Part 21 (2/2)

J. R. C. HALL'S TRANSLATION

Beowulf, and the Fight at Finnsburg, a translation into modern English prose, with an Introduction and Notes, by John R. Clark Hall, M.A., Ph.D. With twelve ill.u.s.trations[1]. London: Swan Sonnenschein and Company, Lim., 1901. 8vo, pp. xlv, 203.

Tenth English Translation. Prose.

_Translator, and Circ.u.mstances of Publication._

Hitherto Dr. Hall had been chiefly known to the learned world for his excellent _Anglo-Saxon Dictionary for Students_.

Up to this time no prose translation had appeared in England since 1876, save Earle's[2], which for the elementary student was practically useless. Moreover, this translation was the first to embody the results of various studies on the poem during the past decade.

_Contents._

Unlike the preceding works on _Beowulf_, it may be said that the introductory and ill.u.s.trative matter in this book is of quite as much importance as the translation. The author says of his book:--

'The following pages comprise a short statement of what is actually known with respect to the poem of _Beowulf_, another statement of what seems to me most likely to be true amongst the almost innumerable matters of conjecture concerning it, and a few words of literary appreciation.' --Introduction, p. ix.

Statements similar to these have been put forth by other translators of the poem, but the material of their volume has not always borne them out. The studies of the poem in the Introduction are sufficient for a school edition of _Beowulf_--a similar body of information is not found in any of the existing editions--while annotations of some importance to the elementary student are found in the notes and running comment. The book contains, beside the translation, a discussion of the form, language, geographical allusions, date, and composition of the poem, as well as a useful, though inaccurate, bibliography[3].

_Text Used._

The translation is founded on the text of A. J. Wyatt, Cambridge, 1894.

Dr. Hall does not always follow the interpretations given in Wyatt's glossary, nor is the punctuation of the translation conformed to that of the Old English text.

_Indebtedness to Preceding Scholars._

In his translation Dr. Hall seems to be most indebted to the work of Professor Earle[4] (see lines 4, 71, 517, 852, 870, 926, 996, 1213, 1507, 2021, 3034, &c.).

Frequent reference is also made to the work of Cosijn, _Aanteekeningen op den Beowulf_ (1892). The work of other scholars, such as Bugge, Heyne, Socin, is also referred to.

_Nature of the Translation._

The translation is a literal prose version. It is constantly interrupted by bits of running comment, designed to overcome the inherent obscurity of the poem, or to afford an elaborate digest of the story if read without the translation (p. 7).

The rendering avoids archaisms.

Bugge's restoration is used at line 3150; the pa.s.sage at line 2215 is not restored.

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