The Adventures of Beowulf, translated from the Old English and adapted
to the Use of Schools by Clara Thomson[1]. London: Horace Marshall and
Son, 1899. 8vo, pp. 95. In the ‘New English Series,’ edited by E. E.
Speight.
A Paraphrase in English Prose.
_Aim of the Volume._
‘It is meant mainly to arouse in children an interest in the
beginnings of our literature--a subject that is still terribly
neglected in schools. It makes no pretension to being an adequate
or satisfactory version for grown-up readers.’ --Page 6.
_Method of Paraphrase._
‘[Discrepancies in the poem] I have endeavoured to smooth over by
omission or by very slight additions; and whenever of two readings
of a doubtful passage, one is more easily comprehensible than the
other, I have always adhered to this, even if on philological
grounds it seems less probable.’...
‘Many of the episodes in the story have been greatly shortened or
altogether omitted, since they interrupt the course of the
narrative, or divert the interest from the main theme.’
--Pages 5, 6.
This statement is more modest than need be. It will be found that only
two of the episodes are passed without mention--the Prolog and the Tale
of Thrytho. The Legend of Sigemund and the Tale of Finn are rather fully
treated, and the Story of Freawaru and the Battle of Ravenswood are both
referred to. In each case the episodes are carefully woven into the
story, and that without superfluous words.
The words and sentences which are supplied are very carefully chosen,
and most of them have a prototype somewhere in the poem.