<p>The text from which he translates is Kemble’s<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_leo2" id = "tag_leo2" href = "#note_leo2">2</a>.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallcaps">Achter Gesang.</h5> + +<blockquote> +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.’ +</blockquote> + +<p><i>Omissions</i>:—</p> + +<p>Line 502, mōdges mere-faran.</p> + +<p> „ 507–517 <i>entire</i>.</p> + +<p> „ 520, swǣsne ēðel, lēof his lēodum.</p> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Extract.</h5> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">123</span> +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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_leo3" id = "tag_leo3" +href = "#note_leo3">3</a>.’</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_leo1" id = "note_leo1" href = "#tag_leo1">1.</a> +Leo was a spelling reformer.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_leo2" id = "note_leo2" href = "#tag_leo2">2.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_kemble">p. 33</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_leo3" id = "note_leo3" href = "#tag_leo3">3.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_ettmuller">p. 37</a>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "para_sandras" id = "para_sandras"> +SANDRAS’S ACCOUNT</a></h3> + +<p><span class = "firstword">De</span> 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. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. 87. +Beowulf described <i>Cap. Primum</i>, § 2, De Profana Poesi, pp. +10–19.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Extracts Translated into Latin Prose.</p> + + +<p class = "space"> +The only significance of this book is that it contained the first +information about <i>Beowulf</i> 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<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_sandras1" id = "tag_sandras1" href = "#note_sandras1">1</a>, from +Beowulf’s arrival in the Danish land to the fight with Grendel.</p> + + +<p class = "footnote"> +<a name = "note_sandras1" id = "note_sandras1" href = +"#tag_sandras1">1.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#para_leo">p. 122</a>.</p> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "para_jones" id = "para_jones"> +E. H. JONES’S PARAPHRASE</a></h3> + + +<p>Popular Romances of the Middle Ages. By George W. Cox, M.A., and +Eustace Hinton Jones. London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1871. +8<sup>o</sup>, <i>Beowulf</i> (by E. H. Jones), pp. 382–398.</p> + +<p>*Second edition, in one volume (containing, in addition to the +romances in the first edition, those formerly published +<span class = "pagenum">124</span> +under the title ‘Tales of the Teutonic Lands’). C. Kegan Paul & +Company: London, 1880 (1879).</p> + +<p class = "space"> +A Paraphrase for General Readers.</p> + + +<h5>Aim of the Volume.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Nature of the Paraphrase.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">125</span> +<h4>Extract<a class = "tag" name = "tag_jones1" id = "tag_jones1" href = +"#note_jones1">1</a>.</h4> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Paraphrase.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Märchen</i>. This absence of vigor and remoteness may +be due to the nature of the volume of which this paraphrase is only a +part.</p> + + +<p class = "footnote"> +<a name = "note_jones1" id = "note_jones1" href = "#tag_jones1">1.</a> +Swimming-match omitted.</p> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">126</span> + +<h3><a name = "para_zinsser" id = "para_zinsser"> +ZINSSER’S SELECTION</a></h3> + +<p><span class = "firstword">Jahresbericht</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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. 4<sup>o</sup>, pp. 18, double columns, +Schulnachrichten 6.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +The First 836 Lines translated in Iambic Pentameter.</p> + + +<h5>Aim, Contents, and Method of Translation.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_zinsser1" id = "tag_zinsser1" href = +"#note_zinsser1">1</a>, 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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Text Used.