Beowulf

The present work is a modest effort to reproduce approxi­mately, in modern measures, the venerable epic, Beowulf. Ap­proximately, I repeat; for a very close reproduction of Ang­lo-Saxon verse would, to a large extent, be prose to a modern ear.

The Heyne-Socin text and glossary have been closely followed. Occasionally a deviation has been made, but always for what seemed good and sufficient reason. The translator does not aim to be an editor. Once in a while, however, he has added a conjecture of his own to the emendations quoted from the criticisms of other students of the poem.