Elene; Judith; Athelstan, or the Fight at Brunanburh; Byrhtnoth, or the Fight at Maldon; and the Dr | Page 2

and it was moistened with blood. All creation wept. The corse was placed in a?sepulchre of brightest stone. The crosses were buried, but the thanes of the Lord raised it begirt with gold and silver, and it should receive honor from all mankind. The Lord of Glory honored it, who arose for help to men, and shall come again with His angels to judge each one of men. Then they will fear and know not what to say, but no one need fear who bears in his heart the best of beacons. The writer is ready for his journey, and directs his prayer to the rood. His friends now dwell in glory, and the rood of the Lord will bring him there where he may partake of joy with the saints. The Lord redeemed us, His Son was victorious, and with a band of spirits entered His heavenly home 71
PREFACE.
This translation of the ELENE was made while reading the poem with a post-graduate student in the session of 1887-88, Zupitza's second edition being used for the text, which does not differ materially from that in his third edition (1888). It was completed before I received a copy of Dr. Weymouth's translation (1888), from Zupitza's text; but in the revision for publication I have referred to it, although I cannot always agree with the learned scholar in his interpretation of certain passages. Grein's text was, however, used to fill _lacun?_, and in the revision the recently published (1888) Grein-W��lker text was compared in some passages. The line-for-line form has been employed, as in my translation of B��OWULF; for it has been approved by high authority, and is unquestionably more serviceable to the student, even if I have not been able to attain ideal correctness of rhythm. I plead guilty in advance to any lapsus in that respect, but I strongly suspect that I have appreciated the difficulty more highly than my future critics. The ELENE is more suitable than the B��OWULF for first reading in Old English poetry on account of its style and its subject, which make the interpretation considerably easier, and I concur with K?rting, in his Grundriss der Geschichte der Englischen Litteratur (p. 47, 1887): "Die ELENE eignet sich sowohl wegen ihres anmutigen Inhaltes, als auch, weil sie in der trefflichen Ausgabe von Zupitza leicht zug?nglich ist, als erste poetische Lect��re f��r Anf?nger im Angels?chsischen." This statement is now the stronger for English readers because Zupitza's text is in course of publication, edited with introduction, notes, and glossary by Professor Charles W. Kent, of the University of Tennessee. I have appended a few notes which explain themselves, and have occasionally inserted words in brackets.
The translations of the JUDITH and the BYRHTNOTH were made in regular course of reading with undergraduate classes, the former in 1886, and the latter in 1887, the texts in Sweet's "Anglo-Saxon Reader" being used, and compared with those in Grein and in K?rner. The text of JUDITH is now accessible in Professor Cook's edition (1888).
The translation of the ATHELSTAN has been added from K?rner's text, compared with Grein and W��lker, and in certain passages with Thorpe and Earle. For fuller literary information than the Introduction provides, the reader is referred to ten Brink's "Early English Literature," Kennedy's translation (1883), and to Morley's "English Writers," Vol. II. (1888).
JAMES M. GARNETT.
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, VA.,?May, 1889.
PREFACE TO EDITION OF 1900.
I have added to this reprint of my "Elene and other Anglo Saxon Poems" a translation of the DREAM OF THE ROOD, which has been on hand for several years awaiting a suitable time to see the light. A brief Introduction to the poem has been prefixed, which, doubtless, leaves much to be desired, but it is all that the translator now has time for, and I must refer to the works mentioned for fuller information and discussion. With thanks for past consideration, and the hope that this addition has made the book more acceptable, I entrust it again to indulgent readers.
JAMES M. GARNETT.
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND,?October, 1900.
PREFACE TO EDITION OF 1911.
I have read over carefully these translations with a view to another reprint, which the publishers find necessary, but I have not compared them again with the texts used. I have corrected a few typographical errors of little importance.
For the bibliography I would refer to Brandl's _Sonderausgabe aus der zweiten Auflage von Paul's Grundriss der germanischen Philologie_ (Strassburg, 1908), in which I find noted Holthausen's edition of the ELENE (Heidelberg, 1905), but I have not seen it.
I take advantage of this opportunity to say that my translation of B��OWULF, of which the last reprint was issued in 1910, is not in prose, as some have misconceived it, but it is in the same metrical form as the translations in the present volume,--an accentual metre in rough imitation of the