Beowulf and Judith: Two Heroes

by Richard M. Trask

Overview

The two great epic-theme poems Beowulf and Judith, paired in the Beowulf Manuscript preserved in the British Museum, are here presented in a translation with a unique fidelity that restores the true Anglo-Saxon rhythmical line of five subtypes of four beat stress adhering scrupulously to the alliterative strictures of Anglo-Saxon verse and exploiting its epithetical style. This is a ground breaking piece of work in that it recreates the indispensable stylistic and esthetic effects of the original while attaining a natural modern idiom, something that had been thought impossible to achieve. The key insight in this book is the stated and demonstrated philosophy that alliteration and imagistic compound metaphors are a living, breathing part of our linguistic heritage and practice in Modern English today; but rendering the poems requires an intricate sensibility to Old English style in order to recreate the force that they had. The Old English text is included interlinearly with the translation to facilitate comparison and acquaintance with the original poems. Introductory essays discuss 1) the living tradition of alliteration and epithetical phrasing common to Anglo-Saxon poetry and Modern English idiom, and 2) the literary tradition and merit of the two poems. The book as a whole is a scholarly accomplishment which revivifies these two great works for the entire modern public.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761808251
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	08/28/1997
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.54(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Richard M. Trask is Professor of English at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland.

Editorial Reviews

A very useful text. There is an honesty and vigour here. His use of alliteration escapes archaism and draws upon the contemporary idiom of the language. Bound to capture the interest of students.

In Geardagum

A very useful text. There is an honesty and vigour here. His use of alliteration escapes archaism and draws upon the contemporary idiom of the language. Bound to capture the interest of students.--In Geardagum

"A very useful text. There is an honesty and vigour here. His use of alliteration escapes archaism and draws upon the contemporary idiom of the language. Bound to capture the interest of students."--In Geardagum

From the Publisher

Contending that translations true to venerable rules can succeed, Trask places his alliterative transliteration of these epic poems<--> aptly preserved in the same manuscript<-->adjacent to the Old English original, as his solution to the dilemma of crafting either a new "Lucy Goosy" poem (in modern parlance which strays from the structure and rhythm of its source) or an "Old Fogey" non-poem (losing the poetry via rigid loyalty to the original). No index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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