Part 4 (2/2)

From the words quoted above with respect to the collation, it will be seen that Conybeare in no way regarded his book as a contribution to Beowulf scholars.h.i.+p. As professor at Oxford, he attempted a literary presentation of the most beautiful parts of the old poetry. His extracts are, in general, nothing more than free paraphrases. Wis.h.i.+ng to popularize the _Beowulf_, he used as a medium of translation a peculiarly stilted kind of blank verse. He dressed the poem out in elegant phrases in order to hide the barrenness of the original.

Manifestly he feared the roughness, the remoteness of the poem in its natural state. He feared to offend a nation of readers reveling in the medievalism of Scott and Byron. A literal Latin translation was inserted to appease the scholar.

EXTRACT.

'At a single stroke he (Beowulf) cut through the ”_ringed bones_”

of her neck, and

Through the frail mantle of the quivering flesh Drove with continuous wound. She to the dust Fell headlong,--and, its work of slaughter done, The gallant sword dropp'd fast a gory dew.

Instant, as though heaven's glorious torch had shone, Light was upon the gloom,--all radiant light From that dark mansion's inmost cave burst forth.

With hardier grasp the thane of Higelac press'd His weapon's hilt, and furious in his might Paced the wide confines of the Grendel's hold[6].'

Page 58; _Beo._, 1565-75.

LATIN TRANSLATION.

... Ossium annulos fregit; telum per omnem penetravit moribundam carnem. Illa in pavimentum corruit. Ensis erat cruentus, militare opus perfectum. Effulgebat lumen, lux intus stet.i.t, non aliter quam c.u.m a clo lucidus splendet aetheris lampas. Ille per aedes gradiebatur, incessit juxta muros ensem tenens fort.i.ter a capulo Higelaci minister ira ac constantia (_sc._ Iratus et constans animi).

Pages 113, 114.

_Criticism of the Translations._

The English version is scarcely more than a paraphrase, as may easily be seen by comparing it with the literal translation into Latin. But even as a paraphrase it is unsatisfactory. By way of general criticism it may be said that, while it attains a kind of dignity, it is not the dignity of _Beowulf_, for it is self-conscious. Like _Beowulf_ it is elaborate, but it is the elaboration of art rather than of feeling. Moreover, it is freighted with Miltonic phrase, and constantly suggests the Miltonic movement. The trick of verse in line 3 is quite too exquisite for _Beowulf_. The whole piece has a straining after pomp and majesty that is utterly foreign to the simple, often baldly simple, ideas and phrases of the original. Nearly every adjective is supplied by the translator: in Old English the 'sword' is 'b.l.o.o.d.y,' in Conybeare the 'gallant sword drops fast a gory dew'; the cave becomes a mansion; the 'floor' is 'dust'--dust in an ocean cave!--'heaven's candle' becomes 'heaven's glorious torch.' The poem is tricked out almost beyond recognition.

Beowulf a.s.sumes the 'grand manner,' and paces 'the Grendel's hold' like one of the strutting emperors of Dryden's elaborate drama.

[Footnote 1: See Editor's Prefatory Notice, p. (iii).]

[Footnote 2: See Prefatory Notice, p. (v), footnote.]

[Footnote 3: See supra, pp. 14 f.] [[Turner: Third Edition]]

[Footnote 4: p. 23. Grundtvig is once mentioned in the notes, but the reference is from the editor, not the author.]

[Footnote 5: p. 29.]

[Footnote 6: Conybeare did not translate the episode of the swimming-match.]

KEMBLE'S EDITIONS

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.

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