Cite as: Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Lilja 73’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 645-6.

Reknir brott í dauðans drukknan drepnir menn, er þar skulu brenna, gnísta tennr í fýlu og frosti; fjandr í kring um búka standa.

Brigsli og hróp er að gjörvum glæpum, grimmlig sótt í myrkri og ótta; eingi er ván á öðru en pínu, eilíf nauð, en kvikr er dauðinn.

Drepnir menn, er þar skulu brenna, reknir brott í drukknan dauðans, gnísta tennr í fýlu og frosti; fjandr standa í kring um búka. Er brigsli og hróp að gjörvum glæpum, grimmlig sótt í myrkri og ótta; er eingi ván á öðru en pínu, eilíf nauð, en dauðinn er kvikr.

Slain men, who there must burn, driven away to the drowning of death, gnash their teeth in foulness and frost; devils stand in a ring around their bodies. There is scoffing and hooting at their committed sins, hideous grief in darkness and terror; there is no hope of anything other than torment, eternal distress, and death is alive.

Mss: Bb(115vb), 99a(14v-15r), 622(36), 713(12), Vb(254), 41 8°ˣ(128-129), 705ˣ(18r), 4892(36v)

Readings: [1] dauðans: dauða 713, dauðan 4892;    drukknan: dökkvan 4892    [2] er: að 713, 4892    [3] tennr: tenn 622, Vb, 4892, tónn 41 8°ˣ;    fýlu: fjúk 41 8°ˣ, fjúki 4892    [4] fjandr: ‘fjandar’ Vb, 41 8°ˣ;    kring: hring 705ˣ;    búka: salir 713, 4892    [5] Brigsli: brixl Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892;    er: om. 622, 713, 4892, á Vb, 41 8°ˣ;    að: om. Vb, 41 8°ˣ    [6] grimmlig: er grimmlig Vb, 41 8°ˣ;    myrkri: myrkr 622, 713, 4892    [7] eingi: einginn 4892;    en: þar 99a    [8] dauðinn: dauði 622, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892, ‘d[...]i’ 713

Editions: Skj: Eysteinn Ásgrímsson, Lilja 73: AII, 386, BII, 409, Skald II, 224.

Notes: [All]: The st. has many overtones of the description of the traditional nine torments of hell in the ON Eluc: j þeim stad ero .ix. hofvd pisler. En fẏsta er svo akafligvr elldr. at eigi mvnde slokna þott j felli avll votn og sior. Sa elldr brenner og lẏser eigi. og þeim mvn heitare en vor elldr. sem sia se likneske skrifad epter hinvm. Avnnvr er frost svo mikid. at elldligt fiall mvndi verda at svelli ef þangat felle. Vm þessar písler er ritad. þar er gratvr og gnotrvn tanna. þviat reẏkvr af elldi giorer grat a[v.][-]na. En frost tanna gnotrvn. Þridía kvol erv hrædiliger ormar og drekar [o...][-]leger j sẏn og j roddv. þeir er svo lifa j ellde sem fiskar j vatne. Fiorda kvol er leidiligvr davn. Fimta grimlegr bardage. Setta mẏrkvr þat er þreifa ma vm. sem ritad er. Mẏrkra iord og meina. þar er bẏgger margr híte og eilif hræsla. siovnda er sẏnda skemd. þviat þar man ecke liott verk leẏnast. Atta er hræsla ogvrligrar sẏnar diofla og dreka. þeirra er blasa elldi og brennv steine. og vesalig heẏrn grasz og diofla hlatvrs. Nivn[-]da kvol er elldlig bond er þravnga ollvm lidvm ‘In this (sic) place there are nine main torments. The first is such extreme fire that it could not be extinguished even if all lakes and the ocean would cover it. That fire burns but does not shine, and it will be to the same extent hotter than regular fire as fire is hotter than a picture painted of it. The second is frost, so great that a mountain of fire would turn into ice if it covered it. About this torment is written: There is weeping and gnashing of teeth, because the smoke of the fire makes the “eyes” weep and the frost makes the teeth gnash. The third torment is terrible snakes and dragons, “horrible” in appearance and in voice, which live in fire just as fish live in water. The fourth torment is repulsive stench. The fifth is fierce battle. The sixth is darkness that can be touched, as is written: The earth of darkness and disease where much heat lives and eternal fear [Job X.22]. The seventh is the disgrace of sin, because no ugly deed can be hidden there. The eighth is fear of the dreadful sight of devils and dragons which spew fire and brimstone, and the miserable noise of weeping and the laughter of devils. The ninth torment is fiery fetters which bind all members’ (Eluc 1992, 80, 81). — [1] drukknan dauðans ‘drowning of death’: Cf. Eluc: se ander sẏndvgar grafnar j pisler sem likamer j iord ‘sinful souls are buried in torment as bodies are buried in the earth’ (Eluc 1992, 80, 81). — [3] frosti ‘in frost’: Has 39 and Anon Sól 18 also envision hell as a cold place. Elsewhere in Lil the image is used in connection with greed (78/2) and as a metaphor for sin’s consequences (81/8). — [4] búka ‘bodies’: According to traditional doctrine, souls are reunited with their resurrected bodies at the Last Judgement, and the punishments of hell are thus corporal as well as spiritual. — [6] sótt ‘sorrow’: See Note to 40/5. — [7-8]: Cf. Has 38/7-8: ey grœtir þar ýta | uggr, en vætki huggar ‘fear grieves men there perpetually and nothing affords comfort’. — [8] kvikr er dauðinn ‘death is alive’: The phrase echoes a famous sentence from the Moralia in Job of Gregory the Great, quoted in numerous medieval descriptions of hell: Fit ergo miseris mors sine morte, finis sine fine, defectus sine defectu, quia et mors uiuit et finis semper incipit, et deficere defectus nescit ‘For those wretched men there will be death without death, an end without end, a decline without cease, because death lives, and the end is always beginning, and the decline knows no cessation’ (Adriaen 1979, 528 [9.66]).