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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Bjark 3III

Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Bjarkamál in fornu 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 499.

Anonymous PoemsBjarkamál in fornu
234

Hniginns í hadd jarðar         Hrólfr inn stórláti.

Hrólfr inn stórláti [e]s hniginn í {hadd jarðar}.

Hrólfr the Munificent has sunk into {the hair of the earth} [GRASS].

Mss: papp10ˣ(42r), 2368ˣ(90), 743ˣ(71v) (LaufE)

Editions: Skj AI, 181, Skj BI, 170, Skald I, 91; LaufE 1979, 272, 345.

Context: In mss of LaufE this fragment is introduced as an example of heiti and kennings for ‘grass’ and said to be from Bjark. The kenning is given in the prose text as fax jarðarinnar ‘mane of the earth’.

Notes: [All]: Assuming this pair of lines belongs to Bjark, it presumably comes from a section describing King Hrólfr kraki’s last stand and death. — [1] hadd jarðar ‘the hair of the earth [GRASS]’: Cf. Meissner 89. Kennings for ‘grass’ compared to hair are uncommon and all those extant date from the C14th.; cf. Snjólfr V 1/2IV í  föx jarðar ‘into the mane of the earth’ and Arngr Gd 25/3IV and 44/1IV, a poem that dates itself to 1345. Cf. the Prologue to SnE (SnE 2005, 3) where it is said that the inhabitants of the world who had lost knowledge of their creator compared the grass of the earth to the hair and feathers of animals and birds.

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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
  5. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  6. Internal references
  7. 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].
  8. Margaret Clunies Ross 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Bjarkamál in fornu’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 495. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1006> (accessed 26 April 2024)
  9. Not published: do not cite (Arngr Gd 25IV)
  10. Not published: do not cite (Snjólfr V 1IV)
  11. (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)
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