#87 Fri (9/16/22) - Grundtvig's Bjovulfs Drape

 In 1815, Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin published the first edition of the Epic of Beowulf titled De Danorum rebus gestis secul. III & IV : Poëma Danicum dialecto Anglosaxonica in a Latin translation. Despite his lack of knowledge of Anglo-Saxon literature, Grundtvig* quickly discovered a number of flaws in Thorkelin's rendering of the poems. 

After his heated debate with Thorkelin, Johan Bülow (1751–1828), who had sponsored Thorkelin's work, offered to support a new translation by Grundtvig — this time into Danish. The result, Bjovulfs Drape (1820), was the first full translation of Beowulf into a modern language (previously, only selections of the poem had been translated into modern English by Sharon Turner in 1805).

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* N. F. S. Grundtvig, was a Danish pastor, author, poet, philosopher, historian, teacher and politician. He was one of the most influential people in Danish history, as his philosophy gave rise to a new form of nationalism in the last half of the 19th century. It was steeped in the national literature and supported by deep spirituality.

 

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