IX.

UNFERTH TAUNTS BEOWULF.

[Sidenote: Unferth, a thane of Hrothgar, is jealous of Beowulf, and undertakes to twit him.]

Unferth spoke up, Ecglaf his son, Who sat at the feet of the lord of the Scyldings, Opened the jousting (the journey of Beowulf, Sea-farer doughty, gave sorrow to Unferth And greatest chagrin, too, for granted he never 5 That any man else on earth should attain to, Gain under heaven, more glory than he):

[Sidenote: Did you take part in a swimming-match with Breca?]

[Sidenote: ’Twas mere folly that actuated you both to risk your lives on the ocean.]

‘Art thou that Beowulf with Breca did struggle, On the wide sea-currents at swimming contended, Where to humor your pride the ocean ye tried, 10 From vainest vaunting adventured your bodies In care of the waters? And no one was able Nor lief nor loth one, in the least to dissuade you Your difficult voyage; then ye ventured a-swimming, Where your arms outstretching the streams ye did cover, 15 The mere-ways measured, mixing and stirring them, Glided the ocean; angry the waves were, With the weltering of winter. In the water’s possession, Ye toiled for a seven-night; he at swimming outdid thee, In strength excelled thee. Then early at morning 20 On the Heathoremes’ shore the holm-currents tossed him, Sought he thenceward the home of his fathers, Beloved of his liegemen, the land of the Brondings, The peace-castle pleasant, where a people he wielded Had borough and jewels. The pledge that he made thee 25 The son of Beanstan hath soothly accomplished.

[Sidenote: Breca outdid you entirely. Much more will Grendel outdo you, if you vie with him in prowess.]

Then I ween thou wilt find thee less fortunate issue, Though ever triumphant in onset of battle, A grim grappling, if Grendel thou darest For the space of a night near-by to wait for! 30

_Criticism of the Translation._

The translation is faithful, but not literal. The chief difference, for example, between this and the translation by Garnett is that Hall makes an attempt to preserve the poetic value of the Old English words. He is never satisfied with the dictionary equivalent of an Old English expression. Thus, in the extract given above, ‘from vainest vaunting’ is given as a translation of _dol-gilpe_--a great improvement over Garnett’s rendering, ‘for pride.’ Similarly, ‘mixing and stirring’ is given as a translation of _mundum brugdon_. This method often leads the translator some distance, perhaps too great a distance, from the Old English. The following may serve as examples of the heightened color that Hall gives to the Old English forms:--

548, ‘the north-wind whistled, fierce in our faces,’ for _norþan-wind heaðo-grim ondhwearf_.

557, ‘my obedient blade,’ for _hilde-bille_.

568, ‘foam-dashing currents,’ for _brontne ford_.

587, ‘with cold-hearted cruelty thou killedst thy brothers,’ for _ðū þīnum brōðrum tō banan wurde_.

606, ‘the sun in its ether robes,’ for _sunne swegl-wered_.

838, ‘in the mist of the morning,’ for _on morgen_.

1311, ‘As day was dawning in the dusk of the morning,’ for _ǣr-dæge_.

Perhaps these paraphrastic renderings are what Dr. Hall is referring to when he says in his preface, regarding the nature of the translation, ‘Occasionally some loss has been sustained; but, on the other hand, a gain has here and there been made.’

As for the archaism, that is well enough for those who like it. It is never so strange as that of Earle, or the marvelous diction of William Morris. But it is not, therefore, dignified or clear. How much dignity and clarity a translator has a right to introduce into his rendering is a matter of opinion. Mr. Hall was quite conscious of what he was doing, and doubtless regarded his diction as well suited to convey the original Beowulf spirit.

The chief criticism of the verse is that it is often not verse at all. Many passages are indistinguishable from prose. This is a stricture that cannot be passed on the Old English, nor on the best modern imitations of it.

The atheling of Geatmen uttered these words and Heroic did hasten. --Page 51, line 19.

In war ’neath the water the work with great pains I Performed. --Page 57, line 6.

Gave me willingly to see on the wall a Heavy old hand-sword. --Page 57, line 11.

The man was so dear that he failed to suppress the Emotions that moved him. --Page 64, line 59.

There might be an excuse for some of this freedom in blank verse, but in measures imitative of the Old English it is utterly out of place. There is always a pause at the end of a line in Old English; run-on lines are uncommon. There is not an example in _Beowulf_ of an ending so light as ’the’ or ‘a’ in the verses quoted above.

