telligible in the translation what in the original is dark and confused. There are many words and phrases which must necessarily seem strange at first to readers unacquainted with the old language—' ringedstem,' 'mead-bench,' 'ring-giver,' and the like; but their meaning is clear enough, and a full explanation of the ideas, manners, and customs which underlie these and similar phrases can easily be got elsewhere by those who wish it. The alliterated rhythmical lines of AngloSaxon poetry are, perhaps, more artificial than any modern form of English verse, and an attempt to reproduce them, unless done with the consummate skill which Mr. Tennyson has shown in his translation of the Song of Brunanburh, would soon leave the ear at once wearied and unsatisfied. The common ballad measure has seemed to me on the whole the best fitted to give a close, but I hope a fairly readable, version of a work too little known to English readers. Although the original poem is divided into what may be called cantos, the divisions seem quite arbitrary, and are sometimes altogether inexplicable. I have, therefore, disregarded them, and have divided the translation so that each part shall contain, as nearly as possible, a separate adventure or stage in the development of the poem. The division into three parts, however, and their names, I owe to Mr. Arnold. |