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For years, the poem wasn’t given the scholarly attention it was due, until a professor in Oxford named J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a paper called “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics,” arguing the poem’s significance.<\/p>\n
He also translated the poem himself in 1926. Until now, that translation has not been accessible to the public. With guidance from Tolkien’s son, Christopher, the professor’s translation is being published.<\/p>\n
This is huge news to Old English scholars, for Tolkien is considered a banner-bearer for the language and his efforts to restore Beowulf to its rightful place in English literature are revered. My first exposure to the poem was junior high where I delighted in the story, but it was Tolkien’s influence that prompted me to actually take a course studying Old English in college.<\/p>\n
One of my favorite parts about translating the poem was the fact that we do not have a complete manuscript, nor a complete lexicon. These words of unknown significance and blank patches in the story fueled Tolkien’s imagination.<\/p>\n
For example, Earendil is one such Anglo-Saxon word for which we have no meaning but Tolkien used in Lord of the Rings<\/em> as the name of an Elvish star. The professor gleefully gleaned so much from the text that I can’t wait to read his translation and see what else he discovered.<\/p>\n The above quote, selected randomly from my stacks of paper that are my novice Beowulf translation, is a perfect example. It’s not hard to see where the idea of the talking birds that we meet in The Hobbit<\/em> could have come from.<\/p>\n For more on Tolkien’s translation, head over to The Guardian’s article here.<\/a><\/p>\n And if you’re curious and would like to know more about Old English, I can highly recommend the site Beowulf on Steorarume<\/a>, or Beowulf in Cyberspace \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n <\/p>\n