John Lesslie Hall

John Lesslie Hall (March 2, 1856 – February 23, 1928), also known as J. Lesslie Hall, was an American literary scholar and poet known for his translation of Beowulf.

John Lesslie Hall
Born	(1856-03-02)March 2, 1856 Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
Died	February 23, 1928(1928-02-23) (aged 71) Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S.
Resting place	Hollywood Cemetery
Occupations	Educator poet

Early life

John Lesslie Hall was born on March 2, 1856, in Richmond, Virginia, to Jacob Hall Jr. Hall attended Randolph–Macon College and received a PhD from Johns Hopkins University.^[1]

Career

Hall taught English history and literature at the College of William & Mary from 1888 to 1928, becoming head of the English department and dean of the faculty, and receiving an honorary LLD in 1921. He "was one of the original members of the faculty which reopened the college in 1888".^[1][2] He was also concerned with the history of his native Virginia; he frequently spoke at Jamestown and compared Jamestown's Great Charter of 1618^{[clarification needed]} and the assembly of 1619 with the Magna Charta at Runnymede."^[3]

Personal life

In 1889, he married Margaret Fenwick Farland, of Tappahannock, Virginia.^[4] They had three sons and one daughter, Channing Moore, John Lesslie Jr., Joseph Farland, and Sarah Moore.^[1][5]

Hall died on February 23, 1928, at his home in Williamsburg. He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery.^[1]

Works

Hall's Beowulf follows the text closely, with alliteration:

Grendel reaches Heorot: Beowulf 710–714

Old English verse	Hall's verse[6][7]
Ðá cóm of móre     under misthleoþum Grendel gongan·     godes yrre bær· mynte se mánscaða     manna cynnes sumne besyrwan     in sele þám héan·	’Neath the cloudy cliffs came from the moor then Grendel going, God’s anger bare he. The monster intended some one of earthmen In the hall-building grand to entrap and make way with;

Selected works

• (tr.) Beowulf: An Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem (D. C. Heath, 1892)
• Judas: A Drama in Five Acts (H. T. Jones, 1894)
• (tr.) Judith, Phœnix, and Other Anglo-Saxon Poems (Silver, Burdett and Company, 1902)
• Old English Idyls (Ginn & Company, 1899), original poems in the style of Old English verse
• Half-hours in Southern History (B. F. Johnson Publishing Co., 1907)
• English Usage: Studies in the History and Uses of English Words and Phrases (Scott, Foresman and Company, 1917)