The present work is a modest effort to reproduce approximately,
in modern measures, the venerable epic, Beowulf. Approximately,
I repeat; for a very close reproduction of Anglo-Saxon
verse would, to a large extent, be prose to a modern
ear.
The Heyne-Socin text and glossary have been closely
followed. Occasionally a deviation has been made,
but always for what seemed good and sufficient reason.
The translator does not aim to be an editor. Once
in a while, however, he has added a conjecture of
his own to the emendations quoted from the criticisms
of other students of the poem.
This work is addressed to two classes of readers.
From both of these alike the translator begs sympathy
and co-operation. The Anglo-Saxon scholar he
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. This is a bold and venturesome undertaking;
and yet there must be some students of the Teutonic
past willing to follow even a daring guide, if they
may read in modern phrases of the sorrows of Hrothgar,
of the prowess of Beowulf, and of the feelings that
stirred the hearts of our forefathers in their primeval
homes.
In order to please the larger class of readers, a
regular cadence has been used, a measure which, while
retaining the essential characteristics of the original,
permits the reader to see ahead of him in reading.
Perhaps every Anglo-Saxon scholar has his own theory
as to how Beowulf should be translated. Some
have given us prose versions of what we believe to
be a great poem. Is it any reflection on our honored
Kemble and Arnold to say that their translations fail
to show a layman that Beowulf is justly called our
first epic? Of those translators who have
used verse, several have written from what would seem
a mistaken point of view. Is it proper, for instance,
that the grave and solemn speeches of Beowulf and
Hrothgar be put in ballad measures, tripping lightly
and airily along? Or, again, is it fitting that
the rough martial music of Anglo-Saxon verse be interpreted
to us in the smooth measures of modern blank verse?
Do we hear what has been beautifully called “the
clanging tread of a warrior in mail”?
Of all English translations of Beowulf, that of Professor
Garnett alone gives any adequate idea of the chief
characteristics of this great Teutonic epic.
The measure used in the present translation is believed
to be as near a reproduction of the original as modern
English affords. The cadences closely resemble
those used by Browning in some of his most striking
poems. 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 on every line. End-rhyme has been used occasionally;
internal rhyme, sporadically. Both have some
warrant in Anglo-Saxon poetry. (For end-rhyme, see
1_53, 1_54; for internal rhyme, 2_21, 6_40.)
