Note to RvHbreiðm Hl 55III
[All]: In this stanza, antithesis occurs in all even lines: góðr ‘good’ : illr ‘bad’ (l. 2); seint ‘slowly’ : skjótt ‘quickly’ (l. 4); opt ‘often’ : sjaldan ‘seldom’ (l. 6); framm ‘forwards’ : aptr ‘back’ (l. 8). For this metrical variant, see Note to st. 39 [All]. Lines 3-4 and 5-8 of the present stanza illustrate how the metre got its name (refrún ‘fox-secret’). If the adverbs are lined up differently with the verbs they modify, the meaning of the clauses is reversed: ‘the raven/eagle was sated slowly, and the king was frightened quickly’ (ll. 3-4); ‘I heard that the mighty ruler, who was often afraid, seldom caused uproar’ (ll. 5-6); ‘the guardian of the land pulled back in the strong battle; he did not advance’ (ll. 7-8). See Holtsmark (Hl 1941, 125). In Ht, Snorri appears to have interpreted this variant somewhat differently than the poets of Hl (see Note to SnSt Ht 17 [All] and Introduction to Ht).
References
- Bibliography
- Hl 1941 = Jón Helgason and Anne Holtsmark, eds. 1941. Háttalykill enn forni. BA 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Háttatal’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=165> (accessed 25 April 2024)
- Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1001. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1347> (accessed 25 April 2024)
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 17’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1121.