HOFFMANN’S TRANSLATION

Beówulf. Aeltestes deutsches Heldengedicht. Aus dem Angelsächsischen übertragen von P. Hoffmann. Züllichau. Verlag von Herm. Liebich (1893?). 8vo, pp. iii, 183.

*Zweite Ausgabe, Hannover, Schaper, 1900.

Sixth German Translation. Nibelungen Measures.

_The Translator._

In _Minerva_ (1902), P. Hoffmann is recorded as ‘Ord. Professor’ of Philosophy and Pedagogy at Gent.

_Aim of the Volume._

The translator desired to present a rendering of the poem that should attract the general reader. He regarded Simrock’s version as too literal and archaic[1], the version of von Wolzogen as not sufficiently clear and beautiful[2], and the version of Heyne as not sufficiently varied in form[3] (Vorwort, i). He regards the _Beowulf_ as of great importance in inspiring patriotism--he always calls the poem German--and even offers a comparison of _Beowulf_ with Emperor William I. With the scholarship of his subject the author hardly seems concerned.

_Text, and Relation of Parts._

The translation is founded on Grein’s text of 1867[4].

In addition to the translation, the volume contains articles on the history of the text, origin, the Germanic hero-tales, the episodes, the esthetic value of the poem. These are decidedly subordinate in interest to the translation.

_Nature of the Translation._

The translation is in the so-called Nibelungen measures. Archaisms and unnatural compounds are avoided.

The Finnsburg fragment is inserted in the text at line 1068, p. 44 of the volume. The episode is furnished with a beginning and ending original with Hoffmann.

EXTRACT.

VIERTES ABENTEUER.

VON BEOWULF’S SCHWIMMFAHRT.

Da hub der Sohn der Ecglaf, Hunferd, zu reden an; Er sass dem Herrn der Schildinge zu Füssen, und begann Kampfworte zu entbieten. Dass her Beowulf kam, Der kühne Meerdurchsegler, schuf seinem Herzen bitter’n Gram.

Dass unter dem Himmel habe ein andrer Recke mehr, 5 Denn er, des Ruhms auf Erden, war ihm zu tragen schwer: ‘Bist {der} Beówulf Du, der einst sich in der weiten Flut Mit Breca mass im Schwimmen? Zu hoch vermass sich da Dein Mut!

‘Ihr spranget in die Wellen, vermessen wagtet ihr Das Leben in die Tiefe, aus Ruhm und Ehrbegier! 10 Die Fahrt, die schreckensvolle, nicht Freund noch Feind verleiden Euch konnte. Also triebet im Sund dahin ihr Beiden!

‘Als ihr mit Euren Armen des Meeres Breite decktet, Die Meeresstrassen masset, die Hände rudernd recktet Durch Brandungswirbel gleitend, vom Wintersturm getrieben 15 Hoch auf die Wellen schäumten; ihr mühtet Euch der Nächte sieben!

‘So rangt ihr mit den Wogen! Da wurde Dir entrafft Der Sieg von ihm, im Schwimmen, sein war die gröss’re Kraft, Ihn trug der Hochflut Wallen am Morgen an den Strand Der Hadurämen, bald er von da die süsse Heimat wiederfand. 20

‘Im Lande der Brondinge wie gerne man ihn sah! Zu seiner schönen Feste kam er wieder da, Wo er zu eigen hatte Mannen, Burg und Ringe, Der Sohn Beanstan’s hatte geleistet sein Erbot Dir allerdinge!’

_Criticism of the Translation._

Hoffmann’s translation is certainly not a contribution to scholarship. It is a sufficient condemnation of the volume to quote the words of the Vorwort:--

‘Die Uebersetzungen von Grein, Holder und Möller sind mir nicht zugänglich gewesen, auch wie es scheint, nicht sehr bekannt.’

It is not surprising that Hoffmann is unacquainted with the translations of Holder and Möller, as these works have never been made; but that a German translator should ignore the version of Grein is a revelation indeed.

Even though a translator may not care to embody in his work any new interpretations, it is nevertheless his duty to base his translation on the best text that he can find. But apparently Hoffmann had never heard of the Heyne editions of the text, nor of the Grein-Wülker _Bibliothek_. He bases his translation on Grein’s text of 1867. He evidently considered it a sufficient recommendation of his work to associate with it the name of Grein, not troubling himself to discover what advance had been made upon the work of that scholar.

