Heaney’s and Meyer’s Translations

The chosen passage that we will be using to the end of this digital essay takes place in Heorot, a great hall which finds itself under great distress as it suffers of repeated brutally fatal attacks by Grendel, a humanoid entity with super-natural/monster-like features. Furthermore, by this point in the story it has been established that nobody has been able to defeat Grendel, for he has defeated all which have stood against him. Here, King Hrothgar receives news of Beowulf’s arrival and request for an audience, after which he verbalizes his awareness and acknowledgement of Beowulf. However, this scene both presents and resolves itself differently in each of the chosen texts.

In Heaney’s and Meyer’s translations, Hrothgar — who is the main speaker in the scene — is a regal and authoritative character, who’s mood and portrayal of establishes that of the scene. Through this passage, one may appreciate Heaney’s and Meyer’s use of selective vocabulary to convey the vivid and immersive atmospheres. Here, their passages deliver sensorial immersion thanks to their implementation of visual and sound elements. In their scenes, Hrothgar speaks in regards of his incoming visitor, where he employs a gradually optimistic tonal shift as he narrates through his dialogue. However, in Heaney’s translation, the effect of the tonal shift carries a more vivid effect throughout the passage as king Hrothgar’s authoritative role would commend silence from others in his hall, allowing his voice to reverberate and be heard within the walls of hall Heorot. Whereas Meyer’s translation has Hrothgar’s dialogue delivered in a more concise and direct fashion, opting out of using Old-English storytelling prose in it, and forgoing the ‘epic’ effect it applies to Heaney’s scene. Nevertheless, both Meyer’s and Heaney’s version of Hrothgar give him the ability to establish the overall mood of the scene. This thus gives Hrothgar a weighed voice, which in this scene highlights and acknowledges Beowulf’s background and famed exploits. With an uplifting and hopeful tone, the king recognizes Beowulf’s achievements and eagerly sends Wulfgar to welcome him, and his retinue. Here, the scene carries great significance in the greater context of the story as Hrothgar acknowledges  Beowulf as the solution to Heorot’s crisis. Furthermore, Beowulf becomes the reason for the positive and hopeful tonal shift in the story, establishing him as an altogether positive and heroic character.

Beowulf’s heroic element is reinforced by Heaney’s and Meyer’s effective use of rhetorical and stylistic devices, directing the language and style while controlling how the story becomes told, and therefore perceived. In Heaney’s case, some rhetorical devices which he here employs are the hyperbole, such as when Hrothgar states the ‘marvellous’ nature of Beowulf’s tales; the parallelism which envelops the anecdote, in which Beowulf’s friendship follow up becomes tied to being guided ‘here’ by God, ‘here’ to defend them against Grendel; and the simile within the anecdote, where his storytelling highlights Beowulf’s strength being equaled to that of thirty men, while also converging the notion of Beowulf’s strength attributes with those of Grendel. (Hall 2022, p. 189) Furthermore, in the case of stylistic devices, Heaney makes ample use of alliterations to emphasize the theme of the passage — the news of Beowulf and his arrival. Some of the alliterations which stand out are ‘follow’ and ‘friendship,’ ‘goodness’ and ‘guided,’ ‘Danes’ and ‘defend,’ and ‘hope’ and ‘heroism;’ all of which highlight Beowulf’s positive significance. In all, Heaney elevates the passage and theme’s significance by making use of rhetoric and stylistic patterns; highlighting the importance of Beowulf’s arrival, one which warrants the pivot of the story’s atmospheric mood.

Furthermore, Heaney’s Hrothgar exploits the visual effects of storytelling, where he conveys his audience’s to imagine the elements of his narration, such as the crew of gift-cargo sailors, or the muscular strength of Beowulf, illustrated as “…the strength of thirty in the grip of each hand.” Promptly, this visual description becomes elevated by relating Beowulf to having a connection to God: “Now Holy God has, in His goodness, guided him here to the West-Danes...,” giving his audience not only the visual of a super-humanly strong warrior, but that of a super-naturally powerful hero.  Thus Hrothgars reverberating voice, his use of language, and his visual storytelling delivers a sensory journey, immersively inviting the reader within it.

Now, in the case of Meyer’s translation, Hrothgar delivers his dialogue in a concise and more direct fashion. This comes to be the case as Meyer opts out of using Old-English storytelling prose in his translation. By doing this, Meyer forgoes the ‘epic’ effect applied by its rhythm and prose. Moreover, Meyer waives the use of  alliterations, which Heaney uses to emphasize the passage’s theme. Nevertheless, Meyer’s translation compensates by making frequent use of kennings such as ‘battlestrength’ and ‘kinband,’ which were also often used in old-english.  This difference in language style and rhetoric carries scenic implications as well. By forgoing the use of old-english storytelling style and prose, Meyer’s Hrothgar loses the natural ability of addressing a wider scenic-audience, which the style would’ve passively offered. But nevertheless, Meyer’s Hrothgar still employs visual effects in Beowulf’s anecdote, where his vivid description establishes the hero’s strength as “the fire of 30 men’s battlestrength” — a feature which is also similarly highlighted by Heaney’s Hrothgrar. This featured description is one which is also shared with Grendel, as the story previously establishes his equivalent strength. Here the passage has the passive effect of blurring the lines between the hero and the monster, as it establishes Beowulf as being as powerful as Grendel — gripping the strength of thirty men. (Yang 2013, p. 13) This blurry effect is then later present when Beowulf faces and defeats Grendel, where he uses his super-natural strength to defeat the ‘monster’ in a brutal fashion; something nobody had been able to achieve. Therefore, while the passage establishes Beowulf’s heroism, it also converges Beowulf’s and Grendel’s attributes, blurring the natural line between the hero and the monster. (Hall 2022, p. 189)