by Tom Birkett
Ó Fiannachta, Pádraig 125
Medieval Irish (poetry) 122 n.3
Ó Floinn, Tomás 110
anthologies, role of 92–8
Old English 13, 26, 47–52, 69, 81
and the lyric 98–106
canon 7, 14–20
and Modern Irish 110 n.5, 124–7, 132–5
reception 1–2, 6–7, 13, 19–20, 21–6, 31,
reception 99, 100, 107–08
33–5, 38–9, 45, 75–6
style and metre 101–2, 107, 110, 118–21,
study of 3–6, 17, 62, 72, 74, 87, 90, 215–16
133–5
style and metre 17–18, 33–5, 37, 39, 43–4,
see also Aislinge meic Conglinne; Find and
46–7, 53–7, 60
the Phantoms; Modern Irish; Murphy,
see also individual poems
Gerard
Old English Orosius 72
MENOTA Project 177
Old Norse (language and literature)
Messe ocus Pangur Bán 97, 214
influence on writers 11–12, 36, 61–3,
Meyer, Kuno 109–10
69–70, 72 n.35, 73–4, 148–9, 162–3,
Mhac an tSaoi, Máire 131
186–98
Modern Irish 10, 127–30
on screen 2, 12, 200–12
dialects 133–4
reception of 11–12, 148, 160, 163–4, 172,
Modern Poets on Viking Poetry Project 11,
176, 183–5, 198, 199–200
149, 154, 162–4
translation history 3, 6 n.33, 7, 11, 91,
Montague, John 128
150–61, 165–8, 170–1, 173–5, 184–5
Morgan, Edwin
translation issues 156, 161–3, 168–72,
‘The Auld Man’s Coronach’ 35–9, 41, 43,
173–5, 177–82, 205, 211–2
215
see also eddic poetry; Old Norse
‘A Song of the Petrel’ 21
(mythology); skaldic poetry; individual
Beowulf translation 5, 8, 29–31, 35–9, 43
poems
Dies Irae 39–45
Old Norse (mythology) 169, 173–5, 177–82,
see also Language and identity
183–4, 188–9, 194–7, 199, 201–06
Morgan, J. O. 26
see also Old Norse (language and
Morland, Harold 66–8
literature); eddic poetry; skaldic poetry
Morris, William 29, 151 n.14, 174, 182
Old Norse Online 153
Sigurd the Volsung 12, 69, 185–7, 189–90,
Orchard, Andy 1, 166, 170, 179
193, 197
Ó Ríordáin, Seán 128
Muldoon, Paul 100, 108
Ormulum 16
Murphy, Gerard 10, 92–4, 96–8, 123 n.7,
O’Siadhail, Micheal 92, 98, 102
124
Ó Síocháin, Tadhg 10, 213–15
‘Ossian’ poems 151, 155
Nationalism see Language and identity
Ó Tuama, Seán 128, 132
Neckel-Kuhn 168, 172, 176
Nibelungenlied 9, 61
Paganism 159, 182, 195, 197–8, 206
Ní Dhomhnail , Nuala 100
Paterson, John 186–7, 190–2, 195–6
Noon, Alistair 7, 24–7
Pearl 25
Nowell Codex see under manuscripts
Percy, Thomas 152, 155
Performance 4, 12, 26, 53, 176, 203, 207–09,
O’Connor, Frank 107
212
Ó Corráin, Donnchadh 95–6
Perry, Rebecca 11, 154, 162–3
Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí 100–01
Peterborough Chronicle 14–15
Odin 179–81, 183, 186, 188–9, 201–02, 205–6
‘Poem to Máel Brigte’ 106–07
O’Donoghue, Bernard 1, 214–16
Polley, Jacob 26
O’Donoghue, Heather 6 n.33, 7, 11, 159, 199,
Pound, Ezra 23, 70
216
Preston-Matto, Lahney 10, 213–14
238
Index
Prosimetric style 10, 18, 92 n.3, 97, 150, 214
Snorri Sturluson
Public engagement 9, 62–3, 96, 158, 162–4,
Prose Edda 61–2, 72 n.35, 166, 176, 181,
182
202
Publishing industry, influence on
Heimskringla 158
translation 11, 155–7, 171–2, 182, 213
Sólarljóð 166–7, 181
Soul and Body 15
Ragnarǫk 159, 194, 201–04 see also Old
The Soul’s Address to the Body 15, 73
Norse (mythology)
Spanish 8–9, 61–5, 68–71
Ragnars saga loðbrókar 200, 211
Spencer, Edmund 27
Reid, Christopher 95
Stallings, A. E. 1
Retchford, William 19
Sterling, Joseph 152, 156
Riddles (Old English) 26, 39–40, 43–5, 217
Stewart, Susan 22–4
Riddles of Gestumblindi 167
Stokes, Whitley 100 n. 31 and n.32, 123
Rígsþula 167, 170, 177
Translation of Find and the
Rímur 199
Phantoms 141–7
Riordan, Maurice 3, 95–7
Sutton Hoo 25
Rogers, Bertha: Riddle 15 – Fox 217
