Cite as: Carolyne Larrington and Peter Robinson (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Sólarljóð 35’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 319.
Glaðr at mörgu þótta ek gumnum vera,
þvít ek vissa fátt fyrir;
dularheim |
hefr dróttinn skapat
munafullan mjök. |
Ek þótta gumnum vera glaðr at mörgu, þvít ek vissa fátt fyrir; dróttinn hefr skapat mjök munafullan dularheim.
I seemed to men to be happy at many a thing, because I knew little of what lay ahead; the Lord has created a worldof delusion very full of pleasures.
Mss: 166bˣ(46v), papp15ˣ(4r), 738ˣ(81v), 214ˣ(150v), 1441ˣ(584), 10575ˣ(5v), 2797ˣ(233)
Readings: [4] dular‑: dvalar‑ papp15ˣ, 738ˣ, 214ˣ, 10575ˣ, 2797ˣ [6] munafullan: munaþfullan 214ˣ
Editions: Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XII], G [6]. Sólarljóð 35: AI, 633, BI, 641, Skald I, 312; Bugge 1867, 363, Falk 1914, 18, Björn M. Ólsen 1915, 13, Fidjestøl 1979, 64, Njörður Njarðvík 1991, 68, Njörður Njarðvík 1993, 41, 114-5.
Notes: [4] dularheim ‘world of delusion’: Is in 166bˣ, and a limited range of other mss, cf. dul ‘delusion’ in 34/1. Dvalarheim ‘world where we stay’, as in papp15ˣ and 738ˣ, is elsewhere the dominant reading and has been adopted by all other eds. For the sentiment that happiness is the result of not knowing one’s fate, cf. Hávm 55, 56.