</h5> + +<p>The text used is Heyne’s edition of 1873 (see +Einleitung, 4).</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<h5 class = "smallcaps">9.</h5> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Doch Hunferd, Ecglafs Sohn, der beim Gelage</p> +<p>Zu Füssen Hrodgars, seines Herren, sass,</p> +<p>War voll Verdruss, der Ruhm des Beowulf</p> +<p>Erregte bittren Neid im Busen ihm.</p> +<span class = "pagenum">127</span> +<p>Er konnte nicht ertragen, wenn beim Volke</p> +<p>Ein andrer mehr gepriesen ward, als er.</p> +<p>Voll Aerger sucht’ er Händel, also sprechend:</p> +<p>‘Du bist gewiss der Beowulf, der einst</p> +<p>Im Meer mit Breca um die Wette schwamm?</p> +<p>Ihr masset damals euch in kühnem Wagen!</p> +<p>Das mühevolle Werk euch auszureden</p> +<p>Vermochte niemand, tollkühn setztet ihr</p> +<p>Das Leben ein und schwammt ins Meer hinaus.</p> +<p>Zerteiltet mit den Armen kraftgemut</p> +<p>Des Meeres Wogen, glittet rasch dahin</p> +<p>In kalter Flut. Ihr mühtet sieben Nächte</p> +<p>Euch ab, und endlich siegte Brecas Stärke,</p> +<p>Er war dir doch voran an Heldenkraft.</p> +<p>Ihn trug die Flut zur Morgenzeit hinauf</p> +<p>Zum Hadorämenstrand. Von dort gelangt’</p> +<p>Er dann zu seiner Burg in Brondingland,</p> +<p>Die, starkbefestigt, funkelndes Geschmied,</p> +<p>Der Spangen und Juwelen viele birgt.</p> +<p>Es jubelte sein Volk dem Herren zu,</p> +<p>Der kühn sein Wort gelöst, nachdem er so</p> +<p>Im Wettkampf glänzend hatte obgesiegt!’</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Extract.</h5> + +<p>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, +<i>beadu-runen onband</i> 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:—</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p class = "halfline"> +‘unerforschlich sind</p> +<p>Und dunkel oft die Wege des Geschickes<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_zinsser2" id = "tag_zinsser2" href = "#note_zinsser2">2</a>.’ +—Page 5, l. 54.</p> +</div> + +<span class = "pagenum">128</span> +<p>Words are occasionally omitted. In the extract above <i>ne lēof nē +lāð</i> (l. 511) and <i>sunu Bēanstānes</i> (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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_zinsser1" id = "note_zinsser1" href = +"#tag_zinsser1">1.</a> +According to the Old English text, 836.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_zinsser2" id = "note_zinsser2" href = +"#tag_zinsser2">2.</a> +The Old English reads:—</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p class = "halfline"> +Men ne cunnon</p> +<p>secgan tō sōðe, sele-rǣdende</p> +<p>hæleð under heofenum, hwā þǣm hlæste onfēng. —Lines +50–52. </p> +</div> + +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "para_gibb" id = "para_gibb"> +GIBB’S PARAPHRASE</a></h3> + +<p>*Gudrun and other Stories, from the Epics of the Middle Ages, by John +Gibb. M. Japp & Company: London: Edinburgh (printed), 1881.</p> + +<p>Gudrun, Beowulf, and Roland, with other mediaeval tales by John Gibb, +with twenty illustrations. Second edition. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1884 +(1883).</p> + +<p>8<sup>o</sup>, <i>Beowulf</i>, pp. 135–168, with three +illustrations<a class = "tag" name = "tag_gibb1" id = "tag_gibb1" href = +"#note_gibb1">1</a>.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +A Paraphrase in English Prose.</p> + + +<h5>Aim of the Volume.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Nature of the Paraphrase.</h5> + +<p>The following parts are omitted: (1) All episodes except the Prolog; +(2) All lines that do not have to do directly +<span class = "pagenum">129</span> +with the story; (3) All the descriptive adjectives and kennings of +the poem.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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.’ +</blockquote> + +<p>An illustration of the same thing may be seen by noting the omission +of phrases from the swimming-match.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<blockquote> +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— +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Paraphrase.</h5> + +<p>In comparison with the work of Mr. Jones<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_gibb2" id = "tag_gibb2" href = "#note_gibb2">2</a>, 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.