Comparison of seven Beowulf translationsThere is no unanimity among the Beowulf translators regarding all parts of the text, but there is little divergence from a single, uniform translation of the poem. Below are discussed some passages on which translators might show disagreement due to lack of clarity or missing text fragments or abundance of synonyms or ambiguous referents. After the Danish coast guard meets and speaks to Beowulf, the guard then begins his next speech with a brief maxim or aphorism: Aeghwaepres scealscearp scyldwiga gescad witan, worda ond worca, se pe wel penced. (287-289) TA Shippey comments in “The World of the Poem” that: Translating this should not be difficult…. The problem here is that proverbs are not simple linguistic phenomena…. the hidden factor is the extralinguistic framework; We were taught in our childhood when to use proverbs, what their metaphors mean, who to say them to, and how to take them. It is this non-verbal knowledge that we need to be able to understand the “gnome” of the coast guard. The reluctance to reconstruct such intangible elements and the stubborn view on the text have led literary critics into controversy (Shippey 34). So let's compare six translators and determine how serious the discrepancy exists here. Howell D. Chickering translates the troublesome part of the passage: “must know the distinction between words and deeds, keep the difference clear” (Chickering 65). E. Talbot Donaldson: “He who thinks well must be able to judge both things, words and works” (Donaldson 6). Kevin Crossley-Holland: “someone whose mind is... in the middle of a sheet... several synonyms, vague references, etc.BIBLIOGRAPHYAlexander, Michael. Beowulf A translation of verse. New York: Penguin Books, 1973. Chickering, Howell D. Beowulf A bilingual edition. New York: Anchor Books, 1977. Crossley-Holland, Kevin, trans. Beowulf The Fight at Finnsburh, edited by Heather O'Donoghue. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Donaldson, E. Talbot, trans. Beowulf The Donaldson translation, edited by Joseph Tuso. New York, WW Norton and Co., 1975. Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf, a new translation of verses. New York: WW Norton & Co., 2000. Rebsamen, Frederick. Beowulf A translation of verse. New York: Harper-Collins Publishers, 1991. Shippey, T.A. “The world of the poem”. In Beowulf – Modern Critical Interpretations, edited by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987..