Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary together with Sellic Spell trans. by J.R.R. Tolkien (review)

Christopher Tolkien's edition of his father's prose translation of Beowulf—culled from his lecture notes of the 1920s and '30s at Oxford—took maddeningly long to reach the marketplace. But it was worth the wait, and its value—a must-have for both scholar and student of Old English—is twofold: J.R.R. Tolkien's translation, while technically not in alliterative verse, nevertheless is a word-for-word translation that masterfully captures the rhythm and tone of the original poem with a powerful cadence, diction, and syntax which are somewhere between poetry and prose, not unlike Aelfric's 10^th century Catholic Homilies. Tolkien delivers on this kind of prose-as-poetry, and we really don't need anything else (Christopher even numbers the lines). But the second reason is almost as important as the first: as an associate professor of English, committed every fall semester to a survey of Early English Literature, I appreciate the great leap forward that the addition of a significant critical apparatus to Tolkien's translation offers (and very inexpensive in trade paper) for 21^st century proselytizing of both Tolkien and Beowulf (accordingly, Christopher cites both Tolkien's lines and those of Klaeber in the notes and commentary), not unlike what Tolkien did for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with the first (1925) and second (1968) editions he brought out with E.V. Gordon, reinforced by his modern translation that appeared in paperback along with Pearl and Sir Orfeo in the 1970s. And, clearly, Christopher meant for Tolkien's commentary to complement the famous essay Beowulf: The Monster and the Critics, given as an address to the British Academy and published in 1936.

In the commentary, Tolkien goes further than the Monsters essay and actually names the poet whose style, thought, and taste he believes most likely responsible for the poem's more obvious homiletic interpolations, and that culprit would either be Cynewulf, the Old English author of Juliana and Elene, or someone of his circle: "I think it is indeed likely enough that there are other 'Cynewulfian' touches of improvement in the text of Beowulf" (311). Tolkien's rationale here is compelling and tantalizing, specifically in regard to Hrothgar's homily where it speaks of the soul's guardian and temptation: "Why? Because at this point was the nearest point of contact between the two authors [the Cynewulfian scribe and the Beowyulf-poet] and their thought" (311). The earliest smoking gun of Cynewulfian interpolation would be Grendel's scorn for Hrothgar's throne: "This is not only unsuitable (and obscure because its thought, which runs on 'grace' and damnation, is not really in harmony with the context) but easily detachable; and not only detachable, but its excision an obvious improvement in verse texture and sense" (311). Tolkien argues that the "leading idea" in the poem is a deliberate fusion of Christian and pagan: "The 'leading idea' is that noble pagans of the past who had not heard the Gospel knew of the existence of Almighty God, recognized him as 'good' and the giver of all good things; but were (by the Fall) still cut off from Him…" (170). In Tolkien's view, the Beowulf-poet does not subscribe to any doctrine that might have "consigned the heroes (northern or classical) to perdition" (171). But somehow, Tolkien notes, just such a condemnation briefly creeps into the poem, starting at line 180 (in Klaeber), perhaps by the hand of someone like Cynewulf.

However, in regard to passages about Cain, Tolkien does not advance his suspicion of a Cynewulfian interpolator. The allusions to Cain offer the Beowulf-poet his opportunity to advance his "leading idea": "The redemption of Christ might work backwards. But in the Harrowing of Hell why should not (say) Hrothgar be among the rescued too?" (160–61). This larger discussion of Tolkien's "leading...