The present translator has tried to avoid these two extreme... ...dition in the Riverside Lit- erature Series. who remembered much, a great many The difficulty of translating Beowulf from its compact, metrical, alliterative form in Old English into any modern language is considerable, matched by the large number of attempts to make the poem approachable, and the scholarly attention given to the problem. Old English audiences, too, were comfortable with the use of many inexact synonyms to provide varying sounds to suit the alliterative scheme, without necessarily adding much to the meaning of the poem; Liuzza gives the example of "king", which might for example be rendered cyning, dryhten, hyrde, ræswa, sigedryhten, þeodcyning, weard, or wine, meaning if interpreted literally "king", "lord", "shepherd", "prince", "victorious lord", "king of the people", "guardian", and "friend". Beowulf: A New Translation Maria Dahvana Headley Scribe 176pp £9.99 Laura Varnam is Lecturer in Old and Middle English Literature at … song sorgcearig, | sǣde geneahhe, By his sovran he sat, come safe from battle, kinsman by kinsman. Venuti explains domesticating as "suppressing the linguistic and cultural differences of the foreign text, assimilating it to dominant values in the target-language culture, making it recognizable and therefore seemingly untranslated". [49], The exact combination of effects used in the original cannot, as Alexander has stated, be echoed line by line, but the translator can attempt to achieve some equivalent mix of effects in a passage as a whole. google_ad_height = 600; Rhyme is used only "gratuitously, and for special effects. 'Greetings to Hrothgar. Aa. sund wið sande; | secgas bǣron bāt under beorge. 440 þær gelyfan sceal is 'c'est là que dormira'; 1. World Heritage Encyclopedia™ is a registered trademark of the World Public Library Association, a non-profit organization. 32 hringedstefna is 'à la proue sonore' (! Scyld's heir, in Northern lands. [38], Morris's Beowulf is one of the few distinctively foreignizing translations. Thus, Tolkien explains, the poet uses beorn and freca to mean "warrior" or "man", this last a usage already then restricted to heroic poetry; at the time, beorn was a variant of the word for bear, just as freca was another word for wolf, and the audience expected and enjoyed hearing such words in the special circumstance of a performance by a scop. //-->. Aa. þā wæs æfter wiste | wōp ūp āhafen, mōdceare mǣndon, | mondryhtnes cwealm; From kindreds a many the mead‑settles tore; J. R. R. Tolkien, in his 1940 essay "On Translating Beowulf", stated that it was not possible to translate each Old English word by a single word and create a readable modern English text. On Translating Beowulf is the title of J.R.R. (pp. 312 hildedeor is 'le guetteur au cheval de guerre'; 1. wíde cápes by the wáves: | to wáter's énd – little courtesy was shown in allowing me to pass Whereas, he argues, the Old English word hlaford, meaning 'lord' (which derives from it) was all that was left of the antique hlafweard (which originally meant 'bread-keeper', 'loaf-guard') in daily speech, the poetic phrases used in verse retained echoes of another world: Tolkien states that he is going to give an account of Old English metre using modern English, bringing out "the ancestral kinship of the two languages, as well as the differences between them". at the hell that was to come: more of the same. sīð Bēowulfes | snyttrum styrian, Hall further comments that in 'Lays of Beleriand', Tolkien failed to heed his own warning against archaism, as he uses the word "weird" archaically to mean 'fate' (OE 'wyrd'), and speculates that this may have been a reaction against the "rigidity and formality of translating authentic Anglo-Saxon literature. 489 on sæl meoto is mange avec joie' (!).". ōretmecgas | æfter æþelum frægn: Old English alliteration, then, is an "agreement of the stressed elements in beginning with the same consonant, or in beginning with no consonant. It has been poorly received by critics including Morgan, who called it "disastrously bad" and "often more obscure than the original", but later scholars such as Roy Liuzza, author of an admired Beowulf, are more accepting; Liuzza writes that Morris was "trying to recreate the experience of reading Beowulf in the depth of its history". wordum wrixlan; | ... At times the king's thane, [36] In his view, any domesticating translation is "scandalous". For example, dips (between lifts) were usually monosyllabic, but the number of syllables was not limited by Old English metre, so a series of weak syllables was permitted in a half-line. