Imitative Translations of Beowulf: Tolkien, Lehmann, and McCully

The Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf exists in numerous translations into prose and verse of various forms and styles. While some translators use accentual metre and alliteration to evoke the form of the original, few attempt to reproduce its metre and structure exactly. Focussing on lines 210–28, this essay examines three metrically imitative translations of Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkien, Ruth Lehmann, and Chris McCully, alongside Tolkien’s later prose translation. In juxtaposing Old and modern English, these imitative translations provide the ideal site to test Paul Fussell’s claim that the Old English alliterative verse form is no longer practicable. Close reading a select passage from these translations against the Old English text highlights their correspondence to and divergence from the original. It also reveals key differences in the poetic style and linguistic characteristics of Old and modern English. Through comparative analysis, this study demonstrates how efforts to replicate Old English metre may undermine other stylistic features and poetic effects, ultimately distorting the original. In contrast, Tolkien’s prose translation suggests that prose, while less bound to formal imitation, may retain a double fidelity to both the sound and meaning of the original.