The Anglo-Saxon poems of Beowulf, the Traveller’s Song, and the Battle
at Finnes-burh. Edited together with a glossary of the more difficult
words, and an historical preface, by John M. Kemble, Esq., M.A. London:
William Pickering, 1833. 8vo, pp. xxii, 260. Edition limited to 100
copies.
The Anglo-Saxon Poems of Beowulf, the Traveller’s Song, and the Battle
of Finnes-burh. Edited by John M. Kemble, Esq., M.A., of Trinity
College, Cambridge. Second edition. London: William Pickering, 1835.
8vo, pp. xxxii, 263.
A Translation of the Anglo-Saxon Poem of Beowulf, with a copious
glossary, preface, and philological notes, by John M. Kemble, Esq.,
M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge. London: William Pickering, 1837.
8vo, pp. lv, 127, appendix, 179.
First English Translation. Prose.
_The 1833 Volume._
A sufficient account of this volume is given by Professor Earle, who
says of it:--
‘The text was an improvement on Thorkelin, but still very
faulty;--to say nothing of inaccuracies from want of proper
oversight as the sheets were passing through the press. The
Glossary, though short, was a valuable acquisition ... Of this
edition only 100 copies were printed;--and it was a happy
limitation, as it left room for a new edition as early as 1835,
in which the text was edited with far greater care. All the rest
remained as before, and the Preface was reprinted word for word.’
--_Deeds of Beowulf_, pp. xix, xx.
_The Text of 1835. Kemble’s Scholarship._
But whatever may be said of the text of 1833, there is nothing but
praise for the edition of 1835. In this book the poem first had the
advantage of a modern scholarly treatment, and for the first time the
text of the MS. was correctly transcribed. It received its first
punctuation. For the first time it was properly divided into half-lines,
with attention to alliteration. The text was freely emended, but the
suggested readings were placed in the footnotes, in order not to impair
the value of the text as a reproduction of the MS. The necessity for
this was made evident by Kemble himself:--
‘But while he makes the necessary corrections, no man is justified
in withholding the original readings: for although the laws of a
language, ascertained by wide and careful examination of all the
cognate tongues, of the hidden springs and ground-principles upon
which they rest in common, are like the laws of the Medes and
Persians and alter not, yet the very errors of the old writer are
valuable, and serve sometimes as guides and clues to the inner
being and spiritual tendencies of the language itself. The reader
will moreover be spared that, to some people, heart-burning
necessity of taking his editor’s qualifications too much for
granted, if side by side he is allowed to judge of the traditional
error, and the proposed correction. I have endeavoured to
accomplish this end by printing the text, letter for letter,
as I found it.’ --Preface, pp. xxiv ff.
With this wholesome respect for the tradition of the MS., it is not
strange that Kemble’s carefully chosen emendations should stand to-day
as of high critical value, and that many of them are retained in modern
editions of the text[1]. When we compare Kemble’s book with Thorkelin’s,
the advance is seen to be little less than astonishing. Thorkelin’s
emendations were worse than useless.
Kemble had a full acquaintance with the new science of comparative
philology which was developing in Germany under Jakob Grimm. He had
corresponded, and later studied, with Grimm, and, according to William
Hunt, was the ‘recognised exponent’ of his investigations[2]. It is to
Grimm that Kemble dedicates his volumes, and to him that he repeatedly
acknowledges his indebtedness. Thus Kemble brought to the study of the
poem not only a knowledge of the Old English poetry and prose, but
acquaintance with Old Norse, Gothic, Old High German, and Old Saxon. It
may sufficiently illustrate his scholarly method to instance examples of
his treatment of the unique words in _Beowulf_. Take, e.g., the word
_hose_ in line 924. This word does not appear elsewhere in Old English;
it does not appear in Lye’s _Dictionary_, the only dictionary that was
at Kemble’s disposal. Upon this word Kemble brought to bear his
knowledge of the Germanic tongues, and by citing Goth. _hansa_, OHG.
_hansa_, &c., derived the meaning _turma_--a process in which he is
supported by a modern authority like Kluge. The study of compounds also
first began with Kemble. He collected and compared the compounds in
_heaðo._. Thus he laid the foundation of all modern studies on the Old
English compound.
_Further Critical Material Afforded by the Volume of 1837._
In the 1835 volume twenty-three words were illustrated in the above way.
But it remained for the 1837 volume to present a complete glossary of
the poem, containing also important poetic words not in _Beowulf_.
By reason of its completeness and comparative work, it remained the
standard commentary on the Old English poetic vocabulary until the
appearance of Grein’s _Sprachschatz_[3].
_Aim of Kemble’s Translation._
Like his edition of the text, Kemble’s translation is quite independent
of any preceding book; like his edition of the text, its aim was
faithfulness to the original. He adheres scrupulously to the text, save
where the original is unintelligible. The translation was designed to be
used together with the glossary as a part of the apparatus for
interpreting the poem. He therefore made it strictly literal.
‘The translation is a literal one; I was bound to give, word for
word, the original in all its roughness: I might have made it
smoother, but I purposely avoided doing so, because had the Saxon
poet thought as we think, and expressed his thoughts as we express
our thoughts, I might have spared myself the trouble of editing or
translating his poem. A few transpositions of words, &c. caused
principally by the want of inflections in New English (since we
have now little more than their position by which to express the
relations of words to one another) are all that I have allowed
myself, and where I have inserted words I have generally printed
them in italics.’ --
Postscript to the Preface, p. 1.