Kate Heslop (ed.) 2017, ‘Skúli Þorsteinsson, Poem about Svǫlðr 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 361.
Vakik, þars vel leizk ekka
(víðis) áðr ok síðan
(greppr hlýðir þá góðu
gallópnis vel spjalli).
Vakik, þars leizk ekka vel áðr ok síðan; þá hlýðir greppr vel góðu spjalli {víðis gallópnis}.
‘I wake up where sorrow thrived earlier and afterwards; then the poet listens well to the good tale of the ocean of the eagle [BLOOD]. ’
This helmingr is the last in a series of five verse quotations exemplifying eagle-heiti in SnE, here gallópnir ‘shrill-crier’ (see Note to l. 4).
The sense of the half-stanza as interpreted here is that the poet awakens from a dream about his past martial exploits (‘where sorrow thrived’) and begins to think about these events (‘listens to the tale of blood’) and to compose his poem. Alternative readings (all of which involve emendation) include those of Skj B, which interprets the helmingr as expressing regret for lost prowess and calling for a hearing, Kock (NN §768), who sees a typical résumé of blood-spilling and gold-winning, and Faulkes (SnE 1998), who interprets the helmingr as counterpointing the warrior’s trepidation before the battle with the raven’s glee.
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
Vakik, þars †velleiz† ekka
(víðis) áðr ok síðan
(greppr hlýðir þá góðu
gall†-opns† vel spjalli).
Vaki ec | þar er velleiz ecka viþis aþr ok siþan greppr hlyþir þa goþv gallopnis vel spialli ∙ |
(KSH)
Vakik, þars †vell eiz† ekka
(víðis) áðr ok síðan
(greppr hlýðir þá góðu
gallópnis vel spjalli).
Vaki ec | þar er vell eiz ekka uidis adr ok sidann. grepr hlydir þa godo gal- | lopnis vel spialli.
(KSH)
Vakisk, þars †vellis† ekla
(víðis) áðr ok síðan
(grepp heyrir †þ[…]† góðum
gall†ofnis† vel spjalli).
Vakiz þar er vellis | ekla viþis aþr ok síþan grepp heyrir þ[...] goþvm gallofnis vel spiallí
(KSH)
Vakik, þat er vel leizk eika
(víðis) áðr ok síðan
(greppr hlýðir því góðu
gallópnis vel spjalli).
Vaki æk þat ær vel | læiz æika viðis áðr ok siþan greppr hlyðir þvi góðv gall opnis væl spialli
(VEÞ)
Vakik, þat er †vel le᷎zt† eika
(víðis) áðr ok síðan
(greppr hlýðir þá góðu
gall†ofniss† vel spjalli).
vake ek þar er ∙ vel le᷎zt eika vidiss adr ok sidan. | greppr hlyder þa godu gall ofniss vel spíalle.
(KSH)
Vek ek, þars †vel hellz† ekka
(víðis) ár ok síðan
(greip hlýði þar góðu
gallópnis vel spjalla).
Vek ek þar er vel hellz ecka ví | dis ar ok sidan greíp hlydi þar godu gall ofnis vel spialla
(KSH)
Vaki ec þar er velleiz ecka | viðis aðr oc siðan | greppr hlyðir þa goðu | gallofnis vel spialli.
(TW)
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