Poem about a woman — Ormr Woman^III

The stanzas considered to originate in a putative ‘Poem about a Woman’ (Ormr Woman) are in hálfhnept ‘half-curtailed’ metre, in which the final foot in each line is a monosyllable (see ‘Skaldic metres’ in General Introduction, SkP I, lxiii). Stanzas 1-5 (each a helmingr) are preserved in Skm (SnE) (mss R (main ms.), Tˣ and W). Ms. W includes st. 4 twice, once in Skm and once in TGT (the latter ll. 1-2 only). Ms. U has all stanzas except st. 3. Mss A and C have sts 2, 3 and 4. Ms. B has sts 1, 3 and 5; the text of 3/3-4 in this ms. is only partially legible, however, and here reference is made to 744ˣ. Stanzas 2 and 4 also appear in LaufE (mss 2368ˣ and 743ˣ). Ms. 761bˣ contains sts 1-5, apparently transcribed from W with marginal variant readings from other mss, all of which are extant, and therefore it is not included in the critical apparatus.

Stanza 6 (also a helmingr) is attested uniquely in LaufE (mss 2368ˣ, 1496ˣ and 738ˣ) and is thought to derive from a now lost section of ms. W of SnE (Jón Helgason 1966a, 175). Lines 2-4 of st. 6 are also quoted separately in copies of LaufE, having possibly been added by Björn á Skarðsá (LaufE 1979, 152). Stanza 6 is attributed to Ormr in Lbs 1116ˣ but is anonymous in other mss (ibid.).

Attribution of sts 1-5 to Ormr (Steinþórsson) is strongly attested in the mss and is accepted in modern scholarship (see below). So too is the proposition that all six fragments belong to a single poem, though the sources give no explicit indication to that effect. Guðbrandur Vigfússon (CPB II, 322-3) placed sts 1, 2, 5, 4, and 6 together in that order as fragments of a ‘dirge’ for a lady. Skj, followed by Skald, groups five stanzas in what is tentatively termed Af et digt om en kvinde(?) ‘From a poem about a woman(?)’; st. 6 is omitted from Skj (and Skald), though Finnur Jónsson’s intention to include it is evident, as noted by Jón Helgason (1966a, 177), from the entries for 2. Fríðr and 2. gustr in LP, which cite ‘Ormr 6 (AM 738)’; the fragment is not cited in LP (1860). The ordering in Skj (and hence Skald) – (our) sts 5, 1, 4, 2, 3 – adheres to the sequence of citation in SnE.

The present edition accepts that the stanzas stem from a single poem and an attempt is made to order them according to their inner logic. Stanza 1 contains an assurance about the propriety of the poem’s theme, a topic that could have followed the customary call for a hearing in the upphaf ‘introduction’. Stanza 2 can be read as continuing directly from st. 1. It alludes to the delivery of the poem in the present tense (not the past, as would be natural at the conclusion of a poem); the perfect tense of ‘I have placed the mark’ could refer forward to a feature of the poem that the audience has as yet not heard, the disclosure of the lady’s name via ofljóst ‘too transparent’ in st. 6. Ólafur Halldórsson (1990, 231) has instead proposed placing st. 2 after st. 6, where the ‘mark’ occurs, possibly as the second helmingr of one stanza, but this is less likely, since the present tense of berk ‘I deliver’ would clash with the preterite of mærðak ‘I honoured’ (a probable emendation: see Note to st. 6/2). Stanza 3 contains a description of a lady that, as Faulkes (SnE 1998, I, 216) remarks, better fits the recipient of the poem than the subject of its inset narrative, Snæfríðr (on whom, see below). It can be read as further justifying the assurances in the previous fragments: the lady is beyond reproach, which ought to act as guarantee for a poem composed in her honour. As noted by Faulkes (SnE 1998, I, 161), it might have served as a stef ‘refrain’. Stanza 4, describing the dressing of a deceased woman in burial clothing, most probably contains an episode from the inset narrative. Stanza 5 shows a speaker apparently within this narrative expressing a wish to be interred with the woman once they are both dead (but see Note to st. 5/3). Stanza 6 is a natural component in the poem’s slœmr ‘conclusion’ in that it contains good wishes for the female dedicatee (Jón Helgason 1966a, 177), with a form of the verb njóta ‘enjoy’, which characteristically features in such conclusions (Poole 1985b, 275-6).