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Translating Beowulf. Tolkien gives as an example beorn, which meant both 'bear' and 'warrior', but only in heroic poetry could it be used to mean 'man'. dēaðfǣge dēof; | siððan drēama lēas the fine-forged mesh of his gleaming mail-shirt, lamentation. . and weave his words. We started off with a discussion to get everyone thinking, and we’ll be down in the comments to chat with you as soon as you’re done reading! It was first published in 1940 as a preface contributed by Tolkien to a translation of Old English poetry; it was first published as an essay under its current name in the 1983 collection The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays. She recalls her own Beowulf studies with "a huge stack of dictionary and grammar books", and draws attention to Tolkien's comment that "Perhaps the most important function of any translation used by a student is to provide not a model for imitation, but an exercise for correction. "[11] Magennis argues that, Angles, J. R. R. Tolkien, British Library, Anglo-Saxon paganism, Christianity, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, World War I, High fantasy, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, Oxford University Press, Colleges of the University of Oxford, Jesus College, Oxford, J. R. R. Tolkien, Chivalry, Courtly love, Eve, Geoffrey Chaucer, Beowulf, J. R. R. Tolkien, Literature, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Michael D. C. Drout, Douglas Hofstadter, Language, Artificial intelligence, Translation, Consciousness, The Hobbit, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, HarperCollins. away with a will in their wood‑wreathed ship. This, just 19 lines of verse in the metrical style of Old English, contrasts with the prose of, Gilsdorf, Ethan (18 May 2014). had made such way that those sailors saw the land, He notes that a readable translation cannot always translate an Old English (OE) word the same way; thus eacen is rendered 'stalwart', 'broad', 'huge', and 'mighty', correctly in each case to fit the context, but losing the clue to the word's special meaning, "not 'large' but 'enlarged'". google_ad_height = 90; Oft then Scyld the Sheaf‑son from the hosts of the scathers, [17], In 1680, the poet John Dryden proposed that translations could be classified according to how faithful or free they set out to be:[20], metaphrase [...] or turning an author word for word, and line by line, from one language into another; paraphrase [...] or translation with latitude, where the author is kept in view by the translator so as never to be lost, but his words are not so strictly followed as his sense, and that, too, is admitted to be amplified but not altered; and imitation [...] where the translator – if he has not lost that name – assumes the liberty not only to vary from the words and sense, but to forsake them both as he sees occasion; and taking only some general hints from the original, to run division on the ground-work, as he pleases. It is a tale as old as time, passed down through stories around the campfire, told through the ancient lips of our ancestors. Sadly they complained of their grief Tolkien does not accept the etymological fallacy either: mod means 'pride', not 'mood'; burg is 'stronghold', not 'borough', even though the modern word derives from the old one. much noise in the morning. Soon the boat was launched and afloat eoletes æt ende. Then for that sailing ship the journey was at an end. And Helmets grim, and Hawberks grey. Prelude of the Founder of the Danish House Chapter 1 The translation is a reimagining of what Beowulf means, consciously locating its possibilities in our recent political history as Americans and in the last thousand years of violence. Magennis writes that Tolkien "goes on to provide such a defence" by insisting that "Clark Hall" was offered not to enable people to judge the original poem or to substitute for it, but "to provide an aid to study." He also uses the works of earlier translators of Beowulf to give hilarious examples of what to avoid when translating an ancient text. Oft Scyld Scefing | sceaþena þreatum, /* 728x90, created 7/15/08 */ Beowulf’s coming was quickly told, —. "[22], The Green Man Review comments that Tolkien's "emphasis as a translator was on selecting the word that best fit the tone of the poem. Wedera lēode | on wang stigon, [8] And this is just an example, Tolkien points out, of a minor challenge to the translator. the cliffs beside the ocean gleaming, truly bound together; he began again grǣge syrcan, | ond grīmhelmas, Hæbbe ic mærða fela: One of his hall-troop. 70 æfre gefrunon is 'célebréraient à jamais'; 1. Secondly, it does not depend on letters, as in modern English alliteration, but on sounds. Read Beowulf here, with side-by-side No Fear translations into modern English. bound on the voyage they had eagerly [Headley's] Beowulf is a tragicomic epic about the things men do to impress one another. In Magennis's view, even if this is considered unsuccessful, it "must be seen as a major artistic engagement with the Old English poem". Fretwork: On Translating Beowulf, Seamus Heaney As the text of Holy Scripture, the written Word of God and the ultimate source of authority, St Jerome's translation of the Bible was enshrined for centuries not as an authorised version but as the pristine word itself. þæt ðā līðende | land gesāwon, 'ship') and that the language chosen by the poet was already archaic at that moment. "The Theory and Practice of Alliterative Verse in the Work of J.R.R. desired, pushed off their well-braced sand churned in surf, warriors loaded He notes that there are three words for boat and for wave, five for men, four for sea: in each case some are poetical, some normal. To quote from W.J. The stressed syllables in each half contained alliterating sounds in six possible patterns, which Tolkien illustrates using modern English. [39][40] The novelist Maria Dahvana Headley's 2020 translation is relatively free, domesticating and modernising, though able to play with Anglo-Saxon-style kennings, such as rendering aglæca-wif as "warrior-woman", meaning Grendel's mother. and of the death of their king. On Translating Beowulf is an essay by J. R. R. Tolkien which discusses the difficulties faced by anyone attempting to translate the Old English heroic-elegiac poem Beowulf into modern English. bóund fást their bóat. until in due hour upon the second day her curving beak ...', Magennis comments of Heaney's version of these lines that he greatly develops the Old English image with his vigorous description, noting that he "is particularly attracted to the net and sewing/weaving metaphors" that the Beowulf poet used of chain mail, and that Heaney consistently associates armour with "webbing". sē ðe ealfela | ealdgesegena 226 sæwudu sældon, syrcan hrysedon is 'ils rangèrent leurs rames, laissèrent leurs cottes de mailles' [near '450' in image]; 1. Where hell engulfed him. Check if you have access via personal or institutional login. She tore her hair and screamed her horror "Le poème Anglo-Saxon de Beowulf by Hubert Pierquin". [47], Liuzza notes that Beowulf itself describes the technique of a court poet in assembling materials:[48]. swylce giōmorgyd | Gēatisc mēowle The poet used high-sounding language to represent the heroic in the distant past. Ic wæs þǣr inne | ond þæt eall geondseh, Earlier this month, DRAB chose Maria Dahvana Headley’s new translation of Beowulf as the first book to review and discuss. The text of this edition is based on that published as The Nibelungenlied, translated by Daniel B. Shumway (H... ...ions made thus far have succeeded in doing this. Benjamin Thorpe translated Beowulf in 1865 into verse with caesura, but also with very literal meaning and erratic alliteration. saving…. 'Hwanon ferigeað gē | fǣtte scyldas, to-read typescript of a prose translation of Beowulf translating lines 1–2112 of the poem, B(i), is supplemented with a manuscript transla- tion of the rest of the poem, B(ii). He also notes that sentences generally stop in the middle of a line, so "sense-break and metrical break are usually opposed. Beowulf: A Verse Translation for Students – Edward L. Risden (2013) This translation is also intended for readers who have not studied Old English. But Tolkien was skeptical of converting this Old English poem into modern English. I pray explain,—  ', The poet and Beowulf translator Edwin Morgan stated that he was seeking to create a rendering in modern English that worked as poetry for his own age, while accurately reflecting the original. ); 1. thence the men of the Windloving folk climbed swiftly up the beach, sōðe gebunden— | secg eft ongan "[18] In the second half-line, only the first lift may alliterate: the second must not. And Sheaf of spears ? [43] Thus, after Wiglaf has had to kill the dragon to enter its mound, he narrates that his reptilian host showed him "little courtesy" for his visit.[43]. To substantiate this statement we append a few of the choicer specimens culled from the first seven hundred lines, which will, we trust, dispense us from specifying errors in other parts of the book. and made fast the sea-borne timbers of their ship; Tolkien, The Monsters and the Critics (HarperCollins, London, 1997)". google_ad_slot = "6416241264"; Magennis described Morgan's 1952 version "as being on a different level poetically from any translation of the poem that had been produced up until that time and a very significant piece of work in its own right",[31] and "varied, graceful, intelligent and at times exciting". ); 1. in the vessel's hold, then heaved out, google_ad_client = "ca-pub-2707004110972434"; In the passage, Morgan translated nicera not as the cognate "necks" or "nixies" but as "krakens". Are you certain this article is inappropriate? Waters were seething, the dreadful wave-sweep "[17] He remarked that whereas he once thought prose renderings of poetry "useless", and most prose translations "drab", experience with several verse translations, and especially George N. Garmonsway's[a] prose[19] with its "dignity and rhythmical shape", changed his mind; and in any case in his view a poetic translation "is an equivalent, not a substitute". The soldiers, in in close under the cliffs. "Beowulf" is the oldest surviving epic poem in Old English literature. WHEBN0004383227 vessel. the shíp had jóurneyed. Excessive Violence It's as fierce an examination of masculine weakness as The Mere Wife was of feminine strength. In the essay, Tolkien explains the difficulty of translating individual words from Old English, noting that a word like eacen ('large', 'strong', 'supernaturally powerful') cannot readily be translated by the same word in each case. In the case of compound words, Tolkien observes that the translator has to. He also cites Tolkien's insistence that "the Modern English of prose Beowulf translations should be 'harmonious' and should avoid 'colloquialism and false modernity'. [8] The compact half-line phrases are often made indirect with kennings like banhus, "bone-house", meaning "body", but also implying the brief span of life while the soul is housed in the body. He used inventive compounds to represent Old English kennings, and sometimes incorporated alliteration. However, he still became one of the primary Beowulf scholars thanks to his 1936 lecture and essay 'Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.' [8] The word implies, in fact, supernatural or superhuman power, like Beowulf's gift from God of "thirtyfold strength". and magnificent war‑equipment amidships,          Political / Social. | Beornas gearwe google_ad_width = 728; ond on spēd wrecan | spel gerāde, [3] Tolkien, the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford, had himself attempted a prose translation of Beowulf, but abandoned it, dissatisfied;[4] it was published posthumously, edited by his son Christopher Tolkien as Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary in 2014.