A glance at Thorpe’s activities as an editor and translator (a full overview is provided below) shows an admirable range: from poems to law texts, psalms, chronicles and homilies. Thorpe also strikes as a humble man. His humility, as well as his intended purpose for most of his books, are made clear in the preface to his Analecta Anglo-Saxonica (1834), a student anthology of Old English texts:
"Like the generality of first attempts, [this work] is, I am too well aware, extremely defective both in plan and execution, and has large demands to make upon the indulgences of its readers; but I shall not regret having sent it forth to the world, if, by its publication, the study of the old vernacular tongue of England, so much neglected at home, and so successfully cultivated by foreign philologists, shall be promoted in the land where it once flourished. (Thorpe 1834, A2).
He was also humble enough to indicate when a text had proven too difficult for him to translate."
This article is about Benjamin Thorpe who was a translator of Old English texts. I may be seeing signal in noise but it seems like a lot people that end up becoming prolific in posterity are humble and critical of their work while producing it.
While some people may not subscribe to the Great Man myth, I do. I will concede that certain things can only happen at certain times because the conditions become favorable but someone still needs to step up to the plate and take advantage of those conditions. He had help but his output is still impressive. I finished reading this and the lingering question I had for myself was, "How do you find conditions that allow you to become great?". Is it pure luck i.e. being in the right place at the right time with the right interests or can you will it into existence? I guess time will tell.
Thanks for reading and as always, all comments, critiques and questions are highly appreciated. Here's a link to the
previous article response.