J. J. Earle

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John J. Earle (1824 - 1903) was a British academic and clergyman, the rector of Swanswick and Rawlinson Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Oxford.

He translated Beowulf in 1892, a version that was described by J.R.R. Tolkien as "one of the most poorly translated works ever." Chauncey B. Tinker, in his The Translations of Beowulf: A Critical Bibliography, was more generous; he said

"As a whole, the translation may fairly be called faithful",

but

"the simpler passages of the poem [...] are often strained to make them square with the translator's personal notions" and "[t]he archaic style used by Professor Earle cannot be regarded as highly felicitous, since it mixes the diction of various ages."

He wrote a book, Anglo-Saxon, in 1884.

[edit] References

Earle, John. Anglo-Saxon. (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1884).
Tinker, Chauncey Brewster. The translations of Beowulf; a critical bibliography. (New York: Holt, 1903). (Modern reprint with new introduction, Hamden: Archon Books, 1974), ISBN 0-208-01482-9.