Note to Anon Lil 89VII
[3] geisli lofta ‘light-beam of the skies’: This epithet is likewise unusual. The image of a ray or beam of light is normally associated with Christ, in ON as well as in Lat. literature (cf. geisli miskunnar sólar ‘beam of the sun of mercy’ Geisl 1/6 etc.). In Lil 27/3, geisli sólar ‘ray of the sun’ is used of the archangel Gabriel. The meaning is more metaphorical (something like ‘shining example’) when geisli brúða ‘light-beam of women’ refers to S. Anastasia in Mey 42/6 and Íslands gǫfugr geisli ‘Iceland’s splendid beam’ to Bishop Guðmundr in Árni Gd, 67/1IV; perhaps it should be understood in a similar way here.
References
- Internal references
- Kirsten Wolf (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Heilagra meyja drápa 42’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 917.
- Not published: do not cite (Árni GdIV)
- Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 1’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 7.
- Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Lilja 27’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 593-4.