Indebtedness to Preceding Scholars.
In his translation Dr. Hall seems to be most indebted to the work of Professor Earle[4] (see lines 4, 71, 517, 852, 870, 926, 996, 1213, 1507, 2021, 3034, &c.).
Frequent reference is also made to the work of Cosijn, Aanteekeningen op den Beowulf (1892). The work of other scholars, such as Bugge, Heyne, Socin, is also referred to.
Nature of the Translation.
The translation is a literal prose version. It is constantly interrupted by bits of running comment, designed to overcome the inherent obscurity of the poem, or to afford an elaborate digest of the story if read without the translation (p. 7).
The rendering avoids archaisms.
Bugge’s restoration is used at line 3150; the passage at line 2215 is not restored.