Beowulf, an Old English Poem, translated into Modern Rhymes
Tinker's Review
Lumsden’s Translation
Beowulf, an Old English Poem, translated into Modern Rhymes, by Lieut.-Colonel H. W. Lumsden1. London: C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1881. 8o, pp. xx, 114.
Beowulf, an Old English Poem, translated into Modern Rhymes, by Lieut.-Colonel H. W. Lumsden, late Royal Artillery. Second edition, revised and corrected. London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Co., 1883. 8o, pp. xxx, 179.
Differences between the two Editions, and Indebtedness to Preceding Scholars.
In the first edition of the translation a number of passages were omitted. Some of these omissions were owing to corrupt text, some to extreme obscurity of the original, and some merely to the fact that the original was deemed uninteresting. The principal omissions were: 83–86; 767–770; 1724–1758; 1931–1963; 2061–2062; 2214–2231; 2475; 2930–2932; 3150–3156. These passages were inserted in the second edition.
‘In this edition I have endeavoured to remove some of the blunders which disfigured its predecessor. . . . Some parts have been entirely rewritten, and the passages formerly omitted . . . have been inserted. . . . A few notes have been added; and the introduction has been materially altered and, I hope, improved.’ —Preface to the Second Edition, p. v.
Aim and Nature of the Translation.
Lumsden’s desire was to produce a readable version of the poem. Thus his work resembles that of Wackerbarth2; and, like Wackerbarth, he couched his translation in ballad measures. Lumsden does not vary his measure, but preserves the iambic heptameter throughout. His lines rime in couplets.
No attempt is made to preserve alliteration or archaic diction.
The Introduction and Notes contain popular expositions of the work of preceding scholars. Several of the Notes are original and well worth while (see Notes A, C, G, M).
Texts Used.
The translation is based on Grein’s text of 18573 and Arnold’s text (1876)4. Garnett has shown5 that Lumsden ignored the 1867 text of Grein and the editions of Heyne. These defects were remedied to some extent in the second edition. Lumsden himself never emends the text.
IV. Hunferd and Beowulf.
Hunferd the son of Ecglaf spoke—at Hrothgar’s feet sat he—
And thus let loose his secret grudge; (for much did him displease
The coming of Beowulf now—bold sailor o’er the seas.
To none on earth would he allow a greater fame ’mong men
Beneath the heavens than his): ‘Art thou the same Beowulf then,
Who swam a match with Breca once upon the waters wide,
When ye vainglorious searched the waves, and risked your lives for pride
Upon the deep? Nor hinder you could any friend or foe
From that sad venture. Then ye twain did on the waters row;
10Ye stretched your arms upon the flood; the sea-ways ye did mete;
O’er billows glided—with your hands them tossed—though fiercely beat
The rolling tides and wintry waves! Seven nights long toilèd ye
In waters’ might; but Breca won—he stronger was than thee!
And to the Hathoræms at morn washed shoreward by the flood,
Thence his loved native land he sought—the Brondings’ country good,
And stronghold fair, where he was lord of folk and burg and rings.
Right well ’gainst thee his vaunt he kept.
The extract illustrates the paraphrastic nature of parts of the translation. Lumsden frequently seems to feel it necessary to read a meaning into the obscure lines and passages that do not easily lend themselves to translation; cf. lines 11, 12. At line 2258 Lumsden translates:—
The mail that bite of sword
O’er clashing shield in fight withstood must follow its dead lord.
Never again shall corselet ring as help the warriors bear
To comrades far.
The Old English from which this passage is taken reads:—
ge swylce sēo here-pād, sīo æt hilde gebād
ofer borda gebræc bite īrena,
2260brosnað æfter beorne; ne mæg byrnan hring
æfter wīg-fruman wīde fēran
hæleðum be healfe.
The passage is certainly obscure, and the readings are not all undoubted, but the words can never be tortured into meaning what Lumsden tries to make them mean.
But it would be manifestly unfair to judge a translation addressed to the general reader merely by scholarly tests. The work must make its appeal as a literary rendering.
The propriety of adopting a ballad measure may be questioned. Probably no measure could be found more unlike the Old English lines. Moreover, by reason of its long association with purely popular poetry, it constantly suggests the commonplace and the trivial. But above all, it is reminiscent of a medievalism wholly different from that of Beowulf.
The saving grace of the ballad measure is its readableness. It is rather effective in passages not too dignified, calling for action. But in passages of elevation the line is found wanting:—
They mourned their king and chanted dirge, and much of him they said;
His worthiness they praised, and judged his deeds with tender dread.
But, like Wackerbarth’s, Lumsden’s translation had the advantage of being readable.
1. Col. Lumsden’s translation of the Battle of Maldon, Macmillan’s Magazine, 55: 371, has been generally admired.
5. See American Journal of Philology, ii. p. 355.
6. From the second edition.