The Translations of Beowulf: A Critical Bibliography

by Chauncey Brewster Tinker

[ SIMONS’S TRANSLATION]

Beówulf, Angelsaksisch Volksepos, vertaald in Stafrijm, en met Inleiding en Aanteekeningen voorzien door Dr. L. Simons, Briefwisselend Lid der Koninklijke Vlaamsche Academie voor Taal- en Letterkunde, Leeraar aan ’t koninklijk Athenaeum te Brussel. Gent, A. Siffer, 1896. Large 8^o, pp. 355.

Published for the Koninklijke Vlaamsche Academie voor Taal- en Letterkunde.

First Dutch Translation. Iambic Pentameter.

Aim and Contents of the Volume.

The author’s purpose, as stated in ‘Een Woord Vooraf,’ is to make the Beowulf better known to the Dutch public. With this in view he adds to his translation copious notes and an exhaustive comment. The titles of his various chapters are: De Beschaving in den Beowulf, Christendom, Heldensage en Volksepos, Geschiednis, Mythos, Geatas, Nationaliteit van den Beowulf, Tijd van Voltooiing, Het Handschrift, De Versbouw, Epische Stijl, Innerlijke Geschiednis. Explanatory and critical comment is given in the footnotes, and textual criticism in the Notes at the end of the volume.

Text Used.

‘I have followed the text of Socin[1]; where I have preferred to give another reading I have justified my proceeding in the Notes at the end of the work.’ —Een Woord Vooraf.

Nature of the Translation.

It is a literal translation in iambic pentameter.