MY purpose in the present translation is so to combine faithfulness with literary quality as to afford reasonable
satisfaction to both the specialist and the general student of literature. In my diction I have endeavored to avoid
unintelligible archaisms, and have sought after simple idioms, with a preference for words of Germanic origin.
All things considered, prose has been adopted as the most satisfactory medium of translation. Verse may be
the ideal form, but it requires an ideal translator; and with the exception of Tennyson's version of The Battle of
Brunanburh, and perhaps one or two others, I can think of none that are at all adequate. Nor is prose without its
peculiar advantages; in at least one important respect it is superior to verse, since its flexibility offers a more facile
medium for reproducing that metrical variety which is one of the principal charms of Old English poetry.
Up to the present time there have appeared three complete translations of this poem—Thorpe's in his edition
of the Codex Exoniensis, Gollancz's in his two editions of the Christ, and Grein's in his Dichtungen der Angelsachsen.
I have made free use of these translations, and am indebted to them for an occasional word or phrase.
The line-numbering follows the original, which necessarily causes irregular intervals between the marginal
numbers. Square brackets indicate words inserted by the translator for the sake of clearness.
This translation was undertaken at the suggestion of Professor Albert S. Cook, and closely conforms in
readings and punctuation to his recent edition of the Christ. Through his kindness I have been furnished with the
proof-sheets as needed, and have thereby found my labor materially lessened. Specific acknowledgments to this
edition are usually made in the foot-notes, but many of the Biblical parallels come from the same source.
Throughout my work I have had the benefit of Professor Cook's ripe scholarship and sound judgment; for his
unfailing kindness and helpfulness I wish to express my deep sense of gratitude. It also gives me pleasure to
acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. Robert K. Root, who has carefully read the whole of my manuscript; and to
Dr. Charles G. Osgood and Dr. Frank H. Chase for various helpful suggestions.
The introduction to Professor Cook's volume relieves me from attempting a literary appreciation. Suffice it to
say that, as the beauties of the Christ have gradually unfolded before me, I have come to feel that it is the most
spiritual expression of an age in which poetry, vital and genuine, if somewhat unformed, welled directly from the
deeps of man's nature.
If this translation should serve to win even a few readers to an ardent and appreciative love of Old English
verse, the author would feel amply rewarded; yet the fitting and adequate recompense of such labor as it has cost
lies in the disclosure to the soul of the worker of a beauty and truth hitherto unapprehended.
