Carolyne Larrington and Peter Robinson (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Sólarljóð 67’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 343-4.
Menn sá ek þá, er margt höfðu
orð á annan logit;
heljar hrafnar ór höfði þeim
harðliga sjónir slitu.
Ek sá menn þá, er höfðu logit margt orð á annan; hrafnar heljar slitu harðliga sjónir ór höfði þeim.
I saw men then who had greatly slandered another; Hell’s ravens violently tore the eyes out of their heads.
Mss: 166bˣ(48r), papp15ˣ(6v), 738ˣ(83r), 167b 6ˣ(3v), 214ˣ(151v), 1441ˣ(586), 10575ˣ(9v), 2797ˣ(236)
Readings: [1] þá: þar 2797ˣ [2] höfðu: so papp15ˣ, 214ˣ, 1441ˣ, 2797ˣ, hafa 166bˣ, 738ˣ, 167b 6ˣ, 10575ˣ [3] orð: ‘o[...]’ 214ˣ [6] harðliga sjónir slitu: slitu harðliga sjónir 738ˣ, ‘hardleg[...] sjónir slitu’ 214ˣ, sárliga sjónir slitu 2797ˣ
Editions: Skj AI, 638, Skj BI, 646, Skald I, 314-15; Bugge 1867, 367, Falk 1914, 39, Björn M. Ólsen 1915, 20, Fidjestøl 1979, 69, Njörður Njarðvík 1991, 94-5, Njörður Njarðvík 1993, 73, 141.
Notes: [2] höfðu ‘had’: The past tense is generally used in this section to refer to sinners’ lives on earth, though see 61/2. — [4] hrafnar heljar ‘Hell’s ravens’: These ravens may be associated with the pagan goddess of death, Hel (although Óðinn was traditionally the owner of ravens; cf. Tate 1985, 1032), as well as with the Christian realm of punishment; see Note to 38/4. — [6] slitu sjónir ‘tore the eyes (out)’: In Fj 45/1-3 Svipdagr is threatened with having his eyes pecked out by ravens as a punishment for lying: horskir hrafnar | skulu þér á hám gálga | slíta sjónir úr | ef þú þat lýgr ‘wise ravens shall, on high gallows, tear out your eyes if you are lying about that’.
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.