The Translations of Beowulf Part 7

(see infra, p. 45).]

WACKERBARTH'S TRANSLATION

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

Second English Translation. Ballad Measures.

_Circ.u.mstances of Publication._

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

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

_Indebtedness to preceding Scholars._

'In my Version I have scrupulously adhered to the text of Mr.

Kemble, adopting in almost every Instance his Emendations.... My thanks are due to Mr. Kemble ... to the Rev. Dr. Bosworth ... who have ... kindly answered my Inquiries relative to various Matters connected with the poem.' --Pages viii, xiv.

_Style and Diction._

'I have throughout endeavoured to render the Sense and the Words of my Author as closely as the English Language and the Restraints of Metre would allow, and for this Purpose I have not shrunken either from sacrificing Elegance to Faithfulness (for no Translator is at liberty to misrepresent his Author and make an old Saxon Bard speak the Language of a modern Pet.i.t Maitre) 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 Beowulf's lay when presented in so unattractive a Garb.' --Pages ix, x.

EXTRACT.

CANTO VIII.

But haughty Hunferth, Ecg-laf's Son Who sat at royal Hroth-gar's Feet To bind up Words of Strife begun And to address the n.o.ble Geat.

The proud Sea-Farer's Enterprize 5 Was a vast Grievance in his Eyes: For ill could bear that jealous Man That any other gallant Thane On earth, beneath the Heavens' Span, Wors.h.i.+p beyond his own should gain. 10 'Art thou Beo-wulf,' then he cry'd, 'With Brecca on the Ocean wide That didst in Swimming erst contend, Where ye explor'd the Fords for Pride And risk'd your Lives upon the Tide 15 All for vain Glory's empty End?

And no Man, whether Foe or Friend, Your sorry Match can reprehend.

O'er Seas ye rowed, your Arms o'erspread The Waves, and Sea-paths measured. 20 The Spray ye with your Hands did urge, And glided o'er the Ocean's Surge; The Waves with Winter's fury boil'd While on the watery Realm ye toil'd, Thus seven Nights were told, 25 Till thee at last he overcame, The stronger in the n.o.ble Game.

Then him at Morn the billowy Streams In triumph bare to Heatho-r?mes From whence he sought his Fatherland, 30 And his own Brondings' faithful Band, Where o'er the Folk he held Command, A City, Rings, and Gold.

His Promise well and faithfully Did Beanstan's Son perform to thee; 35 And ill I ween, though prov'd thy Might In Onslaught dire and deadly Fight, Twill go with thee, if thou this Night Dar'st wait for Grendel bold.'

_Criticism of the Translation._

Wackerbarth's translation is not to be considered as a rival of Kemble's[1]--the author did not wish it to be so considered. Kemble addressed the world of scholars; Wackerbarth the world of readers.

Wackerbarth rather resembles Conybeare[2] in trying to reproduce the _spirit_ of the poem, and make his book appeal to a popular audience.

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

Now these features which have just been described Wackerbarth's ballad lines are eminently unfitted to transmit. But there is still another reason for shunning them. They are almost continuously suggestive of Scott. Of all men else the translator of _Beowulf_ should avoid Scott.

Scott's medievalism is hundreds of years and miles away from the medievalism of _Beowulf_. His is the self-conscious, dramatic, gorgeous age of chivalry, of knight and lady, of pomp and pride. _Beowulf_ is simple to bareness.

It is in such strong picturesque pa.s.sages as the swimming-match that Wackerbarth's style is worst. There is a plethora of adjectives, scarcely one of which is found in the original; but they are of no avail--they are too commonplace to render the strength and raciness of the original words. There is too much ballad padding--'then he cry'd,'

'at last,' 'well and faithfully,' 'onslaught dire, and deadly fight.'

Hunferth prattles. The heroic atmosphere is gone.

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

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

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

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

THORPE'S EDITION

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

*Reprinted, 1875. 12mo, pp. x.x.xiv, 330.

Third English Translation. Short Lines.

_Author's Prefatory Remarks._

'Twenty-four years have pa.s.sed 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 ma.n.u.script.

Fortunately, no doubt, for the work, a series of cares, together with other literary engagements, intervened and arrested my progress. I had, in fact, abandoned every thought of ever resuming the task: it was therefore with no slight pleasure that I hailed the appearance of Mr. Kemble's first edition of the text of Beowulf in 1833....

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

'My first impulse was to print the text of the poem as it appears in the ma.n.u.script, 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 ma.n.u.script. 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 ma.n.u.script, and placing the proposed correction at foot....

'Very shortly after I had collated it, the ma.n.u.script suffered still further detriment.

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

_Criticism of Thorpe's Text._

Considering the amount of time that had elapsed between this and the edition of Kemble[1], Thorpe can hardly be said to have made a satisfactory advance. In some respects his edition is actually inferior to Kemble's. It is probable, for example, that the collation of which the author speaks in his introduction was the one which he had made twenty years before, and that, in taking up his work a second time, he did not trouble himself to revise it. At any rate, the MS. did not receive from Thorpe that respectful attention that it had had from Kemble. Thorpe was more clever than the former scholar in deciphering faded lines of the MS., but he was not always careful to indicate those letters which he actually found there, and those he himself supplied from conjecture. Yet these readings were often of sufficient importance to affect an entire pa.s.sage, and later scholars.h.i.+p has in many cases deciphered readings whose sense is entirely different from Thorpe's.

Thus his edition presents striking divergences from later texts, while no explanation of them is offered in the footnotes. Not only does he frequently incorporate his own readings in the text without noting the MS. forms, but he even makes mistakes in the MS. forms which he does note. A collation of Thorpe's text with the MS. has revealed a carelessness which was all the more reprehensible in that it came from a scholar who was thought to be well-nigh infallible. A few examples of this carelessness are given:--

Line 319 (158)[2], _banan_ (misreads MS. in footnote).

487 (241), _Ic_ (word emended from _le_ without noting MS. form).

1160 (578), _hwaeere_ (emends without noting the MS. form).

1207 (601), _ac him_ (omits a word).