Remind me of a verse, Beowulf edition
March 26, 2024 7:30 AM Subscribe
Many years ago I came across a small verse in an English translation of Beowulf. For whatever reason it has stuck with me, but despite searching a lot of translations since then I have been unable to locate it again.
35 years or so ago I read an English translation of Beowulf that included a description of the pool that covers the entrance to the lair of Grendel's mother. It went something like this:
A tarn so foul and fetid
A stag, harried by hunters
Would face its fate
Rather than risk
Plunging in the perilous pool
The class involved reading Beowulf in the original so there's a bare chance that it was the professor's translation. Or, god help me, my own.
I'd love to hear if it rings bells with anyone else.
35 years or so ago I read an English translation of Beowulf that included a description of the pool that covers the entrance to the lair of Grendel's mother. It went something like this:
A tarn so foul and fetid
A stag, harried by hunters
Would face its fate
Rather than risk
Plunging in the perilous pool
The class involved reading Beowulf in the original so there's a bare chance that it was the professor's translation. Or, god help me, my own.
I'd love to hear if it rings bells with anyone else.
The University of Kentucky hosts an online digital archive of Beowulf. I bet one of the archivists there could help you, if anyone can, and they'll most likely be glad to be asked.
Protip for everybody: if it's of interest to English scholars, a university somewhere has created a comprehensive digital archive. I didn't know about this archive, but googled "Beowulf digital archive" (and had to wade through a few "internet archive" results). I use the Walt Whitman Digital Archive, hosted by Iowa and Nebraska, all the time.
posted by Well I never at 7:53 AM on March 26 [2 favorites]
Protip for everybody: if it's of interest to English scholars, a university somewhere has created a comprehensive digital archive. I didn't know about this archive, but googled "Beowulf digital archive" (and had to wade through a few "internet archive" results). I use the Walt Whitman Digital Archive, hosted by Iowa and Nebraska, all the time.
posted by Well I never at 7:53 AM on March 26 [2 favorites]
It isn't Heaney, which is only from 1999 (online at the internet archive).
posted by paduasoy at 8:11 AM on March 26
posted by paduasoy at 8:11 AM on March 26
I don't know if this is helpful or not, but this is clearly lines 1368-1372 of the poem:
It also removes all the puns, which is probably for the best.
posted by Black Cordelia at 1:35 PM on March 26 [11 favorites]
ðeah þe hæðstapa hundum geswenced,If it's any help, the version you've provided is particularly nonliteral. It strips almost every adjectival phrase away, makes the pool the subject, and adds descriptions of the pool itself that only appear earlier in the text--the subject of this passage in the original poem is the hart, not the pool, and the only reference to the pool is the word "wille," which is a fairly neutral term for a well or fountain.
heorot hornum trum, holtwudu sece,
feorran geflymed, ær he feorh seleð,
aldor on ofre, ær he in wille
hafelan hydan. Nis þæt heoru stow!
It also removes all the puns, which is probably for the best.
posted by Black Cordelia at 1:35 PM on March 26 [11 favorites]
There are a large number of translations of Beowulf and no one will have quick access to them all. If I wanted to solve this question, this is what I would do: Go to http://www.paddletrips.net/beowulf/index.html
This is the most comprehensive list I know covering the time period you mention. The purpose of the site is to compare as many different translations as possible. However, only a few passages from each translation are included, so you won't find your passage itself. If it's 35 years ago then that puts us at 1989. In the left column you can go to 1989 and then start looking at all the translations from that point back. Compare each stylistically to what you quoted and pick out all the promising matches on this basis. (As Black Cordelia pointed out, this translator is using a very compressed style.) Lots of the examples will be in prose so you can rule them out instantly. Use WorldCat to locate copies of all the promising matches in libraries near you (or use interlibrary loan). Unfortunately not all of these old translations are likely to be easily available.
posted by demonic winged headgear at 8:54 PM on March 26 [3 favorites]
This is the most comprehensive list I know covering the time period you mention. The purpose of the site is to compare as many different translations as possible. However, only a few passages from each translation are included, so you won't find your passage itself. If it's 35 years ago then that puts us at 1989. In the left column you can go to 1989 and then start looking at all the translations from that point back. Compare each stylistically to what you quoted and pick out all the promising matches on this basis. (As Black Cordelia pointed out, this translator is using a very compressed style.) Lots of the examples will be in prose so you can rule them out instantly. Use WorldCat to locate copies of all the promising matches in libraries near you (or use interlibrary loan). Unfortunately not all of these old translations are likely to be easily available.
posted by demonic winged headgear at 8:54 PM on March 26 [3 favorites]
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posted by mekily at 7:39 AM on March 26