Examples of antiquated renderings may be brought forward:--

P. 1, line 1, Wie grosse Ruhmesthaten. 2, line 1, So soll mit Gaben werben im Vaterhause schon. 21, line 15 (see Extract), Vom Wintersturm getrieben Hoch auf die Wellen schäumten. 84, line 3, Mothrytho.

Petty inaccuracies due to the nature of the translation also appear. An example of this is seen on page 3, at the opening of the first canto--

Ueber Burg und Mannen nun herrschte manches Jahr Beówulf der Schilding. Wie hold dem König war Sein Volk! in allen Landen seinen Ruhm man pries Als lange schon sein Vater von dieser Erde Leben liess.

_Literary Criticism._

The translation resembles the work of Lumsden[5] and Wackerbarth[6] in affording a version of the tale easily readable. And the same criticism may be passed on the work of Hoffmann that was passed on the two Englishmen. The style and medium chosen are not well fitted to render the spirit of the poem. The _Nibelungenlied_ is a poem of the late twelfth century. The _Beowulf_ at latest belongs to the eighth. To choose for the translation of _Beowulf_, therefore, a medium surcharged with reminiscence of a time, place, and style quite different from those of the original is certainly an error. It may find an audience where another and more faithful rendering would fail; but it will never win the esteem of scholars. In his introduction Hoffmann calls attention to the lack of variety in blank verse, but surely it does not have the monotony inherent in a recurring rime and strophe.

Again, rime and strophe force upon the author the use of words and phrases needed to pad out the verse or stanza. Attention must also be called to the fact that the original seldom affords a natural pause at the exact point demanded by the use of a strophic form. See the close of the following stanzas in the Extract: I, III, IV, V. One effect of the forced pause is that there is confusion in the use of kennings, which often have to do duty as subject in one stanza and as object in another stanza.

Commonplace expressions, incident perhaps upon the use of the measure, are not unfrequent. Thus

Gesagt! gethan!

translates

ond þæt geæfndon swā (line 538).

Traces of this are also found in the extract; see beginning of last stanza.

In conclusion, it may be said that Hoffmann’s version marks an advance in one way only, readableness; and in this it is hardly superior to Heyne’s rendering, which has the advantage of scholarship.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 59.] [[Simrock]]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 68.] [[von Wolzogen]]

[Footnote 3: See supra, p. 63.] [[Heyne]]

[Footnote 4: See supra, p. 56.] [[Grein’s Texts]]

[Footnote 5: See p. 79.] [[Lumsden]]

[Footnote 6: See p. 45.] [[Wackerbarth]]

MORRIS AND WYATT’S TRANSLATION

Colophon: Here endeth the story of Beowulf done out of the old English tongue by William Morris and A. J. Wyatt, and printed by said William Morris at the Kelmscott Press, Uppermall, Hammersmith, in the county of Middlesex, and finished on the tenth day of January, 1895. Large 4to, pp. vi, 119.

Troy type. Edition limited to 300 copies on paper and eight on vellum.

Second edition. The Tale of Beowulf, Sometime King of the Folk of the Weder Geats, translated by William Morris and A. J. Wyatt. London and New York: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1895. 8vo, pp. x, 191.

Ninth English Translation. Imitative Measures.

_Differences between the First and Second Editions._

In the second edition a title-page is added. The running commentary, printed in rubric on the margin of the first edition, is omitted.

_Text Used._

The translation is, in general, conformed to Wyatt’s text of 1894, departing from it in only a few unimportant details.

_Part Taken in the Work by Morris and Wyatt respectively._

The matter is fortunately made perfectly clear in Mackail’s _Life of William Morris_, vol. ii. p. 284:--

‘(Morris) was not an Anglo-Saxon scholar, and to help him in following the original, he used the aid of a prose translation made for him by Mr. A. J. Wyatt, of Christ’s College, Cambridge, with whom he had also read through the original. The plan of their joint labours had been settled in the autumn of 1892. Mr. Wyatt began to supply Morris with his prose paraphrase in February, 1893, and he at once began to “rhyme up,” as he said, “very eager to be at it, finding it the most delightful work.” He was working at it all through the year, and used to read it to Burne-Jones regularly on Sunday mornings in summer.’