Svipdagsmál 167–8, 177–8
Ronsard 131
The Ruin 26, 39, 40–3
Táin Bó Cúailnge 1, 99, 122
Russian 8, 52–60
Taylor, David 108
Ruthwell Cross 24 n.29, 45
Taylor, Paul N. 153, 166, 171, 173–5
Terry, Patricia 153, 166, 175
Salvation history 103
Tennyson, Alfred 27, 100 n.32
Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum 200
Tikhomirov, Vladimir 8, 53–4, 56–60
Sayers, William 115
Translation
Schleiermacher, Friedrich 4 n.18, 213
col aboration 1, 2, 19–20, 26, 68, 162–3
Scots 8, 30–36, 38–9, 43–5, 76, 170, 215
cultural translation 4–5, 110–17
Scott, Alexander 8, 32–5
diachronic (intralingual) translation 6
Scott, Tom 8, 32, 34–5
n.32, 7–8, 10–11, 46, 52, 60, 110 n.5, 125
Scott, Walter 19
disciplinary differences 2–3, 93, 99 n.27
Scott, William Bel 153, 158
etymological approach 13–14, 50–1, 57,
Scottish Renaissance 30–2
60, 171, 214
The Seafarer 21–2, 25, 32, 34, 38–9, 68,
postcolonial 3, 6, 26, 96
70, 72
readership 11, 38, 73, 77, 87, 91, 93, 122,
Selvik, Einar 203–04
130, 169, 171–2 182 n.58, 213
Seward, Anna 149, 153, 156–7
Translation tools and resources 31–2, 125
Sidney, Philip 214
n.22, 131, 133, 135, 159–60, 177
Sievers, Eduard 15, 18–19, 21
Translators’ prefaces 1, 4 n.16, 5–6, 77, 79,
Sigurðr 11, 69, 168, 174, 178, 183–93, 195–8
96, 126–7, 152 n.22, 155, 159, 161–2, 171–2,
Sims-Williams, Patrick 96
175, 182, 213
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 214
Treharne, Elaine 15 n.7, 16 n.15, 50
Skaldic poetry 3, 12, 91, 160–2, 209–12
Tolkien, Christopher 86–7, 95, 153
style and metre 7, 54, 91 n.68, 161, 199
Tolkien, J. R. R. 2, 81–6, 199
see also Modern Poets on Viking Poetry
Beowulf (1926 translation) 76, 86–7
Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle
Beowulf (1940 translation) 86–7, 88
/>
Ages Project 11, 148, 154, 160–2
and eddic poetry 169–70, 174, 182
Skeat, W. W. 18
Tunstal , Peter 153
Skírnismál 173, 178
Þórir jǫkul 210
Sleipnir 179, 181–2
Þrymskviða 174–5
Smith-Dampier, E. M. 153
Index
239
Ua Laoghaire, Peadar 127–8
‘The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan’ 68
Valagaldur Kráku 167–8
The Waking of Angantýr see Hervararkviða
Valhal a 179–81, 186, 202
Wagner, Richard 182, 185, 200
Valkyries 178–9, 183–9, 195
The Wanderer 21–2, 26, 32–3, 47–9, 51, 53–4,
Venuti, Lawrence 4, 27 n.39, 126, 129, 134,
168, 216
213
Wawn, Andrew 158, 198
Vercelli Book see under manuscripts
Weaver, W. 215
Verelius, Olaus 151–2, 154–5
Wheelock, Abraham 19
vikings 108, 157, 160, 162, 166, 203–05,
Widsið 166
208–12
The Wife’s Lament 25
Vikings (Dir. Michael Hirst) 2, 160, 199–212, Wilbur, Richard 21
216
The Word Exchange 1, 11, 19, 20, 24 n.30, 40,
viking metal 182, 200
43, 45
Vǫlsunga saga 61, 184–5, 187–9, 193–4,
196–7, 199
Yeats, W. B. 131
Vǫluspá 169–70, 176–9, 188, 200–04
York Powel , Frederick 153, 159, 171, 174–5
Medievalism
I
Anglo-Saxon Culture and the Modern Imagination
edited by David Clark and Nicholas Perkins
II
Medievalist Enlightenment: From Charles Perrault to Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Alicia C. Montoya
III
Memory and Myths of the Norman Conquest
Siobhan Brownlie
IV
Comic Medievalism: Laughing at the Middle Ages
Louise D’Arcens
V
Medievalism: Key Critical Terms
edited by Elizabeth Emery and Richard Utz
VI
Medievalism: a Critical History
David Matthews
VII
Chivalry and the Medieval Past
edited by Katie Stevenson and Barbara Gribling
VIII
Georgian Gothic: Medievalist Architecture, Furniture and Interiors, 1730–1840
Peter N. Lindfield
IX
