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BEOWULF

  (Page One)

Beowulf, the great Anglo-Saxon epic poem by an unknown author, was composed some time between the 8th and the 11th centuries. The text exists in only one manuscript which dates from about the year 1000. The poem was largely unknown until the first printed versions of the poem were published at the end of the eighteenth century. Soon, short English translations of various parts of the poem began to appear, and within a few decades, in 1833, the first full-length English translation was published. 

Since Beowulf is written in Old English, the earliest known form of the English language, one might assume that it would be easy to translate, at least easier than works printed in  languages more substantially different from modern English. Yet looking at the many translations of Beowulf that are available in bookstores and libraries, it's immediately apparent  that they have important differences in language, form, and style. This immediately raises the questions: Why are these translations so different? And how can I decide which, if any, is the "best" to read?

To begin answering these questions, let's look at the opening lines of the poem. The boxes below contain the original Old English version and my own literal (word-for-word) translation.

Next, in the following boxes, look at how four modern translators have rendered these lines.

You'll note that the differences begin with the translated versions of the opening word of the poem, Hwaet. This word, literally translated into modern English, means What, but  its Old English meaning is somewhat different. In Old English, when stories were told orally by a storyteller, the word Hwaet was used to get the audience's attention at the beginning of the story in the way that a phrase like Listen to this! might be used today. Translators know that just using the word What wouldn't make much sense to modern readers, so the four translators above have chosen words which they hope will convey a similar meaning. 

Immediately after Hwaet, the word Gardena is also problematic. Gardena is the name of the people who are the subjects of the poem: literally the word is translated as  Spear (Gar) -- Dane (dana). Some translations -- like those by Heaney and Liuzza in the boxes above -- use the literal translation, Spear-Dane, but others give modernized equivalents, such as Danish (in Raffel's translation) and the throne of Denmark (in Alexander's version). 

You'll also observe that each translator has made a different decision about how to translate the word æþelingas -- which, like many translators, I've translated literally as princes but which really has no modern equivalent. Liuzza refers to noble lords and Raffel to ancient kings, while Heaney calls them kings and  princes. Alexander, however, chooses to stay with the original word and calls them athelings -- a literal translation that leaves it to the reader to imagine what this might actually mean. 

Equally difficult to translate are passages describing customs and objects for which there may not be comparable words  in modern English. For example, you can see below the original passage and a literal translation of lines 1020-27 where Beowulf is being honored with gifts -- a sword, a golden banner, and a helmet and armor -- after he has killed Grendel. The gifts are highlighted in corresponding colors.

Now look at how four translators have described these gifts. Words referring to the key objects are again highlighted in corresponding colors.

You'll note that the sword of Healfdane, mentioned in the first line of the original passage and then again in the fourth line, is translated differently in each of the four versions. Lehmann's version follows the wording of the first line very closely, even using the original word, brand, without translating it. But the problem with this choice is, of course, that most modern readers probably won't realize that brand means sword.  Liuzza also follows the original wording closely, but his translation uses the word blade in place of brand. This is probably a better choice than Lehmann's since blade, in modern usage, can be used to refer to a sword. Considerably different, however, are Raffel's and Alexander's versions. The first lines of both translations omit the sword reference; instead, the sword is mentioned only in the fourth line. This omission does not make a great difference in terms of overall meaning, but it does seem to diminish the significance of the sword -- the first gift bestowed on Beowulf in the original version, and the only one to be mentioned twice.

Similar differences appear in the four translators' versions of the other two gifts.  Lehmann translates the words segen gyldenne as battle standard, broidered in gold.  Liuzza and Alexander also use standard, but they insert additional words to clarify that standard = banner.  Liuzza describes it as a golden war-standard...the bright banner while Alexander calls it a standard worked in gold, a figured battle-banner.  And Raffel omits the word standard entirely; he refers to it as a battle banner, a fitting flag. Finally, the third gift -- helm ond byrnan, literally helmet and armor -- is for Lehmann  warhelm and buckler; for Raffel a helmet, and a coat of mail; for Liuzza a helmet and byrnie; and for Alexander breast and head-armour. 

You may be wondering at this point why the translators made these different choices. If Beowulf was given a sword, why not simply call it a sword?  The answer is that translators have to consider a number of other issues besides the actual meanings of the words that are being translated. Some of these issues will be discussed on the following pages. But before you go on to the next page, please do the exercise below.

EXERCISE A.

In the boxes below you'll see four translations -- by Howell Chickering, R.M. Liuzza, Ruth P.M. Lehmann, and Michael Alexander -- of lines 620-624 of Beowulf. This passage describes the actions of the Queen of the Danes during the royal feast that takes place before Beowulf's encounter with the monster Grendel. Read these translations and then do the exercise that follows immediately below them.