The plan of joining with his own the name of his principal teacher was one which Morris had used before when translating from a foreign tongue. He published his rendering of the _Volsunga Saga_ as the work of ‘Eirikr Magnússon and William Morris.’ There is no evidence that Mr. Wyatt had any hand in forming the final draft of the translation. In defending it, Morris took all the responsibility for the book upon himself, and he always spoke of it as his own work. In writing to a German student toward the end of his life Morris spoke of the translation as his own without mentioning Mr. Wyatt[1]. Nor has Mr. Wyatt shown a disposition to claim a share in the work. In the preface to his edition of the text of _Beowulf_ (Cambridge, 1894), he says:--

‘Mr. William Morris has taken the text of this edition as the basis of his modern metrical rendering of the lay.’ --Page xiii.

Finally, it may be added that the specimens of Mr. Wyatt’s translation printed in the glossary and notes of his book bear no resemblance to the work of Morris.

_Morris’s Theory of Translation._

None despised the merely literal rendering of an epic poem more than William Morris. In writing of his version of the _Odyssey_ to Ellis, Morris said: ‘My translation is a real one so far, not a mere periphrase of the original as _all_ the others are.’ In translating an ancient poem, he tried to reproduce the simplicity and remoteness of phrase which he found in his original. He believed it possible, e.g., to suggest the archaic flavor of Homer by adopting a diction that bore the same relation to modern English that the language of Homer bore to that of the age of Pericles. The archaism of the English would represent the archaism of the Greek. This method he used in rendering Vergil and Homer.

But when he approached the translation of _Beowulf_, he was confronted by a new problem. It was evident that fifteenth-century English was ill-adapted to convey any just notion of eighth-century English. _Beowulf_ required a diction older than that of Sir Thomas Malory or Chaucer. Hence it became necessary to discard the theory altogether, or else to produce another style which should in some true sense be imitative of _Beowulf_. This latter Morris tried to accomplish by increasing the archaism of his style by every means in his power. This feature is discussed in the following section.

_Nature of the Translation._

The translation of _Beowulf_ is written in extremely archaic language. An imitative measure of four principal stresses is used. Wherever possible, the Old English syntax has been preserved (see line 1242); the word-order of the original is retained. The archaic language is wrought of several different kinds of words. In the first place, there is the ‘legitimate archaism,’ such as ‘mickle,’ ‘burg,’ ‘bairn’; there are forms which are more closely associated with the translation of Old English, such as ‘middle-garth,’ ‘ring-stem.’ There are modern words used with the old signification, such as ‘kindly’ (in the sense ‘of the same kind’), ‘won war’ (in the sense ‘wage war’), ‘fret’ (in the sense ‘eat’). Finally, there are forms which are literally translated from Old English: ‘the sight seen once only’ from _ansȳn_, face, 251; ‘spearman’ from _garsecg_, ocean (see extract), ‘gift-scat’ from _gif-sceatt_, gift of money, 378; ‘the Maker’s own making’ from _metod-sceaft_, doom, 1180. Romance words are excluded whenever possible. A glossary of ‘some words not commonly used now’ is included in the book, but none of the words cited above, save ‘burg,’ is found in it.

EXTRACT.

IX. UNFERTH CONTENDETH IN WORDS WITH BEOWULF.

Spake out then Unferth that bairn was of Ecglaf, And he sat at the feet of the lord of the Scyldings, 500 He unbound the battle-rune; was Beowulf’s faring, Of him the proud mere-farer, mickle unliking, Whereas he begrudg’d it of any man other That he glories more mighty the middle-garth over Should hold under heaven than he himself held: Art thou that Beowulf who won strife with Breca On the wide sea contending in swimming, When ye two for pride’s sake search’d out the floods And for a dolt’s cry into deep water Thrust both your life-days? No man the twain of you, 510 Lief or loth were he, might lay wyte to stay you Your sorrowful journey, when on the sea row’d ye; Then when the ocean-stream ye with your arms deck’d, Meted the mere-streets, there your hands brandish’d! O’er the Spearman ye glided; the sea with waves welter’d, The surge of the winter. Ye twain in the waves’ might For a seven nights swink’d. He outdid thee in swimming, And the more was his might; but him in the morn-tide To the Heatho-Remes’ land the holm bore ashore, And thence away sought he to his dear land and lovely, 520 The lief to his people sought the land of the Brondings, The fair burg peace-warding, where he the folk owned, The burg and the gold rings. What to theeward he boasted, Beanstan’s son, for thee soothly he brought it about.

_Criticism of the Translation._

The Morris-Wyatt translation is thoroughly accurate, and is, so to speak, an official commentary on the text of Wyatt’s edition. It is therefore of importance to the student of the _Beowulf_.