Petrarch and the Literary Culture of Nineteenth-Century France:
Translation, Appropriation, Transformation
Jennifer Rushworth
X
Medievalism, Politics and Mass Media:
Appropriating the Middle Ages in the Twenty-First Century
Andrew B. R. Elliott
M E D I E V A L I S M
M E D I E VA L I S M
he first decades of the twenty-first century have seen an
unprecedented level of creative engagement with early medieval
Tliterature, ranging from the long-awaited publication of
Tolkien’s version of Beowulf and the reworking of medieval lyrics
by Ireland’s foremost poets to the adaptation of Eddic and Skaldic
poetry for the screen. This collection brings together scholars and
accomplished translators working with Old English, Old Norse and
Medieval Irish poetry, to take stock of this extraordinary proliferation
of translation activity and to suggest new ways in which to approach
these three dynamic literary traditions. The essays in this collection
include critical surveys of texts and traditions to the present day,
assessments of the practice and impact of individual translators from
Jorge Luis Borges to Seamus Heaney, and reflections on the particular
challenges of translating poetic forms and vocabulary into different
languages and media. Together they present a series of informed and
at times provocative perspectives on what it means to “carry across”
early medieval poetry in our contemporary cultural climate.
DR TOM BIRKETT is lecturer in Old English at University
College Cork.
DR KIRSTY MARCH-LYONS is a scholar of Old English and
Latin poetry and co-organiser of the Irish Research Council funded
conference and translation project “Eald to New”.
CONTRIBUTORS: Tom Birkett, Elizabeth Boyle, Hannah Burrows,
Gareth Lloyd Evans, Chris Jones, Carolyne Larrington,
Hugh Magennis, Kirsty March-Lyons, Lahney Preston Matto,
Inna Matyushina, Rory McTurk, Bernard O’Donoghue,
Heather O’Donoghue, Tadhg Ó Síocháin, Bertha Rogers,
M.J. Toswell.
Cover image: Riddle 15 – Fox (2016) by Bertha Rogers, reproduced with kind permission of the artist.
This striking image is inspired by and makes reference to the artist’s own translation of an Old English riddle from the Exeter Book, reproduced in full on p. 217 of this volume.
An imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge IP12 3DF (GB) and
668 Mt Hope Ave, Rochester NY 14620–2731 (US)
Document Outline
Contents
Acknowledgements
Contributors
Introduction: From Eald to New
1 From Eald Old to New Old: Translating Old English Poetry in(to) the Twenty-first Century
2 Edwin Morgan’s Translations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry: Turning Eald into New in English and Scots
3 Gains and Losses in Translating Old English Poetry into Modern English and Russian
4 Borges, Old English Poetry and Translation Studies
5 ‘Let Beowulf now be a book from Ireland’: What Would Henryson or Tolkien Say?
6 The Forms and Functions of Medieval Irish Poetry and the Limitations of Modern Aesthetics
7 Aislinge Meic Conglinne: Challenges for Translator and Audience
8 Translating Find and the Phantoms into Modern Irish
9 Reawakening Angantýr: English Translations of an Old Norse Poem from the Eighteenth Century to the Twenty-first
10 Translating and Retranslating the Poetic Edda
11 From Heroic Lay to Victorian Novel: Old Norse Poetry about Brynhildr and Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native
12 Michael Hirst’s Vikings and Old Norse Poetry
Afterword
A Translation of Riddle 15 from the Exeter Book
Bibliography
Index