Part 15 (2/2)
The nature of the verse has been sufficiently ill.u.s.trated by the quotations from the author's preface. It would seem from the way in which the measure is used that it was a kind of second thought, incident upon the use of a line-for-line translation. It is hard to read the lines as anything but prose, and, if they appeared in any other form upon the page, it is to be questioned whether any one would have guessed that they were intended to be imitative.
_Reception of Garnett's Translation._
Garnett's volume had a flattering reception. The book received long and respectful reviews from the Germans. Professor Child and Henry Sweet expressed their approbation. The book has pa.s.sed through four editions.
This cordial welcome has been due in large measure to the increasing attention given the poem in American colleges and secondary schools.
Being strictly literal, the book has been of value as a means of interpreting the poem.
[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 71.] [[Arnold]]
[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 79.] [[Lumsden]]
GRION'S TRANSLATION
Beovulf, poema epico anglosa.s.sone del vii secolo, tradotto e ill.u.s.trato dal Dott. Cav. Giusto Grion, Socio Ordinario.
_In_ Atti della Reale Accademia Lucchese di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti.
Tomo XXII. Lucca: Tipografia Giusti, 1883. 8vo, pp. 197-379.
First Italian Translation. Imitative Measures.
_Contents._
Full discussions of (1) Mito; (2) Storia; (3) Letteratura. The latter is a fairly complete bibliography of what had been done on _Beowulf_ up to this time.
_Author's Preliminary Remarks._
'Il poema consiste di 3183 versi fra cui alcuni in frammenti che noi abbiamo cercato di completare senza alterare lettera del testo. Una mano recente lo ha diviso in 43 canti, detti in ags.
fitte; ne notiamo il numero anche nella versione. I versi che il Mullenhoff reputa interpolati, sono disposti in linee rientranti; quelli attributi ad A portano di piu questa lettera nella versione nostra interlineare, che segue la parola del testo in maniera da mantenervi anche la sinta.s.si, e s che nessuna parola d'un verso prenda posto in un' altra riga. Le parentesi quadre [ ] segnano nel testo riempiture di lacune. Nella versione sono queste segnate per lettere corsive.' --Prefazione, p. 251.
_Texts Used._
The translator makes use of all the texts and commentaries that had appeared up to his time, and even goes so far as to emend the text for himself (cf. lines 65, 665, 1107, 2561, 3150).
The Notes are rather full. They are sometimes merely explanatory; sometimes there are discussions of the MS. readings, of proposed emendations, of history, myth, &c.
_Method of Translation._
The translation is literal; the medium an imitative measure of four princ.i.p.al stresses, varied occasionally by the expanded line. The diction is simple.
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