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">130</span> +<h5>Indebtedness to Arnold.</h5> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_gibb3" id = +"tag_gibb3" href = "#note_gibb3">3</a>. 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.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_gibb1" id = "note_gibb1" href = "#tag_gibb1">1.</a> +Woodcuts; two of them are identical with the ones given in the +Wägner-MacDowall paraphrase: see infra, <a href = +"#para_wagner_macdowall">p. 130</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_gibb2" id = "note_gibb2" href = "#tag_gibb2">2.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#para_jones">p. 123</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_gibb3" id = "note_gibb3" href = "#tag_gibb3">3.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_arnold">p. 71</a>.</p> + +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "para_wagner_macdowall" id = "para_wagner_macdowall"> +THE WÄGNER-MACDOWALL PARAPHRASE</a></h3> + + +<p>Epics and Romances of the Middle Ages. Adapted from the Work of Dr. +W. Wägner by <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘W. M.’">M. W.</ins> +MacDowall, and edited by W. S. W. Anson. Philadelphia: +J. B. Lippincott & Co., London: W. Swan Sonnenschein & +Co., 1883. 8<sup>o</sup>, <i>Beowulf</i>, pp. 347–364, with two +illustrations<a class = "tag" name = "tag_wagner_macdowall1" id = +"tag_wagner_macdowall1" href = "#note_wagner_macdowall1">1</a>.</p> + +<p>Second Edition, Oct. 1883.</p> + +<p>Sixth Edition, 1890.</p> + +<p>Eighth Edition, 1896.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +<i>Beowulf</i> Retold, with Changes and Additions.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +The paraphrase is adapted from <i>Deutsche Heldensagen für Schule und +Haus</i>, by Dr. W. Wägner (Leipzig, 1881).</p> + + +<h5>Aim of the Book.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">131</span> +<h5>Changes in the Story.</h5> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<p>(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.</p> + +<p>(2) The swimming-match is introduced into the action of the story, +with the <i>motif</i> radically altered. Breca is represented as winning +the match.</p> + +<p>(3) The incident of Beowulf’s refusal of the crown is amplified and +introduced into the story at the opening of the third part.</p> + +<p>(4) The story differs from the original in a number of minor +details.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<blockquote> +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<a class = +"tag" name = "tag_wagner_macdowall2" id = "tag_wagner_macdowall2" href = +"#note_wagner_macdowall2">2</a>; 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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Paraphrase.</h5> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum">132</span> +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.’</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_wagner_macdowall1" id = "note_wagner_macdowall1" href = +"#tag_wagner_macdowall1">1.</a> +Woodcuts; inaccurate.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_wagner_macdowall2" id = "note_wagner_macdowall2" href = +"#tag_wagner_macdowall2">2.</a> +A prize offered by King Hygelak for the victor in the match.</p> + +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "para_dahn" id = "para_dahn"> +THERESE DAHN’S PARAPHRASE</a></h3> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Seventh Edition, 1885.</p> + +<p>Eleventh Edition, 1891.</p> + +<p>Twelfth Edition (Leipzig), 1898.</p> + +<p>8<sup>o</sup>, <i>Beowulf</i> (by Therese Dahn<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_dahn1" id = "tag_dahn1" href = "#note_dahn1">1</a>), pp. +361–405, with two illustrations.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +A Paraphrase in German Prose for General Readers.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">133</span> +<h5>Therese Dahn.</h5> + +<p>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 (<i>Gedichte</i>). 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 <i>Beowulf</i>, +<i>Die Wölsungen</i>, <i>Kudrun</i>, the story of König Wilkinus, +&c., <i>Wieland der Schmied</i>, <i>Walther und Hildgund</i>, and +the stories from the <i>Dietrich</i> saga and the <i>Nibelungen</i> +saga.