Note to Anon Líkn 24^VII

[2, 1] guðblíðr gramr lands ‘the godly-tender king of the earth [= God (= Christ)]’: Apparently in an effort to achieve a heaven-kenning Skj B (cf. LP: guðblíðr), followed by Skald, separates guð and emends it to glyggs (i.e. glyggs gramr lands ‘king of gale’s land’). However, the kenning type earth + king for God is not uncommon; Meissner, 328 lists nine instances including (from Líkn) fróns vörðr ‘the earth’s guardian’ 15/3 and fróns konungr ‘the earth’s king’ 33/1-2, as well as Pl 57/1, 4 jarðar gramr ‘the earth’s king’. The st. concerns itself with Christ’s human and divine natures (mann ok guð ‘man and God’, l. 8). The kenning of the first helmingr (‘king of the earth’) may emphasise his humanity, while that of the second underscores his divinity (‘king of the earth’s tent [SKY/HEAVEN]’). The adj. guðblíðr also occurs (of the sun) in Skúli Lv 1/2^III. An alternative arrangement would be to separate its elements and place them in apposition to gramr lands, i.e. ‘the king of the earth, tender God, ascended’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
5. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. Internal references
7. Jonna Louis-Jensen and Tarrin Wills (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Plácitusdrápa 57’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 218.
8. George S. Tate 2007, ‘ Anonymous, Líknarbraut’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 228-86. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1024> (accessed 3 June 2024)
9. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2017, ‘Skúli Þorsteinsson, Lausavísa 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 367.