On this logic, sts 1, 2, 3 and 6 belong to a narrative frame and sts 4 and 5 to the story within the frame. For the suggestion that this story was that of King Haraldr hárfagri’s ‘Fair-hair’s’ deluded love for the Saami woman Snæfríðr (lit. ‘Snow-fair One’) and that all the extant stanzas in hálfhnept attributed to Ormr, along with Hhárf Snædr 1^I (also in hálfhnept metre), originally formed parts of a Snæfríðardrápa, see Ólafur Halldórsson (1969b) and (1990), Poole (1982) and Hhárf Snædr^I (cf. also Bjarni Einarsson 1961, 35). The story of Haraldr hárfagri and Snæfríðr is told in Ágr (ÍF 29, 5-6), Hkr (ÍF 26, 125-7) and Flat (1860-8, I, 582). Haraldr is enticed by one Svási, who according to Flat is a dwarf, into meeting his daughter Snæfríðr. He feels burning desire for her and becomes so infatuated that he never leaves her side so long as she lives. At her death, a sheet or shroud (blæja) called Svásanautr ‘Svási’s gift’ is draped over her. Through its magical properties, her complexion remains unaltered, leading the king to imagine that she might revive. He remains with her for three years and will not allow her body to be buried. Haraldr recites a poem about her called Snæfríðardrápa, from which the upphaf ‘beginning’ is cited in Flat. Eventually, a wise counsellor persuades the king to allow the shroud to be removed. When the true, corrupt state of the corpse is revealed, the king comes to his senses and allows it to be buried. For verbal resemblances between Ormr Woman and Hhárf Snædr 1^I, see Notes to sts 1/1, 1/4 and 5/3-4 below.

If the hypothesis that Ormr is telling the story of Haraldr and Snæfríðr can be sustained, the overall schema of the drápa would have much in common with that of Bjbp Jóms^I: like Bjarni Kolbeinsson in his treatment of Vagn Ákason, Ormr appears to focus on a great Viking-Age hero and to offset the hero’s legendary love with the poet’s own ‘fine amour’ for a lady of distinction (Poole 1982, 133-4). For the place of such a poem in the late twelfth-century literary milieu see Introduction to Bjbp Jóms^I. The stef of the evidently contemporary Anon Mhkv (sts 11/5-8, 17/5-8, 20/5-8) also refers to the crazed love of Haraldr for Snæfríðr.

The woman of the narrative frame has been tentatively identified by Ólafur Halldórsson (1990, 231) with one Unnr húsfreyja ‘House-wife’, who is mentioned in Orkneyinga saga (Orkn ch. 61, ÍF 34, 133-4) as hostess to Rǫgnvaldr Kali Kolsson and Jón Pétrsson at an inn in Bergen, Norway, a little before 1130, but the name Unnr is common and unless we assume the bearer of it to have been long-lived, this linkage would push the date of the poem back further than seems plausible on other grounds (cf. Ólafur Halldórsson 1969b, 156-7)

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
4. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
5. LP (1860) = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1860. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis. Copenhagen: Societas Regia antiquariorum septentrionalium.
6. Ágr = [Anonymous] Ágrip af Nóregs konunga sögum.
7. Bjarni Einarsson. 1961. Skáldasögur: Um uppruna og eðli ástaskáldasagnanna fornu. Reykjavík: Bókaútgáfa Menningarsjóðs.
8. Jón Helgason. 1966a. ‘Verse aus der Laufás-Edda’. In Rudolph et al. 1966, 175-80.
9. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
10. ÍF 34 = Orkneyinga saga. Ed. Finnbogi Guðmundsson. 1965.
11. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
12. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
13. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
14. SkP I = Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Ed. Diana Whaley. 2012.
15. Ólafur Halldórsson. 1990. Grettisfærsla. Safn ritgerða eftir Ólaf Halldórsson gefið út á sjötugsafmæli hans 18. apríl 1990. RSÁM 38. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.
16. Poole, Russell. 1985b. ‘The Origins of the Máhlíðingavísur’. SS 57, 244-85.
17. Poole, Russell. 1982. ‘Ormr Steinþórsson and the Snjófríðardrápa’. ANF 97, 122-37.
18. Ólafur Halldórsson. 1969b. ‘Snjófríðardrápa’. In Jakob Benediktsson 1969, 147-59. Rpt. with additions in Ólafur Halldórsson 1990.
19. Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1969a = Jvs 1969.
20. Internal references
21. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
22. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=4> (accessed 26 April 2024)
23. (forthcoming), ‘ Óláfr hvítaskáld Þórðarson, The Third Grammatical Treatise’ in Tarrin Wills (ed.), The Third Grammatical Treatise. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=32> (accessed 26 April 2024)
24. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Flateyjarbók’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=44> (accessed 26 April 2024)
25. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Orkneyinga saga’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=47> (accessed 26 April 2024)
26. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ 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=112> (accessed 26 April 2024)
27. Matthew Townend 2012, ‘(Biography of) Vagn Ákason’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 365.
28. Roberta Frank 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Málsháttakvæði’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1213. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1029> (accessed 26 April 2024)
29. Emily Lethbridge 2012, ‘ Bjarni byskup Kolbeinsson, Jómsvíkingadrápa’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 954. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1122> (accessed 26 April 2024)
30. Russell Poole 2012, ‘ Haraldr hárfagri Hálfdanarson, Snæfríðardrápa’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 67. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1262> (accessed 26 April 2024)
31. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Haraldr hárfagri Hálfdanarson, Snæfríðardrápa 1’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 68.
32. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ 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=10928> (accessed 26 April 2024)