</p> + + +<h5>Nature of the Paraphrase.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Obscure words, phrases, and lines are omitted; and explanatory words +are inserted from time to time.</p> + + +<h5>Indebtedness to Simrock.</h5> + +<p>The translation was evidently made with Simrock’s translation<a class += "tag" name = "tag_dahn2" id = "tag_dahn2" href = "#note_dahn2">2</a> +in hand; possibly it may have been made directly +<span class = "pagenum">134</span> +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.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<blockquote> +<i>Hunferd</i>, 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. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +‘Bist du der Beowulf, der einst im Wettkampf mit <i>Breka</i> 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 <i>Brondinge</i>, wo er +über Burg und Volk gebietet.’ —Page 370. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Paraphrase.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The omissions are the most sensible that I have found in a +paraphrase. Nothing of first importance has been lost.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_dahn1" id = "note_dahn1" href = "#tag_dahn1">1.</a> +See p. 662.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_dahn2" id = "note_dahn2" href = "#tag_dahn2">2.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_simrock">p. 59</a>.</p> + +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">135</span> + +<h3><a name = "para_brooke" id = "para_brooke"> +STOPFORD BROOKE’S SELECTIONS</a></h3> + +<p>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. 8<sup>o</sup>, +<i>Beowulf</i>, pp. 12–92.</p> + +<p>English Literature from the Beginning to the Norman Conquest. By +Stopford A. Brooke. New York and London: The Macmillan Co., 1898. +8<sup>o</sup>, <i>Beowulf</i>, pp. 58–83.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Digest, Running Comment, and Translation of Copious Extracts into +Imitative Measures.</p> + + +<h5>Reasons for including this Book.</h5> + +<p>This volume is included here because of the great influence it has +had in forming popular notions regarding the <i>Beowulf</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>Again, the number of lines actually translated by Mr. Brooke is equal +to that in many of the volumes described in this section.</p> + + +<h5>Difference between the two Editions.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">136</span> +<h5>Method of Translation.</h5> + +<p>Translated extracts accompany the story as told by Mr. Brooke.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<blockquote> +‘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.’ +</blockquote> + +<p>The author adopts an archaic diction. The word-order of the Old +English is followed whenever possible.</p> + + +<h5>Text Used.</h5> + +<p>The text appears to be that of Grein-Wülker (1883).</p> + + +<h4>Extract<a class = "tag" name = "tag_brooke1" id = "tag_brooke1" href += "#note_brooke1">1</a>.</h4> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>There at haven stood, hung with rings the ship,</p> +<p>Ice-bright, for the outpath eager, craft of +Aethelings.</p> +<p>So their lord, the well-beloved, all at length they +laid</p> +<p>In the bosom of the bark, him the +bracelet-giver,—</p> +<p>By the mast the mighty king. Many gifts were there</p> +<p>Fretted things of fairness brought from far-off +ways.—</p> +<span class = "pagenum">137</span> +<p>Never heard I of a keel hung more comelily about</p> +<p>With the weeds of war, with the weapons of the +battle,</p> +<p>With the bills and byrnies. On his breast there lay</p> +<p>A great heap of gems that should go with him,</p> +<p>Far to fare away in the Flood’s possession<a class = +"tag" name = "tag_brooke2" id = "tag_brooke2" href = +"#note_brooke2">2</a>. —Page 26.</p> +</div> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Translation.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_brooke1" id = "note_brooke1" href = +"#tag_brooke1">1.</a> +The swimming-match is not available for illustration here.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_brooke2" id = "note_brooke2" href = +"#tag_brooke2">2.</a> +In the second edition, the penultimate line reads, ‘Jewels great and +heaped,’ &c.