Anon Leið 13^VII

Stef skal hátt — né hætta
hykk enn tǫlu dyggva —
fljótt, ef finna mættak
fríð orð, goði smíðat.
Lúta englar ítrum
óttlaust ok lið dróttni;
einn es siklingr sunnu
setrs hvívetna betri.

Hátt stef skal smíðat goði fljótt, ef mættak finna fríð orð; né hykk enn hætta dyggva tǫlu. Englar ok lið lúta óttlaust ítrum dróttni; {siklingr {setrs sunnu}} es einn betri hvívetna.

A loud refrain shall be made quickly for God, if I am able to find beautiful words; nor do I yet intend to desist from good speech. Angels and people bow down fearlessly before the glorious Lord; {the king {of the seat of the sun}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God] is alone better than everything else.

Mss: B(10v), 624(87)

Readings: [3] mættak (‘ec mætta’): so 624, ‘ek mętte’ B    [4] smíðat: ‘smidut’ B, ‘smidud’ 624    [8] hvívetna: ‘huetuetnu’ 624

Editions: Skj AI, 620-1, Skj BI, 625, Skald I, 304, NN §2558; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 60-1, Rydberg 1907, 6, Attwood 1996a, 63, 174.

Notes: [All]: There is an obelos in the left margin indicating the beginning of Leið’s first stef (refrain). — [1-4]: Several interpretations of these ll. are possible. With Sveinbjörn Egilsson and Skj B fljótt (l. 3) is understood here as an adv. ‘quickly’, describing the composition of the refrain. However, Kock (NN §2558) takes fljótt ‘swift-running’ and hátt ‘loud’ (l. 1) as grammatically parallel adjectives. He thus construes hátt, fljótt stef skal smíðat goði ‘a loud, swift-running refrain shall be composed for God’. It is also possible (Peter Foote, pers. comm.) that fljótt (adv.) might be construed with hætta ‘to stop, desist’ (l. 1), rendering the second clause né hykk enn hætta fljótt ‘nor do I intend to desist (i.e. bring the poem to an end) soon’. — [5-8]: Considerable similarities of diction, structure and sentiment exist between this refrain and other helmingar in the Christian skaldic corpus, especially that of C12th. On these similarities, especially between Leið 13/5-8, Pl 32/1-4, Geisl 66/5-6 and Has 20/7-8, and their possible implications for the relative chronology of the C12th drápur, see Attwood 1996b, 232-4. — [7-8] siklingr setrs sunnu ‘prince of the seat of the sun [SKY/HEAVEN > = God]’: Cf. the God-kennings Has 13/6-8: vísi setrs sunnu ‘king of the seat of the sun’, and 49/5-8: harri setrs sunnu ‘ruler of the seat of the sun’. Cf. the heaven-kenning Geisl 3/2-4: setrs rǫðuls ‘of the seat of the sun’. In each case, setrs provides the hǫfuðstafr. Konungr élsetrs ‘king of the storm-seat’ (Has 20/8) is also on the same model, and the same concept informs dǫglingr stóls sólar ‘king of the seat of the sun’ (Leið 1/5-6).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Attwood, Katrina. 1996b. ‘Intertextual Aspects of the Twelfth-Century Christian drápur’. SBVS 24, 221-39.
6. Attwood, Katrina. 1996a. ‘The Poems of MS AM 757a 4to: An Edition and Contextual Study’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Leeds.
7. Rydberg, Hugo, ed. 1907. ‘Die geistlichen Drápur und Dróttkvættfragmente des Cod. AM 757 4to.’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Lund. Copenhagen: Møller.
8. Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1844. Fjøgur gømul kvæði. Boðsrit til að hlusta á þá opinberu yfirheyrslu í Bessastaða Skóla þann 22-29 mai 1844. Viðeyar Klaustri: prentuð af Helga Helgasyni, á kostnað Bessastaða Skóla. Bessastaðir: Helgi Helgason.
9. Internal references
10. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Leiðarvísan 1’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 141-2.
11. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Leiðarvísan 13’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 152-3.
12. Jonna Louis-Jensen and Tarrin Wills (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Plácitusdrápa 32’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 201.
13. Katrina Attwood 2007, ‘ Anonymous, Leiðarvísan’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 137-78. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1022> (accessed 23 April 2024)
14. Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 3’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 9.
15. Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 66’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 60-1.
16. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Gamli kanóki, Harmsól 13’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 85-6.
17. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Gamli kanóki, Harmsól 20’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 90-1.