Cite as: Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 31’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1137.

Stáls dynblakka støkkvi stinngeðs samir minnask — álms bifsœki aukum Yggs feng — á lof þengils. Odds bláferla jarli ǫrbrjót né skal þrjóta — Hárs saltunnu hrannir hrœrum — óð at stœra. Stáls dynblakka støkkvi stinngeðs samir minnask — álms bifsœki aukum Yggs feng — á lof þengils. Odds bláferla jarli ǫrbrjót né skal þrjóta — Hárs saltunnu hrannir hrœrum — óð at stœra. Samir støkkvi dynblakka stáls minnask á lof stinngeðs þengils; aukum feng Yggs bifsœki álms. Né skal þrjóta ǫrbrjót bláferla odds at stœra jarli óð; hrœrum hrannir saltunnu Hárs.

text prose order   It is fitting {for the compeller {of the prow’s din-steeds}} [SHIPS > SEAFARER = Snorri] to recall the praise of the strong-minded lord; we [I] increase {Yggr’s booty} [POETRY] {for the tremble-seeker of the elm-bow}. [WARRIOR = Skúli] Nor shall {the liberal breaker {of the spear-point’s dark paths}} [SHIELDS > WARRIOR = Snorri] cease to magnify the praise to the jarl; we [I] stir {the waves of Hárr’s hall-barrel}. [POETRY]

context: With this stanza the praise of Jarl Skúli Bárðarson commences (SnE 2007, 17): Nú hefr upp annat kvæði  ‘Now the second poem begins’ (R, Tˣ). The metrical pattern that characterises the stanza is called bragarbót ‘poem’s improvement’, which is a regularised use of Type D2 odd lines, that is, a monosyllabic noun followed by a trisyllabic compound with a short first element followed by a long syllable carrying internal rhyme.

notes: The headings are 24 (Tˣ) and bragar háttr ‘poem’s verse-form’ (U(47r)). In W, the stanza is introduced as follows: Her hefr annat kvæði þat er ort er vm skvla iarl ok heitir bragar bót ‘Here the second poem begins, which is composed about Skúli jarl and is called poem’s improvement’. — For this variant, see Kuhn (1969a; 1983, 165) and Gade (1995a, 113). — [4, 7]: The kennings feng Yggs ‘Yggr’s booty’ and hrannir saltunnu Hárs ‘the waves of Hárr’s hall-barrel’ refer to the myth about how Óðinn obtained the mead of poetry (see SnE 1998, I, 3-5).

texts: ‹Ht 33›, ‹SnE 625›

editions: Skj Snorri Sturluson: 2. Háttatal 31 (AII, 60-1; BII, 69); Skald II, 39; SnE 1848-87, I, 642-3, II, 371, 387, III, 118, SnE 1879-81, I, 5, 77, II, 15, SnE 1931, 229, SnE 2007, 17; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 19-20.

sources

GKS 2367 4° (R)	48r, 27 - 48r, 29	(SnE)
Traj 1374x (Tx)	50v, 8 - 50v, 8	(SnE)
AM 242 fol (W)	144, 2 - 144, 4	(SnE)
DG 11 (U*)	47r, 18 - 47r, 18 [1-2]	(SnE)
DG 11 (U*)	52v, 5 - 52v, 7	(SnE)
AMAcc 18x (Acc18x)	215, 12 - 215, 16