</p> + +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">138</span> + +<h3><a name = "para_ragozin" id = "para_ragozin"> +MISS RAGOZIN’S PARAPHRASE</a></h3> + +<p>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. 8<sup>o</sup>, <i>Beowulf</i>, +pp. 211–323, with Note at p. 323, and with four illustrations +by George T. Tobin.</p> + +<p>School Edition, New York, W. B. Harison, 1900.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +A Paraphrase in English Prose.</p> + + +<h5>The Author, and the Aim of her Book.</h5> + +<p>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 <i>Stories of the Nations</i>, she has +published, <i>The Story of Chaldea</i>, <i>The Story of Assyria</i>, +<i>The Story of Media, Babylon, and Persia</i>, <i>The Story of Vedic +India</i><ins class = "correction" title = "text has superfluous close quote">. </ins>Of late she has turned her attention to the mythology of +the various European nations, and has written of Siegfried, Frithjof, +and Roland.</p> + +<p>The object of her work may be given in her own words:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘(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 <i>Tales of the Heroic Ages</i> 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. +</blockquote> + + +<span class = "pagenum">139</span> +<h5>Method of Paraphrase.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘(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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Indebtedness to Earle.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘Professor Earle’s<a class = "tag" name = "tag_ragozin1" id = +"tag_ragozin1" href = "#note_ragozin1">1</a> 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. +</blockquote> + +<p>Some notion of the extent of this borrowing may be had by examining +the extract printed below and the criticism that follows.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<blockquote> +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. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +‘Art thou not,’ he began tauntingly, ‘that same Beowulf who strove with +Breca on open sea in a swimming-match, in which ye both +<span class = "pagenum">140</span> +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.’ +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Paraphrase.</h5> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = "tag_ragozin2" id = "tag_ragozin2" +href = "#note_ragozin2">2</a> never misinterprets a passage as does Miss +Ragozin on page 264, where nearly every sentence is false to the Beowulf +manner.</p> + +<p>The paraphrase is slightly disfigured by the distinctively Romance +words which disfigure Earle’s translation.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_ragozin1" id = "note_ragozin1" href = +"#tag_ragozin1">1.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_earle">p. 91</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_ragozin2" id = "note_ragozin2" href = +"#tag_ragozin2">2.</a> +See infra, <a href = "#para_thomson">p. 143</a>.</p> + +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">141</span> + +<h3><a name = "para_church" id = "para_church"> +MR. CHURCH’S PARAPHRASE</a></h3> + + +<p>Heroes of Chivalry and Romance. By the Rev. A. J. Church, M.A. +London: Seeley and Company, 1898. 8<sup>o</sup>, <i>Beowulf</i>, pp. +3–60. With two illustrations in colours by George Morrow.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +Beowulf Retold.</p> + + +<h5>Contents of the Volume.</h5> + +<p>‘The Story of Beowulf,’ ‘King Arthur and the Round Table,’ ‘The +Treasure of the Nibelungs.’</p> + + +<h5>Indebtedness to Kemble and Earle.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘In writing the story of Beowulf I have been helped by Kemble’s +translation and notes<a class = "tag" name = "tag_church1" id = +"tag_church1" href = "#note_church1">1</a>, and still more by Professor +Earle’s<a class = "tag" name = "tag_church2" id = "tag_church2" href = +"#note_church2">2</a> admirable edition.’ —Author’s Note. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Nature of the Paraphrase.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h5>Concerning the Author.