Beowulf, A Student Edition

by George Jack (Adaptor)

Beowulf, the major surviving poem in Old English, is composed in a language that is rich but often difficult. This fully annotated edition makes the poem more accessible in its original language, while at the same time providing the materials necessary for its detailed study.

To facilitate understanding and fluent reading of the poem, the Old English text of Beowulf is here accompanied by an extensive running glossary which includes the greater part of the vocabulary of the poem. Words that occur more than once are glossed on each occasion. The inclusion of marginal glosses will enable readers who may be at an early stage in the study of Old English to cope more easily with the complex vocabulary of the poem. But this edition is not meant only for those who are approaching Old English for the first time; it is designed to be suitable for students at any stage, and those who are already familiar with Old English will find the marginal glosses of value in enabling Beowulf to be read more fluently.

George Jack's introduction considers the origins and transmission of the poem, and provides a survey of its narrative constituents and style. A full commentary on textual and interpretative problems, points of grammar and meaning, and matters of literary and historical context is provided, as is a guide to further reading on Beowulf. The text of the Finnsburh Fragment has also been included, because of its special relevance to Beowulf, and it is likewise accompanied by marginal glosses and notes.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Medieval, Fiction, Epic, Fantasy, Reference

244 pages, Paperback

Published December 31, 2009

Reviews

[Pilar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edited in 1994 by George Jack.
A good annotated edition with a useful glossary throughout the text.
I recommend it.

[Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

proud of myself for finishing it in old english but still a little annoying

[no · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, manly men doing manly things, the mead-hall and parades of swords and armour, and the monsters and fighting and bragging, and the ring-giving and all the male-bonding that on close reading provides a lot of glee for queer criticism, really. But the magic of Beowulf is in its texture: the grammatical apposition of substantive phrases that continually rewrites and overwrites its subjects and objects; and the narrative's whiplash-inducing forays into the past, woven from myth and history, drawing up Swedish skirmishes, Sigemund, Heremod, et al. in order to comment on present circumstances. Beowulf is the zenith of the warrior ideal, but he's an exaggerated image in and around whom one finds the benefits and flaws of a type and method of social organization. All this narrated by a Christian author aware of the pagan past, appreciative of his (and our, we being the Old English audience) pagan forefathers, yet uncomfortable with their religion as much as with their political state, because this hall-centred society can never manufacture social stability for one's own people nor broker peace with another. The leader and the movement and ceremonial functions of women barely centre this chaotic hall that threatens to blow apart from the centrifugal force of all these competing interests and genealogies. Despite the gnomic utterances, it is not a didactic text. It doesn't beat its fist on the mead-bench over these things. It is as unsure of what to think of the past as we often are of our own, and therein lies the fascination. Best of all, it's built around some truly exciting poetic action: enjoy the resentment of Unferth, the comedy of the bickering, suspense of the marsh-stepper and his mother, and the thrill of all the graphic battlegore.

Translations | My thoughts on the Headley translation are here. My thoughts on E. Talbot Donaldson's prose translation are here. Liuzza for the budding scholar: it is about as close as you can get to Klaeber III if you're not willing to grapple with another language. It also sounds like Elmer Fudd because the alliteration's so clunky and lines so flabby. Heaney for the poet: it is not a terribly accurate or reliable translation, yet it's an artistic marvel and recommended reading for its beauty, a true instance of translation as re-reading and appropriation (as he admits in his foreword). Alexander for the happy medium between Liuzza's fidelity and Heaney's wordhoard: as a Penguin Classic, it lacks the apparatuses that make Liuzza's more teachable, but it's more accurate than Heaney's without sacrificing poetic texture. N.B. the poem's texture and aesthetic on the half-line-by-half-line level, the swimming feeling of every subject and object's iteration in new terms, is impossible to translate into Modern English due to the loss of cases and the increased reliance on syntax to cohere, let alone to generate meaning. You have been warned.

Editions | Can you even find Klaeber III anymore? Klaeber IV makes some very specious editorial choices, particularly with who now has a proper name and what the name is, though it's vastly more certain than III on the contents of the lacunae in the codex. First timers would benefit from George Jack's overbearing mother edition: the line-by-line gloss cuts down on time spent flipping to the back and allows for the poem to gain momentum for the first-timer. Just exercise skepticism and ponder alternate phrasings, because Jack's definitions suck the poetry from the poetry like Grendel sucks the blood from Hondscio. Or they feel like malapropisms. I mean, "alien being" for ellorgast?


Takeaway:

Nealles him on hēape	handġesteallan,
æðelinga bearn	ymbe ġestōdon
hildecystum, 	ac hȳ on holt bugon,
ealdre burgan.	Hiora in ānum wēoll
sefa wið sorgum; 	sibb’ ǣfre ne maeġ
wiht onwendan 	þām ðe wēl þenċeð.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review was originally published on warmdayswillnevercease.wordpress.com

This is going to be a really short review because, while I enjoyed reading this book, my head is hurting after attempting to read this book in the original language with the translation in the margins.

First, this book is meant to be for beginners who haven’t approached Old English before. It is a beginners guide but it’s difficult to imagine pronunciation etc. without being told how to say the words. I understand what some Old English words mean now but I wouldn’t be able to say it out loud. So, I think this book would be useful alongside classes in Old English. However, you can learn how to read Old English (or, at least, Beowulf) from this edition.

The poem itself is long and beautiful. It tells the story of Beowulf, a Geatish warrior, who battles against the King of the Danes. It showcases the struggles that early England faced but it also indulges in the mythology of the era, especially when it comes to dragons. The poem is around 3,000 lines long which makes it an epic poem but it’s not too long to read.

I think that I’d like to read several different modern translations of the poem in the future to compare the experience of reading a modern version to what I experienced when I read this book.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are ever in the position of having to read Beowulf in the original and do your own translating, and if your skills with the language are fledgling or rusty, this is the book to get. Since there is no translation, there's nothing in the text of the poem itself that stands out above others. But if you've ever spent hours flipping back and forth between the text and an Old English dictionary (or, even more commonly, the glossary at the back of the book), you will sing Jack's praises for this edition, which has a very thorough side-by-side glossary. This tome got me through many long nights without making me lose my mind. This is probably not going to satisfy the serious, hard-core researcher, but for students, it is a lifesaver.

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

George Jack's edition of Beowulf is exactly what it says on the cover: an accessible, accurate student edition of the Anglo-Saxon poem. It features extensive marginal glosses for vocabulary, with helpful linear glosses as footnotes on each page. A supplementary glossary at the back is supremely helpful if you are still early enough in your study of Old English that you need some help with inflectional endings.

Klaeber is the still the standard scholarly edition if you're going to do work for publication, but if you're a student, either in a traditional classroom setting or one of the few mad enough to try to learn on your own, this is a good addition to your bookshelf.

[Michele Leuce · Rating 5 out of 5]

n excellent introduction to one of the most important works in early English literature. This edition is clearly designed with students in mind: the text is carefully edited, the notes are helpful without being overwhelming, and the introduction gives just enough background to make the poem easier to understand. One of the strongest features of this edition is the commentary. Jack explains difficult Old English words, cultural references, and historical details in a way that makes the poem much more accessible.

[Magda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful for quick and easy translation -- side-by-side glossary makes for no repeated page-flipping. But isn't page-flipping half the fun?

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

good edition for readers with some knowledge of Old English but not yet fledged in fluency