Beowulf

Ayres, Henry Morgan - Translator and Editor

Published by The Bayard Press, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, 1933

About this Item

97 pages. Sewed binding with stiff light brown covers and brown endpapers. There is a penciled circle around a four line paragraph on page 94. Beyond that is a tight book that was reasonably well cared for with no other marks or stamps. There is wear to the edges of the light paper covering that extend beyond the stiff endpapers The author Dr. Harry Morgan Ayres (1881 - 1948) was a professor of English at Columbia from at least the 1930s until his death in 1948. From the Author's Introduction ---- This translation of the Old English epic of Beowulf grows out of a belief that there is more of poetry in it than emerges from a translation that the primary aim of which is literalness, that seeks to be faithful to the order in which the poet unfolds his thought. I am prepared for those who disapprove of what I have done, which is to expand, to rearrange clauses, and to add information which supposedly is present in the minds of a contemporary listener to the poem, always with a view to what I believe to be the thought of the poet. Scholars will easily recognize these few shiftings and additions, together with their sources; others will not object to these liberties and, I hope, will be grateful for them. In short, I have proceeded much as an Icelandic sagaman might have done, weaving together whatever I could find that seemed to belong to the story in hand. I have adopted a prose style not quite so forthright that roughly approximates that of the sagas as it is usually rendered into English. I hope no one will believe that I think what I have set down in the case of some of the more dubious passages is the only sense they will yield; perhaps I have gone beyond my warrant in allowing some of them to make sense at all. But in so doing I do not believe that I have exceeded the licence which the most effective translators of classical texts have allowed themselves. There are now available, indeed, so many and excellent translations and critical aids to the understanding of Beowulf that no one need be misled in his ignorance nor offended in his erudition by my little tribute of affection for a unique and noble poem.--- Scans available to this very rare translation and edited version of Beowulf. Seller Inventory # 12942

Bibliographic Details

Title: Beowulf

Publisher: The Bayard Press, Williamsport, Pennsylvania

Publication Date: 1933

Binding: Trade Paperback

Condition: Fair

Edition: Assumed First Edtion