Longfellow's Poetry and Poets of Europe is xix + 779 pp., in 2 vols. paginated continuously. The chapter "Poem of Beowulf," the first set of literary extracts in the book, occupies pp. 8-10 and consists of 5 individually titled passages in verse translation, given in this order: "Beowulf the Shyld" and "The Sailing of Beowulf," both from William Taylor's Historic Survey of German Poetry: Interspersed with Various Translations (1828); "Beowulf's Expedition to Heort," by Longfellow; and "An Old Man's Sorrow" and "Good Night," both from John M. Kemble's 1837 translation. The 5 extracts respectively translate ll. 53-82, 18-40a, 189-257, 2455-62a, and 1789b-803a.

"The Sailing of Beowulf" (a rendering of ll. 18-40a, from vol. 1, pp. 79-81, of Taylor's Historic Survey) is combined by Longfellow from two passages presented as separate units by Taylor. It begins:

Famous was Beowulf;
Wide sprang the blood
Which the heir of the Shylds
Shed on the lands.
So shall the bracelets
Purchase endeavour,
Freely presented,
As by thy fathers;
And all the young men,
As is their custom,
Cling round their leader
Soon as the war comes. (8)

And ends:

There was treasure
Won from afar
Laden on board.
Ne'er did I hear
Of a vessel appointed
Better for battle,
With weapons of war,
And waistcoats of wool,
And axes and swords. (8)

Fry, MO1, and MO2 misattribute to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow this verse translation by Taylor. Longfellow's Table of Contents in The Poets and Poetry of Europe indicates the correct attribution.

Fry, MO1, and GR represent the whole portion of Longfellow's anthology The Poets and Poetry of Europe (1845) that contains this verse translation as a reprint of an 1838 review article. However, this 1845 work uses a greatly reduced verson of the 1838 article as an introductory chapter, giving it the new title "Anglo-Saxon Language and Poetry" (vol. 1, pp. 1-7). This is followed by a series of titled anthology sections containing translated material mostly by others, including 5 passages from Beowulf in a section entitled "Poem of Beowulf" (vol. 1, pp. 8-10). Taylor's translation "The Sailing of Beowulf," which is one of these, was not present in Longfellow's 1838 review article.

BAM.