Criticism of the Translation.

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

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

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

l. 1975–76.

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

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

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

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

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

1. See Mackail’s Life, i. 198.

SIMONS’S TRANSLATION

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

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

First Dutch Translation. Iambic Pentameter.

Aim and Contents of the Volume.

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

Text Used.

‘I have followed the text of Socin1; where I have preferred to give another reading I have justified my proceeding in the Notes at the end of the work.’ —Een Woord Vooraf.

Nature of the Translation.

It is a literal translation in iambic pentameter.

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

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

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

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

He has often preferred the simple alliteration (aa, bb) to the Old English system2.

Extract.

IX.

Criticism of the Translation.

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

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

STEINECK’S TRANSLATION

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

Seventh German Translation. Line for line.

Aim of the Volume, and Nature of the Translation.

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

Text Used.

The translation is based on Heyne’s text of 18631 (Vorwort). Fragmentary passages are not restored.

Extract.

IX.

Criticism of the Translation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

J. R. C. HALL’S TRANSLATION

Beowulf, and the Fight at Finnsburg, a translation into modern English prose, with an Introduction and Notes, by John R. Clark Hall, M.A., Ph.D. With twelve illustrations1. London: Swan Sonnenschein and Company, Lim., 1901. 8^o, pp. xlv, 203.

Tenth English Translation. Prose.

Translator, and Circumstances of Publication.

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

Up to this time no prose translation had appeared in England since 1876, save Earle’s2, which for the elementary student was practically useless. Moreover, this translation was the first to embody the results of various studies on the poem during the past decade.

Contents.

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

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

Statements similar to these have been put forth by other translators of the poem, but the material of their volume has not always borne them out. The studies of the poem in the Introduction are sufficient for a school edition of Beowulf—a similar body of information is not found in any of the existing editions—while annotations of some importance to the elementary student are found in the notes and running comment. The book contains, beside the translation, a discussion of the form, language, geographical allusions, date, and composition of the poem, as well as a useful, though inaccurate, bibliography3.

Text Used.

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

Indebtedness to Preceding Scholars.

In his translation Dr. Hall seems to be most indebted to the work of Professor Earle4 (see lines 4, 71, 517, 852, 870, 926, 996, 1213, 1507, 2021, 3034, &c.).

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

Nature of the Translation.

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

The rendering avoids archaisms.

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

Extract.

VIII.

Unferth taunts Beowulf. Beowulf’s Contest with Breca.

(Lines 499–558.)

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

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

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

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

Criticism of the Translation.

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

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

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

But this absence of ease and dignity does not hinder Dr. Hall’s translation from being an excellent rendering of the matter of the poem, at once less fanciful than Earle’s5 and more modern than Garnett’s6, its only rivals as a literal translation. That it conveys an adequate notion of the style of Beowulf, however, it is impossible to affirm.

TINKER’S TRANSLATION

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

Eleventh English Translation. Prose.

This is the author’s own translation.

Aim of the Volume and Nature of the Translation.

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

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

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

Extract.

VIII and IX.

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

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

APPENDIX I

INCOMPLETE TRANSLATIONS, AND PARAPHRASES

LEO’S DIGEST

Bëówulf, dasz1 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^o, pp. xx, 120.

Selections Translated into German Prose.

Contents of the Volume, and Nature of the Translation.

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

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

The text from which he translates is Kemble’s2.

Extract.

Achter Gesang.

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

Omissions:—

Line 502, mōdges mere-faran.

   „   507–517 entire.

   „   520, swǣsne ēðel, lēof his lēodum.

Criticism of the Extract.

As an analysis this is good enough; as a translation of the passage it is of course utterly inadequate—it omits the very best lines in the original. The book served, however, as a running digest of the story, and as such gave an excellent idea of the contents of the poem. But Ettmüller was justified in calling the translation which he published the next year, ‘the first German translation3.’

SANDRAS’S ACCOUNT

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

Extracts Translated into Latin Prose.

The only significance of this book is that it contained the first information about Beowulf given to the French public. About ten lines are literally translated in Cap. I, § 1, all under the general title, De Poesi Saxonica. In § 2 the poem is rather carefully sketched, much after the manner of Leo1, from Beowulf’s arrival in the Danish land to the fight with Grendel.

1. See supra, p. 122.

E. H. JONES’S PARAPHRASE

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

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

A Paraphrase for General Readers.

Aim of the Volume.

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

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

Nature of the Paraphrase.

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

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

Extract1.

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

Criticism of the Paraphrase.

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

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

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

1. Swimming-match omitted.

ZINSSER’S SELECTION

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

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

The First 836 Lines translated in Iambic Pentameter.

Aim, Contents, and Method of Translation.

‘Gleichwol wird das Gedicht in deutscher Sprache noch wenig gelesen; und es mag darum gerechtfertigt sein, wenn auch ein weniger Berufener ein Schärflein zum weiteren Bekanntwerden dieses altehrwürdigen Erzeugnisses germanischen Geistes beitragen will. Derselbe hat in seiner Uebersetzung, von welcher im Folgenden von 3184 Versen nur die ersten 8261, nämlich der Kampf Beowulfs mit Grendel mit vorausgehender Genealogie der dänischen Könige, vorgeführt werden, alles vermieden, was dem Laien das Verständnis erschweren könnte. Die am Schluss beigefügten mythologischen, historischen und geographischen Erläuterungen können auch denen willkommen sein, welche sich eingehender mit dem Gedicht beschäftigen wollen.’ —Einleitung, 4.

Text Used.

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

Extract.

9.

Criticism of the Extract.

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