B E O W U L F A VERSE TRANSLATION B E O W U L F A VE R S E T R A N S L A T I O N Frederick Rebsamen IconEditions An Imprint of HarperCollins/W?/js/?m A hardcover edition of this book was published in 1991 by HarperCollins Publishers. beowulf. Copyright © 1991 by Frederick Rebsamen. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022. HarperCollins books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. For information, please call or write: Special Markets Department, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022. Telephone: (212) 207-7528; Fax: (212) 207-7222. Designed by Cassandra ]. Pappas The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition as follows: Beowulf. English. Beowulf: a verse translation / Frederick Rebsamen. — 1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-06-438437-3 (cloth) 1. Epic poetry, English (Old)—Modernized versions. 1. Rebsamen, Frederick R. II. Title. PR1583.R43 1991 829'-3—dc20 91-55103 ISBN 0-06-430212-1 (pbk.) 98 97 RRD(H) 10 9 8 7 Acknowledgments For advice, encouragement, and criticism, my grateful thanks to the following: To Fred Robinson for telling me that, in constant search of the right words, I was neglecting certain matters of quantity and secondary stress. Though I have not been able to consistently cap­ ture all of the Old English forms after much revision of the manu­ script, this translation is now much better than it might have been without that warning, and Beowulf scholars will note how I have profited by Fred’s intelligent essays clarifying several disputed pas­ sages. To Dick Ringler and the five students in his Beowulf study group for spending an entire afternoon comparing a sample of my work with the original, an uncommonly generous response to my request for Dick’s esteemed opinion of the translation, and for the fine encouragement of this perceptive group, which has given me a chronic boost. To Joe Tuso, whose critical edition of Beowulf reflects his long acquaintance with the poem, for understanding what I have tried to do and for giving me the kind of strong and informed approval that every writer cherishes. To my editor, Cass Canfield, Jr., who rightly rejected an earlier draft of this translation in a kind, encouraging letter and then asked to see it again when he learned that 1 had completely revised it, displaying an editorial concern exceedingly rare today and lead­ ing us both to this happy conclusion. Especially to L. D. Clark, longtime friend and ruthless critic, who spent too many hours applying the skills of his acclaimed scholarly writing to three early drafts of the introduction and keep­ ing me from making all kinds of silly mistakes—then giving praise to the poetry at a time when I needed it, along with unflagging encouragement from the first day of work to the last. Finally, the greatest debt of all, to the anonymous poet who created this wonderfully conceived work of early medieval imagi­ nation and wrapped it in such ringing verses that I heartily wish all students of English literature could read it in the language in which he composed it. I find that I cannot improve upon my dedication of an earlier book on Beowulf: “To the poet, whoever he was, whose song gave a richer light to that first bright flare of English civili­ zation, this book is gratefully dedicated.” VI