Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, together with Sellic Spell by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 5 of 5 stars Respect for Artistry Increased by Study The story of Beowulf is well known: the young hero sails from Geatland to Denmark with his retinue to deal with Grendel, a greedy descendant of Cain who for twelve years has been killing and eating anyone who spends the night in the magnificent mead hall of Hrothgar, King of the Danes. Nothing will end this “feud” between monster and men. Enter young Beowulf of the prodigious appetite and strength, eager for hand-to-hand combat ‘cause he’s heard that Grendel wields no weapons. Their grapple shakes the hall and leaves Beowulf gripping a grisly trophy. Then he must face Grendel’s dread dam in her submarine lair. The epic doesn’t stop there, but fast forwards fifty years to when the hero is the old Geatish king and must test wyrd once more to deal with a fire-breathing dragon who, after someone steals a cup from his treasure horde, starts flying around torching the country. In addition to those conflicts between men and monsters, throughout the poem there is plenty of background violence between peoples and kinsmen, highlighting the fleeting nature of life and the power of fate. In that context, we must try to be loyal and brave, for death is better than a life of shame, and sometimes wyrd will help the person who courageously tries, though it can get you even then. The poem builds a grim, grand power that ends with a forecast of sad days for the Geats. If that’s all there were to the 8th-century poem, it would be an exciting legend and an interesting artifact, but something more turns it into an epic worthy of rereading. For one thing, the Beowulf poet works in a large amount of historical and legendary background to create a rich, dark cultural texture: gift giving, lineage listing, speech making, lay singing, and funeral performing, as well as feats, feuds, wars, murders, marriages, betrayals, triumphs, good and bad heroes and kings. Superimposed over the pagan Scandinavian tale is a recently-converted Christian vision referring to God and hell and the like, which endows the poem with a kind of double ethos. I’ve read different translations of the poem. Francis Gummere writes alliterative verse, so if that’s what you like, his version (1910) would be appealing, while if you have a poetry-phobia Talbot Donaldson’s prose version (1966) would be fine. J. R. R. Tolkien’s 1926 version published in 2014 falls in between those two, for, rather than replicating the alliteration and rhythm of the original Old English, he aims at accuracy and readability and writes what reads like prose silently, but which often sounds like poetry when read aloud. Here are three parts to compare: Unhallowed wight, grim and greedy, he grasped betimes, wrathful, reckless, from resting-places, thirty of the thanes, and thence he rushed fain of his fell spoil, faring homeward, laden with slaughter, his lair to seek. (Gummere) The creature of evil, grim and fierce, was quickly ready, savage and cruel, and seized from their rest thirty thanes. From there he turned to go back to his home, proud of his plunder, sought his dwelling with that store of slaughter. (Donaldson) That accursed thing, ravenous and grim, swift was ready; thirty knights he seized upon their couch. Thence back he got him gloating over his prey, faring homeward with his glut of murder to seek his lairs. (Tolkien) I can’t say that Tolkien’s translation is better or worse than the others. Anyway, the best part for me of his version is the detailed Notes and Commentary written decades ago by Tolkien for his classes and edited by his son Christopher. Tolkien paraphrases passages from the poem that I carelessly skimmed, like the exchanges between Beowulf and Hrothgar, and reveals their implied meanings so as to enrich the poem. He also explains the references to older legends and histories, compares the poem to things like Gawain and the Green Knight, speculates on how the monk transcribed the pagan poem not long after his people had converted to Christianity, and so on. Tolkien says about the Beowulf poet, “he was not as has been supposed a mere dragger-in of old tales,” but a master manipulator of a “great nexus of interwoven ‘historical legend’, concerning English origins, and the great royal and noble houses.” He also memorably says, “History has a way of resembling myth: partly because both are ultimately the same stuff. If no man had ever fallen in love at first sight, and found old feuds to lie between him and his love, the god Frey would never have seen Gerthr [daughter of the giant Gymir].” Indeed, the legends and histories woven into the background of Middle-Earth reveal one of the ways in which Tolkien’s loving study of Beowulf influenced his creation of The Hobbit and LOTR. Tolkien also explains “cruces” in the poem, tricky translation points that have challenged scholars. Some of the fine points of grammar and etymology go beyond what I need to know, but often they soar with humor and historical and literary interest, as in the accounts of Old English words like “wyrd,” “ellen,” and especially “ealuscerwen” and “wrecca.” “Ealuscerwen” (ghastly fear) is difficult to translate because it appears only once in all extant Old English writing, in Beowulf. It is made by joining the words “ealu” (ale) and “scerwen” (deprive) and occurs when some warriors are terrified by Grendel, so that, perhaps, the men were as afraid of facing the monster as they were of having their ale (joy in life) taken from them! By contrast, “wrecca” (exile) appears multiple times in Beowulf and other Old English texts, and it leads by a negative line to modern English’s “wretch” (it’s difficult to live as an exile or outlaw like Grendel) and by a positive one to German “Rocke,” or knight/hero (a lone wolf exile can perform heroic feats far from home like Beowulf). After the Notes and Commentary comes “Sellic Spell” (wonder tale), Tolkien’s retelling of the epic playing up the fairy tale elements and playing down the historical ones. Beowulf is Beewulf (having been found as an infant living with honey-loving bears), Unferth Unfriend, and Grendel Grinder. Beewulf is accompanied on his Heorot adventure by a man with super strength gloves and by a man with a super spear. It’s entertaining and amusing. After “Sellic Spell” come two engaging modern English rhyming poems that Tolkien wrote long ago and recited to little boy Christopher: “Beowulf and Grendel” and “Beowulf and the Monsters.” Of this 2014 book by Tolkien and son, then, the epic occupies about 95 pages, the peripheral materials about 270. Finally, although I find Homer’s epics more entertaining, moving, humorous, substantial, and illuminating than Beowulf, the later epic is austerely and grandly appealing. As Tolkien says, “the degree of respect you have for the artistry (or at least for the thoughtful care) with which Beowulf was composed. . . is, I think, increased by study.” Yes! View all my reviews
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