[5]. and her cúrving prów | on its cóurse wáded, Penned in the Margins acquires ‘vital and moving’ poetry debut by Gail McConnell. [29], Wright's 1957 prose translation is somewhat modernising, aiming for a plain "middle style" between archaism and colloquialism under the banner "better no colours than faked ones", but striving to be as faithful as possible. New York Times. All stirred turbid, gore-hot, the deep Liuzza comments that wrixlan (weaving) and gebindan (binding) evocatively suggest the construction of Old English verse, tying together half-lines with alliteration and syllable stresses, just as rhyme and metre do in a Shakespearean sonnet. Basically, Beowulf is an old poem about a warrior who kills a couple of demons, becomes a king, then gets killed by a dragon. Now it is the end of the month, so let’s get to it. 231 beran ofer bolcan is 'suspendre aux mats'; 1. by a Geatish woman, louder than the rest. Hall, Mark F. (2006). hāton heolfre, | heorodrēore wēol; worn gemunde | —word ōþer fand that there in the court the clansmen’s refuge, the shield-companion sound and alive, hale from the hero-play homeward strode. Funding for USA.gov and content contributors is made possible from the U.S. Congress, E-Government Act of 2002. | Ne seah ic elþēodige full of grand stories, mindful of songs, [23], Burton Raffel writes in his essay "On Translating Beowulf" that the poet-translator "needs to master the original in order to leave it", meaning that the text must be thoroughly understood, and then boldly departed from. þæt hīo hyre hearmdagas | hearde ondrēde, On the other hand, abandoning the attempt and translating into prose at once loses much of the appeal of the original, though this has not deterred many authors from using the approach. Here, Beowulf sets sail for Heorot in the poet David Wright's popular and frequently reprinted Penguin Classics prose version,[12] and in Seamus Heaney's prize-winning[13] verse rendering, with word-counts to indicate relative compactness: Fyrst forð gewāt; | flota wæs on ȳðum, those séafàrers | sáw befóre them Tolkien contributed "On Translating Beowulf" as a preface entitled "Prefatory Remarks on Prose Translation of 'Beowulf'" to the 1940 edition of C.L. | Their býrnies ráttled, In the first half-line, both lifts can alliterate; the stronger one must do so. wundenstefna | gewaden hæfde, [22] The poet Matthew Arnold wrote in 1861 that the reader "should be lulled into the illusion that he is reading an original work". hȳnðo ond hæftnȳd. of the race of men in the high hall. [24][25] Magennis writes that this produces "an extremely free imitative verse", at the cost of often misrepresenting the poem, in Raffel's 1963 translation. oð þæt ymb āntīd | ōþres dōgores Alexander comments that such "grim humour" lives on in the northeastern parts of England where the Vikings settled. the criminal meant to entrap some one Ðǣr wæs on blōde | brim weallende, ... | Higum unrōte Tolkien, J.R.R. against the beach. Tolkien began translating Beowulf in the mid-1920s while a young professor at the University of Leeds. "[20] His version of this captures the rhyme and the alliteration, as well as the meaning: Tolkien ends the essay with an analysis of lines 210-228 of Beowulf, providing the original text, marked up with stresses and his metrical patterns for each half-line, as well as a literal translation with poetical words underlined. adeptly tell an apt tale, domesticating it. Tolkien lays down three rules of Old English alliteration. fléet, fóam-thròated | like a flýing bírd; atol ȳða geswing | eal gemenged, I keep each modern English half-line matched against its Old English counterpart, but the order of the words within the half-line is re-arranged, if necessary, to be more natural for the modern English-speaker. Learn about Author Central. | Heofon rēce swealg. Online publication date: April 2011. ... Ungrievous seemed and stowed a cargo of polished armour Tolkien divides his discussion between word choice and poetic meter, //-->, This article will be permanently flagged as inappropriate and made unaccessible to everyone. they léaped to lánd, | lórds of Góthland, In fact, here you’ll find two versions of this translation. full harness, came aboard by the prow Tolkien explains: "[here] the special effect (breakers are beating on the shore) may be regarded as deliberate. Slashing and stabbing with the sharpest of points. And saw how he had left on his way from that place – heresceafta hēap ? Beowulf is a Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation, and selections from it won the Times Stephen Spender Prize for Translation. Beowulf is an Old English epic poem written anonymously around 975 AD. Sedgefield, W.J. Other variations included breaking a lift into two syllables, the first short but stressed, the second weak, with for instance 'vĕssel' in place of 'boat'.
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