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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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RvHbreiðm Hl 37III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 37’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1045.

Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr ÞórarinssonHáttalykill
363738

text and translation

Hafði Helgi         í hjǫrva gný
geðstein glaðan,         gótt drengjaval,
hjalm harðsleginn,         hjól mundriða,
sverð snardregit         ok svala brynju.

Helgi hafði {glaðan geðstein} í {gný hjǫrva}, gótt drengjaval, harðsleginn hjalm, {hjól mundriða}, snardregit sverð ok svala brynju.
 
‘Helgi had a cheerful mind-stone [HEART] in the clamour of swords [BATTLE], a good choice of warriors, a hard-forged helmet, a wheel of the sword [SHIELD], a swift-drawn sword and a cold byrnie.

notes and context

The heading is bálkarlag (‘Balkar lagr’) ‘section’s metre’ (cf. SnSt Ht 97, StarkSt Frag and TGT 1884, 68). In Ht, that metre is a regularised form of fornyrðislag with two alliterative staves in the odd lines. In Snorri’s variant, the main stave in the even lines falls on the initial syllable, and there is no anacrusis (so also in StarkSt Frag). In the present stanza, ll. 2 and 8 are Types B and C2 with anacrusis.

Helgi is Helgi Hálfdanarson Fróðasonar, another legendary king of the Danish Skjǫldung dynasty and the grandson of Fróði who is commemorated in sts 35-6. He was the father of Hrólfr kraki (sts 47-8). See ÍF 26, 56-7, ÍF 35, 21-6, 37 and Saxo 2005, I, 2, 5, 2-7, pp. 158-63 (the latter confuses him with Helgi Hundingsbani, see Note to sts 9-10 [All]).

readings

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Rǫgnvaldr jarl og Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 19a: AI, 519, BI, 496, Skald I, 243; Hl 1941, 25, 67.

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