Bëówulf, dasz[1] älteste deutsche in angelsächsischer mundart erhaltene
heldengedicht nach seinem inhalte, und nach seinen historischen und
mythologischen beziehungen betrachtet. Ein beitrag zur geschichte alter
deutscher geisteszustände. Von H. Leo. Halle, bei Eduard Anton, 1839.
8vo, pp. xx, 120.
Selections Translated into German Prose.
_Contents of the Volume, and Nature of the Translation._
This was the first German book to give any extended account of the poem.
The titles of the chapters are: I. Historische Anlehnung; II. Mythischer
Inhalt; III. Die geographischen Angaben; IV. Genealogische Verhältnisse
der in dem Liede vorkommenden Helden; V. Uebersicht des Inhalts des
Gedichtes von Bëówulf. In this fifth chapter are found the extracts from
_Beowulf_. It will be seen that the chapter is somewhat subordinate to
the others, its chief purpose being to furnish a kind of digest of the
poem, to be used principally as a work of reference. A desire to
condense leads the translator to omit lines that he does not deem
essential to an understanding of the events and characters of the poem.
Unfortunately his omissions are often the most poetical lines of the
_Beowulf_. For example, he omits the description of Beowulf’s
sea-voyage; Hrothgar’s account of the haunt of Grendel and his dam is
curtailed; the dying words of Beowulf, perhaps the most beautiful lines
in the poem, are clipped. Further examples may be found in the extract
given below. This insufficiency is excused by the fact that Leo’s main
object in preparing the book was to prove certain theories that he held
respecting the origin and date of the poem.
The text from which he translates is Kemble’s[2].