The Translations of Beowulf Part 27

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

--Pages xvi, xix, xxi.

_Indebtedness to Earle._

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

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

EXTRACT.

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

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

_Criticism of the Paraphrase._

It may be inferred from the dependence upon the work of Earle that Miss Ragozin's knowledge of Old English is of the slightest. This inference is borne out by frequent misapprehension of the original sense, due in large measure to the use of a single translation. Thus on page 245, Grendel is called 'the G.o.d-sent scourge,' and, again, on p. 322, Beowulf is described as having been 'most genial to his n.o.bles.' 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 p.r.o.nunciation. 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 ill.u.s.tration, Miss Thomson[2] never misinterprets a pa.s.sage as does Miss Ragozin on page 264, where nearly every sentence is false to the Beowulf manner.

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

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

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

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

MR. CHURCH'S PARAPHRASE

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

Beowulf Retold.

_Contents of the Volume._

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

_Indebtedness to Kemble and Earle._

'In writing the story of Beowulf I have been helped by Kemble's translation and notes[1], and still more by Professor Earle's[2]

admirable edition.' --Author's Note.

_Nature of the Paraphrase._

All obscure words (especially kennings) and lines are dropped. Many explanatory remarks are inserted to elucidate the story. All speeches are greatly shortened. Beowulf's tale of the fight is omitted entirely.

The episodes are omitted, with the exception of the Sigemund episode, one-half of which is translated into heroic couplets, and the Finn episode, which is referred to in a single stanza which paraphrases the story.

_Concerning the Author._

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

EXTRACT.

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

_Criticism of the Paraphrase._

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MISS THOMSON'S PARAPHRASE

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

Speight.

A Paraphrase in English Prose.