</h5> + +<p>The Rev. Alfred John Church (born 1829) is known chiefly for his +popularizations of the classics. His best-known works are <i>Stories +from Homer</i> and <i>Stories from Virgil</i>. +<span class = "pagenum">142</span> +The present volume is an attempt to do for some of the Germanic legends +what had already been done for Homer and Virgil.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<blockquote> +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.’ +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Criticism of the Paraphrase.</h5> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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).</p> + +<p>Petty inaccuracies occur throughout, such as, ‘I counsel +<span class = "pagenum">143</span> +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<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_church3" id = "tag_church3" href = "#note_church3">3</a>; and in +point of style and atmosphere to that of Mr. Jones<a class = "tag" name += "tag_church4" id = "tag_church4" href = "#note_church4">4</a>, Miss +Ragozin<a class = "tag" name = "tag_church5" id = "tag_church5" href = +"#note_church5">5</a>, or Miss Thomson. The book, however, is readable, +and the author’s name will doubtless serve to give it a certain +success.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_church1" id = "note_church1" href = +"#tag_church1">1.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_kemble">p. 33</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_church2" id = "note_church2" href = +"#tag_church2">2.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#trans_earle">p. 91</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_church3" id = "note_church3" href = +"#tag_church3">3.</a> +See infra, <a href = "#para_thomson">p. 143</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_church4" id = "note_church4" href = +"#tag_church4">4.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#para_jones">p. 123</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_church5" id = "note_church5" href = +"#tag_church5">5.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#para_ragozin">p. 138</a>.</p> + +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<h3><a name = "para_thomson" id = "para_thomson"> +MISS THOMSON’S PARAPHRASE</a></h3> + +<p>The Adventures of Beowulf, translated from the Old English and +adapted to the Use of Schools by Clara Thomson<a class = "tag" name = +"tag_thomson1" id = "tag_thomson1" href = "#note_thomson1">1</a>. +London: Horace Marshall and Son, 1899. 8<sup>o</sup>, pp. 95. In the +‘New English Series,’ edited by E. E. Speight.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +A Paraphrase in English Prose.</p> + + +<h5>Aim of the Volume.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘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. +</blockquote> + + +<h5>Method of Paraphrase.</h5> + +<blockquote> +‘[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.’... +<span class = "pagenum">144</span> + +<p>‘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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The words and sentences which are supplied are very carefully chosen, +and most of them have a prototype somewhere in the poem.</p> + + +<h4>Extract.</h4> + +<blockquote> +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: + +<p>‘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.’</p> +</blockquote> + + +<span class = "pagenum">145</span> +<h5>Criticism of the Paraphrase.</h5> + +<p>In the opinion of the present writer, no better paraphrase of +<i>Beowulf</i> exists.</p> + +<p>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.’</p> + +<p>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<a class = +"tag" name = "tag_thomson2" id = "tag_thomson2" href = +"#note_thomson2">2</a>. She is always true to the story (as Miss +Ragozin<a class = "tag" name = "tag_thomson3" id = "tag_thomson3" href = +"#note_thomson3">3</a> is not, for example, in the first section of her +work); she is equally true to the spirit of the poem (as Mr. Gibb<a +class = "tag" name = "tag_thomson4" id = "tag_thomson4" href = +"#note_thomson4">4</a> is not). The style is both vigorous and simple, +not unworthy of the story it tells.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_thomson1" id = "note_thomson1" href = +"#tag_thomson1">1.