The Translations of Beowulf Part 26

_Criticism of the Paraphrase._

In many places the work is practically a translation, so closely has the original been followed. The style is agreeable and simple; but most of what is beautiful in the diction belongs to Simrock rather than to Frau Dahn.

The omissions are the most sensible that I have found in a paraphrase.

Nothing of first importance has been lost.

[Footnote 1: See p. 662.]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 59.] [[Simrock]]

STOPFORD BROOKE'S SELECTIONS

The History of Early English Literature, being the History of English Poetry from its Beginnings to the Accession of King aelfred. By Stopford A. Brooke. New York and London: The Macmillan Co., 1892. 8vo, _Beowulf_, pp. 12-92.

English Literature from the Beginning to the Norman Conquest. By Stopford A. Brooke. New York and London: The Macmillan Co., 1898.

8vo, _Beowulf_, pp. 58-83.

Digest, Running Comment, and Translation of Copious Extracts into Imitative Measures.

_Reasons for including this Book._

This volume is included here because of the great influence it has had in forming popular notions regarding the _Beowulf_. The eminence of Mr.

Brooke as a critic and as a poet has given him the attention of an audience hardly commanded by any other writer included in this paper.

Again, the number of lines actually translated by Mr. Brooke is equal to that in many of the volumes described in this section.

_Difference between the two Editions._

The account in the second volume is much shorter than that in the first; only twelve pages are given to the story of Beowulf, while the first volume gives forty-three. The later book omits all discussion of the episodes, and, although parts of the older volume are retained, the matter is, in general, re-written.

_Method of Translation._

Translated extracts accompany the story as told by Mr. Brooke.

In his Preface (p. ix), the author speaks of the futility of prose translations of poetry, and of the inadequacy of modern English media for translating the spirit of the poetry. Finally he adopts a line which he hopes will 'fulfil the needs and follow closely the peculiarities' of Old English.

'I chose after many experiments, the trochaic movement used in this book, each half-line consisting of trochees following one another, with a syllable at the end, chiefly a long one, to mark the division of the line. I varied the line as much as I could, introducing, often rashly, metrical changes; for the fault of this movement is its monotony. I have sometimes tried an iambic movement, but rarely; for this trochaic line with a beat at the end of each half-verse seemed to me to get the nearest to the sound of the Anglo-Saxon line, even though it is frequently un-similar to that line itself. I used alliteration whenever I could, and stressed as much as possible the alliterated words, and I changed the length of the line with the changes of the original.

But when I could not easily alliterate my line or stress the alliterated word, I did not try to do so.'

The author adopts an archaic diction. The word-order of the Old English is followed whenever possible.

_Text Used._

The text appears to be that of Grein-Wulker (1883).

EXTRACT[1].

There at haven stood, hung with rings the ship, Ice-bright, for the outpath eager, craft of Aethelings.

So their lord, the well-beloved, all at length they laid In the bosom of the bark, him the bracelet-giver,-- By the mast the mighty king. Many gifts were there Fretted things of fairness brought from far-off ways.-- Never heard I of a keel hung more comelily about With the weeds of war, with the weapons of the battle, With the bills and byrnies. On his breast there lay A great heap of gems that should go with him, Far to fare away in the Flood's possession[2]. --Page 26.

[Footnote 1: The swimming-match is not available for ill.u.s.tration here.]

[Footnote 2: In the second edition, the penultimate line reads, 'Jewels great and heaped,' &c.]

_Criticism of the Translation._

While the extracts cannot always be praised for their accuracy, they are, perhaps, sufficiently faithful for a popular work. When the author undertakes to emend the text for himself, or offers an original interpretation, his work is not always trustworthy. Emendations in his Beowulf selections, however, are rare.

The style of the extracts seems needlessly obscure. This is due in part to following too closely the original word-order (see lines 4 and 5 of the extract), and in part to the free use of archaic language. Mr.

Brooke does not hesitate to employ such forms as, 'house-carles,'

'grit-wall,' 'ness-slopes,' 'host-shafts,' 'war-wood,' 'gold-flaked shields,' 'grinning-masked helms,' which it would seem must be quite unintelligible to the majority of Mr. Brooke's readers.

The verse, which has been fully discussed above, is, perhaps, the most satisfactory feature of Mr. Brooke's work. Of course it is not strictly imitative, as he himself explains, but it gives a fairly good impression of the movement of the Old English verse.

MISS RAGOZIN'S PARAPHRASE

Tales of the Heroic Ages. Siegfried, the Hero of the North, and Beowulf, the Hero of the Anglo-Saxons, by Zenade A. Ragozin. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, 1898. 8vo, _Beowulf_, pp. 211-323, with Note at p. 323, and with four ill.u.s.trations by George T. Tobin.

School Edition, New York, W. B. Harison, 1900.

A Paraphrase in English Prose.

_The Author, and the Aim of her Book._

Miss Zenade Alexeievna Ragozin, a Russian by birth, an American by adoption, has devoted herself to the popularization of history and mythology. In the series _Stories of the Nations_, she has published, _The Story of Chaldea_, _The Story of a.s.syria_, _The Story of Media, Babylon, and Persia_, _The Story of Vedic India_. Of late she has turned her attention to the mythology of the various European nations, and has written of Siegfried, Frithjof, and Roland.

The object of her work may be given in her own words:--

'(The series is) intended as parallel reading to history, and planned to ill.u.s.trate history.... Great changes are coming over the schools, ... changes in the right direction, which may shortly amount to a revolution, when there will be no reason why these _Tales of the Heroic Ages_ should not, although addressed to young people at large, find a place, if not in the school curriculum, at least in the wide margin of so-called 'Supplementary Reading.' May they prove acceptable, not alone to the young, to whom they are specially addressed, but also, as has been felicitously said, to "the old with young tastes."' --Pages xx, xxii.

_Method of Paraphrase._