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.
_Circumstances 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 Petit Maître) 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 Beówulf’s lay
when presented in so unattractive a Garb.’ --Pages ix, x.