[All]: This st., the midpoint of the drápa, introduces the second stef. Paasche comments (1957, 534-5) that form and content here fall together: the structural midpoint of the poem describes the midpoint and turning point of salvation history. Christ is on the Cross, time is suspended, and everything hangs in balance. The second half of the drápa begins like a new poem with a ‘topic of the exordium’ (Curtius 1953, 85-9), a prayer for eloquence (cf. st. 2).