Criticism of the Translation.
The translation is a literal line-for-line version. Its superiority to its predecessors is, therefore, one with the superiority of the text on which it is founded.
The translation became at once the standard commentary on Beowulf, and this position it retained for many years. It is still the standard literal translation in Germany, none of the later versions having equaled it in point of accuracy.
[1.] For biographical facts see Grein-Wülker, Bibliothek, Band III, 2te Hälfte, p. vii.
[2.] See Grein-Wülker, Bibliothek, Vorrede.
[4.] The second edition presents no variation from this save the omission of the comma in line 501.
[ SIMROCK’S TRANSLATION]
Beowulf. Das älteste deutsche Epos. Uebersetzt und erläutert von Dr. Karl Simrock. Stuttgart und Augsburg: J. G. Cotta’scher Verlag, 1859. 8o, pp. iv, 203.