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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Anon Hsv 38VII

[All]: Lat. parallel: (Dist. I, 22) Ne timeas illam, quae vitae est ultima finis: / qui mortem metuit, quod vivit, perdit id ipsum ‘Do not fear that which is the final end of life: whoever fears death while he is alive, loses life itself’. 624 has only ll. 4-6. As the two helmingar in 1199ˣ each render more or less the sense of the Lat. distich, ll. 1-3 in the second version mss may not be original. Unavoidable death has already been mentioned in Hsv 35. Lines 4-5 may also mean ‘a day and a night has no value for the one who wants to avoid death’, i.e. people waste their time fearing death. This seems to be the sense of the Lat.

References

  1. Internal references
  2. Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 35’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 382.

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