As a literary rendering the translation is disappointing. In the first place, it must be frankly avowed that the diction is frequently so strange that it seems to modern readers well-nigh ridiculous. There are certain sentences which cannot but evoke a smile. Such are: ‘(he) spoke a word backward,’ line 315; ‘them that in Scaney dealt out the scat,’ line 1686.

Secondly, the translation is unreadable. There is an avalanche of archaisms. One example of the extreme obscurity may be given:--

‘Then rathe was beroom’d, as the rich one was bidding, For the guests a-foot going the floor all withinward.’ l. 1975-76.

It would seem that the burden of ‘rathe,’ ‘beroomed,’ and ‘withinward,’ were sufficient for any sentence to carry, but we are left to discover for ourselves that ‘rich one’ does not mean rich one, but ruler, that the ‘floor’ is not a floor but a hall, and that the guests are not guests, but the ruler’s own men.

Morris himself was conscious of the obscurity of the work:--

‘For the language of his version Morris once felt it necessary to make an apology. Except a few words, he said, the words used in it were such as he would not hesitate to use in an original poem of his own. He did not add, however, that their effect, if slipped sparingly in amid his own pellucid construction and facile narrative method, would be very different from their habitual use in a translation.... As the work advanced, he seems to have felt this himself, and his pleasure in the doing of it fell off.’ --Mackail’s _Life_, ii. 284-5.

Finally, the version does not _translate_. Words like ‘Spearman’ for _Ocean_, and combinations like ‘the sight seen once only’ for _the face_, can be understood only by the intimate student of Old English poetry, and there is no reason why such a person should not peruse _Beowulf_ in the original tongue rather than in a translation occasionally as obscure as the poem itself.

If one can peer through the darkness of Morris’s diction, he will discover a fairly pleasing use of the so-called imitative measure. The verse is not nearly so rough as the original; many of the characteristic substitutions are avoided. There is evident a tendency toward the ‘rising verse’ and the anapestic foot. The feminine ending is frequently used. The verse is, therefore, not strictly imitative in that it retains the Old English system of versification, but rather in that it attempts to suggest the Old English movement by the use of four principal stresses and a varying number of unstressed syllables. Morris’s verse is the best of all the ‘imitative’ measures.

[Footnote 1: See Mackail’s _Life_, i. 198.]

SIMONS’S TRANSLATION

Beówulf, Angelsaksisch Volksepos, vertaald in Stafrijm, en met Inleiding en Aanteekeningen voorzien door Dr. L. Simons, Briefwisselend Lid der Koninklijke Vlaamsche Academie voor Taal- en Letterkunde, Leeraar aan ’t koninklijk Athenaeum te Brussel. Gent, A. Siffer, 1896. Large 8vo, pp. 355.

Published for the Koninklijke Vlaamsche Academie voor Taal- en Letterkunde.

First Dutch Translation. Iambic Pentameter.

_Aim and Contents of the Volume._

The author’s purpose, as stated in ‘Een Woord Vooraf,’ is to make the _Beowulf_ better known to the Dutch public. With this in view he adds to his translation copious notes and an exhaustive comment. The titles of his various chapters are: De Beschaving in den Beowulf, Christendom, Heldensage en Volksepos, Geschiednis, Mythos, Geatas, Nationaliteit van den Beowulf, Tijd van Voltooiing, Het Handschrift, De Versbouw, Epische Stijl, Innerlijke Geschiednis. Explanatory and critical comment is given in the footnotes, and textual criticism in the Notes at the end of the volume.

_Text Used._

‘I have followed the text of Socin[1]; where I have preferred to give another reading I have justified my proceeding in the Notes at the end of the work.’ --Een Woord Vooraf.

_Nature of the Translation._

It is a literal translation in iambic pentameter.

‘Of the translation nothing in particular needs to be said. I have followed my original as closely as possible.’ --Een Woord Vooraf.

He adds that this was no easy task, as Dutch does not afford the same variety of simile as the Old English.

A page is then given to the discussion of the nature of his verse. He first gives his reasons for preferring iambic pentameter to the ‘Reinartsvers,’ which some might think best to use.

‘Moreover, the iambic pentameter lends itself well to division into hemistichs, the principal characteristic of the ancient epic versification.’ --Een Woord Vooraf.

He has often preferred the simple alliteration (aa, bb) to the Old English system[2].

EXTRACT.