</a> +Miss Thomson is better known as the biographer of Samuel Richardson. See +<i>Samuel Richardson, a Biographical and Critical Study</i>. +London, 1900.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_thomson2" id = "note_thomson2" href = +"#tag_thomson2">2.</a> +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.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_thomson3" id = "note_thomson3" href = +"#tag_thomson3">3.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#para_ragozin">p. 138</a>.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_thomson4" id = "note_thomson4" href = +"#tag_thomson4">4.</a> +See supra, <a href = "#para_gibb">p. 128</a>.</p> + +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">146</span> + +<h3><a name = "biblio" id = "biblio"> +APPENDIX II</a></h3> + +<h4>A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS WHICH CONTAIN SELECTIONS FROM BEOWULF +TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH</h4> + + +<p class = "center"> +(<i>Only works which translate at least thirty lines are noted.</i>)</p> + +<div class = "hanging"> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">ten Brink, Bernhard, and Kennedy, +Horace</span>, in Early English Literature (to Wiclif). London and New +York, 1883. Verse.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Brown, Anna R.</span>, in Poet Lore, II, +133, 185. Verse, ll. 26–53, and 1493–1571.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Gummere, F. B.</span>, in the American +Journal of Philology, VII, 77, ll. 1–52. Verse.</p> + +<p>—— in Germanic Origins (New York, 1892), pp. 109 ff. +Verse.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth</span>, in +Poets and Poetry of Europe, lines 18–40; 53–83; +189–257; 1789–1803; 2455–2462. Verse.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Morley, Henry</span>, in English Writers, +I, pp. 287 ff. (second edition, London, 1887). Verse.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Robinson, W. Clarke</span>, in Introduction +to our Early English Literature (London, 1885). Lines 87–98 +(verse), and 1–52 (prose).</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Smith, C. Sprague</span>, in the New +Englander, IV, p. 49. Lines 711–838; Section XII, Section +XIII, 1493–1652; Section XXIII, Section XXIV. Verse.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">147</span> +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Sweet, Henry</span>, in Warton’s History of +English Poetry, ed. W. Carew Hazlitt (London, 1877). Vol. II, pp. +11–12. Prose.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Tolman, A. H.</span>, in Transactions of +the Modern Language Association, III, pp. 19 ff. In the ‘Style of +Anglo-Saxon Poetry.’ Prose.</p> + + +<h5>Incomplete Paraphrase.</h5> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Palmer, Bertha</span>, 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.</p> + +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">148</span> + +<h3><a name = "appIII" id = "appIII"> +APPENDIX III</a></h3> + +<h4>TWO WORKS NAMED ‘BEOWULF’</h4> + + +<h5 class = "smallcaps"><a name = "appIII_manno" id = "appIII_manno"> +I.</a></h5> + +<p>Beowulf, Roman von Karl Manno (pseud. Carl von Lemcke). In +<i>Deutsche Roman-Zeitung</i>, Jahrg. 19, Bde. 1, 2. Berlin, 1882.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +A modern romance, having no relation to the Old English poem.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h5 class = "smallcaps"><a name = "appIII_church" id = "appIII_church"> +II.</a></h5> + +<h5>Mr. S. H. Church’s ‘Beowulf.’</h5> + +<p>Beowulf, a Poem by Samuel Harden Church. New York: Stokes and Co., +1901.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +An original poem, using some of the Beowulf material.</p> + +<p class = "space"> +After speaking of his original intention of translating the +<i>Beowulf</i>, which he later discarded, the author says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +‘I have . . . composed an original narrative in which the leading +characters and some of the incidents of the early work<a class = "tag" +name = "tag_appIII_church1" id = "tag_appIII_church1" href = +"#note_appIII_church1">1</a> have been freely used, but as materials +only. I have transferred to my hero, Beowulf, the picturesque +history of Sceaf<a class = "tag" name = "tag_appIII_church2" id = +"tag_appIII_church2" href = "#note_appIII_church2">2</a>; 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.’ +</blockquote> + +<div class = "footnote"> +<p> +<a name = "note_appIII_church1" id = "note_appIII_church1" href = +"#tag_appIII_church1">1.</a> +i.e., the translation.</p> + +<p> +<a name = "note_appIII_church2" id = "note_appIII_church2" href = +"#tag_appIII_church2">2.</a> +Scyld</p> + +</div> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">149</span> + +<h3><a name = "index" id = "index"> +INDEX OF TRANSLATORS</a></h3> + +<div class = "index"> + +<p>Arnold, Thomas, <a href = "#trans_arnold">71–4</a>.</p> + +<p>Botkine, L., <a href = "#trans_botkine">75–9</a>.</p> + +<p>ten Brink, B., and Kennedy, H. M., <a href = "#biblio">146</a>.</p> + +<p>Brooke, S. A., <a href = "#para_brooke">135–7</a>.</p> + +<p>Brown, Anna R., <a href = "#biblio">146</a>.</p> + +<p>Church, A. J., <a href = "#para_church">141–3</a>.</p> + +<p>Conybeare, J. J., <a href = "#trans_conybeare">28–32</a>.</p> + +<p>Cox and Jones, <i>see</i> Jones.</p> + +<p>Dahn, T., <a href = "#para_dahn">132–4</a>.</p> + +<p>Earle, John, <a href = "#trans_earle">91–5</a>.</p> + +<p>Ettmüller, L., <a href = "#trans_ettmuller">37–41</a>.</p> + +<p>Garnett, J. M., <a href = "#trans_garnett">83–7</a>.</p> + +<p>Gibb, J., <a href = "#para_gibb">128–30</a>.</p> + +<p>Grein, C. W. M., <a href = "#trans_grein">55–9</a>.</p> + +<p>Grion, G., <a href = "#trans_grion">87–9</a>.</p> + +<p>Grundtvig, N. F. S., <a href = "#trans_grundtvig">22–8</a>.</p> + +<p>Gummere, F. B., <a href = "#biblio">146</a>.</p> + +<p>Hall, John Lesslie, <a href = "#trans_jl_hall">95–9</a>.</p> + +<p>Hall, John R. Clark, <a href = "#trans_jrc_hall">114–8</a>.</p> + +<p>Heyne, M., <a href = "#trans_heyne">63–7</a>.</p> + +<p>Hoffmann, P., <a href = "#trans_hoffmann">99–103</a>.</p> + +<p>Jones, E. H., <a href = "#para_jones">123–5</a>.</p> + +<p>Kemble, J. M., <a href = "#trans_kemble">33–7</a>.</p> + +<p>Kennedy, H. M., <i>see</i> ten Brink.</p> + +<p>Lemcke, Carl von, <i>see</i> Manno.</p> + +<p>Leo, H., <a href = "#para_leo">121–3</a>.</p> + +<p>Longfellow, H. W., <a href = "#biblio">146</a>.</p> + +<p>Lumsden, H. W., <a href = "#trans_lumsden">79–82</a>.</p> + +<p>MacDowall, M. W., <a href = +"#para_wagner_macdowall">130–2</a>.</p> + +<p>Morley, H., <a href = "#biblio">146</a>.</p> + +<p>Morris, W., <a href = "#trans_morris_wyatt">104–9</a>.</p> + +<p>Palmer, B., <a href = "#biblio">147</a>.</p> + +<p>Ragozin, Z. A., <a href = "#para_ragozin">138–40</a>.</p> + +<p>Robinson, W. C., <a href = "#biblio">146</a>.</p> + +<p>Sandras, G. S., <a href = "#para_sandras">123</a>.</p> + +<p>Schaldemose, F., <a href = "#trans_schaldemose">41–5</a>.</p> + +<p>Simons, L., <a href = "#trans_simons">109–11</a>.</p> + +<p>Simrock, K., <a href = "#trans_simrock">59–63</a>.</p> + +<p>Smith, C. S., <a href = "#biblio">146</a>.</p> + +<p>Steineck, H., <a href = "#trans_steineck">112–4</a>.</p> + +<p>Sweet, H., <a href = "#biblio">147</a>.</p> + +<p>Thomson, C., <a href = "#para_thomson">143–5</a>.</p> + +<p>Thorkelin, G. J., <a href = "#trans_thorkelin">15–21</a>.</p> + +<p>Thorpe, B., <a href = "#trans_thorpe">49–55</a>.</p> + +<p>Tinker, C. B., <a href = "#trans_tinker">118–20</a>.</p> + +<p>Tolman, A. H., <a href = "#biblio">147</a>.</p> + +<p>Turner, S., <a href = "#trans_turner">9–15</a>.</p> + +<p>Wackerbarth, A. D., <a href = +"#trans_wackerbarth">45–9</a>.</p> + +<p>Wägner, W., <a href = "#para_wagner_macdowall">130–2</a>.</p> + +<p>Wickberg, R., <a href = "#trans_wickberg">90, 91</a>.</p> + +<p>von Wolzogen, H., <a href = "#trans_wolzogen">68–71</a>.</p> + +<p>Wyatt, A. J., <a href = "#trans_morris_wyatt">104–9</a>.</p> + +<p>Zinsser, G., <a href = "#para_zinsser">126–8</a>.</p> + +</div> + +</div> <!-- end div maintext --> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Translations of Beowulf, by +Chauncey Brewster Tinker + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRANSLATIONS OF BEOWULF *** + +***** This file should be named 25942-h.htm or 25942-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/9/4/25942/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, David Starner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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