BEOWULF Second Edition
second edition
Facing page translation by R.M. Liuzza
broadyiew editions Contents
Acknowledgements • 7 Preface • 9 Introduction • 11 Beowulf between Myth and History • 12 Beowulf between Song and Text *18 Beowulf between Court and Cloister • 27 ! Beowulf between Old and Modern English *36 A Note on the Text • 45 A Note to the Second Edition • 47 Reading Old English • 49
Beowulf *51
Glossary of Proper Names • 247 Genealogies • 251 The Geatish-Swedish Wars • 253
Appendix A: Characters Mentioned in Beowulf • 255 1. From Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks • 255 2. From the Liber Monstrorum • 255 • 3. From Alcuin, Letter to "Speratus" (797) • 256 4. West-Saxon Royal Genealogies • 256 a. From Asser, Life of King Alfred (893) • 256 b. From ^thelweard, Chronicle • 257 5. "The Fight at Finnsburh" • 258 6. Widsith • 259
Appendix B: Analogues to the Themes and Events in Beowulf • 265 1. From Grettissaga (c. 1300) • 265 a. The Fight in the Hall • 265 b. The Fight at the Falls • 268 2. From Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum • 271 3. From Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla (c. 1223-35), Ynglinga saga • 272 4. From The Life of Saint Gildas • 273 5. From Blickling Homily 17 • 274
Appendix C: Christians and Pagans • 275 1. Gregory the Great, Letter to Abbot Mellitus (601) • 275 2. From Bede the Venerable, Ecclesiastical History of the English People • 276 3. From St Boniface, Letters • 278 a. Letter 46 (c. 738) • 278 b. Letter 73 (c. 746) • 279 4. Wulfstan, On False Gods • 281 5. Laws against Paganism • 284 a. From Wulfstan, Canons of Edgar no. 16 • 284 b. From the Laws of Cnut, 1-5 • 284
Appendix D: Contexts for Reading Beowulf • 287 1. Wulfstan, Sermo Lupi ad Anglos (1014) • 287 2. /Elfric, Life of St Edmund (c. 995) • 292 3. Vainglory (before c. 975) • 297
Appendix E: Translations of Beowulf * 301 1. Sharon Turner, The History of the Manners, Landed Property, Gov ernment, Laws, Poetry, Literature, Religion and Language of the Anglo-Saxons (1805) • 302 2. John Josias Conybeare, Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry (1826) • 303 3. J.M. Kemble, A Translation of the Anglo-Saxon Poem of Beowulf (ISIS) • 304 4. From Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Anglo-Saxon Literature," North American Review (1838) • 304 5. A. Diedrich Wackerbarth, Beowulf: An Epic Poem Translated from the Anglo-Saxon into English Verse (1849) • 306 6. John Earle, The Deeds of Beowulf (1892) • 307 7. William Morris and A.J: Wyatt, The Tale of Beowulf Sometime King of the Folk of the Weder Geats (1895) • 308 8. Francis B. Gummere, The Oldest English Epic (1909) • 308 9. William Ellery Leonard, Beowulf (1923) • 309 10. R.K. Gordon, The Song of Beowulf (1923) • 310 11. Charles W. Kennedy, Beowulf (1940) • 310 12. Edwin Morgan, Beowulf (1952) * 311 13. Burton Raffel, Beowulf (1963) • 312 14. E. Talbot Donaldson, Beowulf (1966) • 313 15. Kevin Crossley-Holland, Beowulf (\968) * 313 16. Michael Alexander, Beowulf (1913) • 314 17. Howell D. Chickering, Jr., Beowulf (1977) • 315 18. S.A.J. Bradley, Anglo-Saxon Poetry (1982) • 315 19. Stanley B. Greenfield, A Readable Beowulf (19^2) • 316 20. Ruth P.M. Lehmann, Beowulf (19%%) • 317 21. Marc Hudson, Beowulf (1990) • 318 22. Frederick Rebsamen, Beowulf (1991) • 318 23. R.M. Liuzza, Beowulf (1999) • 319 24. Seamus Heaney, Beowulf (2000) • 320
Works Cited and Recommended Reading * 321
6 CONTENTS