Beowulf Translation Debate

The idea for comparing translations of Beowulf as a class exercise in close reading is not mine, but a fellow graduate student's. However, I did modify this exercise to make the group work a bit more dynamic; the students were then required to debate the merits of their translation.



What makes a better translation?
What makes better literature?
How do you challenge someone else's opinion on literature using an identifiable set of criteria?
How do you develop this set of criteria?

I was evaluated based on this class, and it went really well.

The other important thing to note is that you should give them this hand out in advance. When I did this set of debates, I gave them a day to prepare. When I later gave them a week to prepare, the results were much better. 

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Tomorrow in class we will be discussing various translations of the same passage from Beowulf. Please read the translations, and then use the following questions to help draw comparisons between them.

1. How does the form of this translation make use of oral poetic characteristics? (alliteration, repetition, spacing, etc) [NB: I have recreated the text exactly as it appears on the page, including commas, spaces, justifications. Take that into consideration, also!]
2. What kind of imagery is used in the passage?
3. What word choices does the translator make?
4. What can you infer about the translator's intent based on the language? (academic, storytelling, etc) What are the benefits of the intent that the translator uses?
5. Does the passage reflect the model of the heroic mode? How?

Translation #1 (Seamus Heaney):

So times were pleasant for the people there

100 until finally one, a fiend out of hell,

began to work his evil in the world.

Grendel was the name of this grim demon

haunting the marches, marauding round the heath

and the desolate fens; he had dwelt for a time

in misery among the banished monsters,

Cain’s clan, whom the Creator had outlawed

and condemned as outcasts. For the killing of Abel

the Eternal Lord had exacted a price:

Cain got no good from committing that murder

110 because the Almighty made him anathema

and out of the curse of his exile there sprang

ogres and elves and evil phantoms

and the giants too who strove with God

time and again until He gave them their reward.

(2001-02-17). Beowulf (Bilingual Edition) (Kindle Locations 476-477). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition. 

Translation #2: Anne Schotter:

And so the warriors lived in joy

100 happily until one began

to commit crimes, a fiend from hell

the grim demon was called Grendel,

notorious borderland-prowler who dwelt in the moors

fen and stronghold; the home of monsterkind

105 this cursed creature occupied for a long while

since the Creator had condemned him

as the kin of Cain - he punished the killing,

the Eternal Lord, because he slew Abel;

He did not rejoice in that evil deed, but He banished him far

100 from mankind, God, in return for the crime.

(Excerpt from Longman Anthology of British Literature, 3^rd Edition. Eds. Damrosch and Dettmar.)

Translation #3: Allan Sullivan and Timothy Murphy

So the king's thanes

90 gathered in gladness; then crime came calling.

a horror from hell, hideous Grendel,

wrathful rover of borders and moors,

holder of hollows, haunter of fens.

He had lived long in the land of the loathsome,

born to the band whom God had banished

as kindred of Cain, thereby requiting

the slayer of Abel. Many such sprang

from the first murderer: monsters and misfits,

elves and ill-spirits, also those giants

100 whose wars with the Lord earned them exile.

(Excerpt from Longman Anthology of British Literature, 3^rd Edition. Eds. Damrosch and Dettmar.)

Translation #4: R.M. Liuzza [the text assigned to this course]

-Thus this lordly people lived in joy,

blessedly, until one began

to work his foul crimes – a fiend from hell.

This grim spirit was called Grendel,

mighty stalker of the marshes, who held

the moors and fens; thivs miserable man

lived for a time in the land of giants,

after the Creator had condemned him

among Cain's race – when he killed Abel

the eternal Lord avenged that death.

No joy in that feud – the Maker forced him

far from mankind for his foul crime.

From thence arose all misbegotten things,

trolls and elves and the living dead,

and also the gianys who strove against God

for a long while – He gave them their reward for that.

[Anonymous. Beowulf. Ed. R.M. Liuzza. Peterborough: Broadview, 2013. Print.]