Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies

2. 
Tolkien´s Translations 
The first realm (as he would probably say in his fantasy books) where Tolkien could 
prove his poetic qualities was the realm of translations. As he was a scholar, translations had 
to be a part of his life from the beginning 
– he would need them for studying and teaching 
purposes. Later, when he became famous and could address many people, he continued in 
translating, even though he probably did not need it for himself. That was because he 
wanted to popularize and make the subject of his study more accessibl
e. He rote: A 
translation may be a useful form of commentary; and this version may possibly be accessible 
even to those who already know the original and posses editions with all their apparatus.
(Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo, v). Thus he addressed his translations 
to both students (who dealt deeply with the originals) and ordinary people (who had maybe 
never heard of the original before). Nevertheless, the translation would in both cases be only 
something like a device to reach for the true work of art that was composed hundreds of 
years ago. 
Tolkien translated medieval poetic texts into poetry and prose as well. He translated 
Beowulf into prose but only for his own purposes and this version was never published 
– 
maybe also because there are already many of translations by different authors. To one of 
them, a translation by Clark Hall, he wrote an introduction.
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However, that does not mean 
that the translation is not important. For example John D. Niles, University of Wisconsin 
professor, stated some of his mistranslations in his essay Fatal Contradiction and Tolkien 
himself transformed knowledge that he gained from translating into two important essays, 
On translating Beowulf and Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics. According to Humphrey 
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"When he did write it, this introduction proved to be a lengthy discussion of the principles of 
translation, and in particular an argument in favour of the adoption of a high style when dealing 
with heroic matters" (Carpenter 171). 

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Carpenter, the second essay that was originally a lecture "is a landmark in the history of 
criticism of this great Western Anglo-Saxon poem" (127). 
Concerning his poetry translations, there are only three of them that were published 
and these are Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo. The first two of them 
that are considered to be works of the same author, though we do not know his name, are in 
alliterative verse. The last one, which has not so much in common with these two, is written 
in rhyming couplets. However, all of them were published in one book a few years after 
Tolkie ´s death his so , Christopher. 
Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is quite a long poem which is in connection with the 
circle of Arthurian legends, although it is not its core part. It is a typical courtly romance 
poem where a knight is torn out of his everyday life and he sets off on a mission, a quest. By 
finishing it, he should prove his qualities of an honest and worthy man, a knight. Of course, 
there are always some beautiful women involved. But, in this story, it is not as simple as 
that. In some ways it resembles a fairy-tale and there are also some comedy components 
(for example, when Sir Gawain has to kiss Bertilak). The poem has many interpreters who 
argue about the meaning of the green colour, the amount of paganism and about the 
character of Gawain itself 
– why was he not punished even though he was cheating. Tolkien 
joined the discussion by one of his recorded lectures that was published along with his other 
essays in The Monsters and Critics. Concerning the poem itself, he had some version of the 
translation already around the year 1950 (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir 
Orfeo, v), yet he did not publish it, probably because of his perfectionist character, and he 
kept on doing more and more revisions. He translated all 80 stanzas of the poem and 
preserved the alliterative verse including the so called bob and wheel endings - the four lines 

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at the end of every stanza that are composed of rhyming couplets. This feature was not 
common in the original alliterative verse, for example in Beowulf, and it is typical for the 
Alliterative Revival that took place in the time of Geoffrey Chaucer in fourteenth century 
(The Fall of Arthur 79). 
The se o d Tolkie ´s poeti tra slatio is alled Pearl. He started during his teaching 
at Leeds and finished already in 1926 (Carpenter 129). This poem also has an interesting 
feature and that is a repetition of the last line (or at least the last word) every few stanzas. 
As was mentioned before, it is believed to be written by the same author as Sir Gawain 
because the style is similar and it was preserved in one manuscript. It is 101 stanzas long, 
each consisting of twelve lines. It is a very religious poem. Pearl, a young girl, appears in a 
dream of some man in a form of a spirit. She says that she died very young and now she is in 
Heaven. Later, she describes what it is like to be there and what should his behaviour be if 
he wants to follow her one day. The poem is finished by words Amen, amen . In the 
introduction, Tolkien himself discusses the allegory and symbolism of the poem and also 
whether it is or is not about a real daughter of somebody, possibly the writer himself. (Sir