The following pages are designed to give a historical and critical
account of all that has been done in the way of translating _Beowulf_
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 _Bibliothek der
angelsächsischen Poesie_ in 1859; for until the publication of this work
every editor of the poem was also its translator.
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
_Beowulf_.
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
interpretation of the poem; at other periods, a translation lays claim
to our attention chiefly as imparting the literary features of the
original.
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, _Beowulf_ is an _English_ 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.
An asterisk is placed before the titles of books which the present
writer has not seen.
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.
_July, 1902._