Anon Leið 25^VII

Enn vilda ek annat
alfríðustum smíða
hátt í hróðri sléttum
himins gotna stef dróttni.
Gramr skóp hauðr ok himna
hreggranns sem kyn seggja;
einns salkonungr sólar
snjallr hjalpari allra.

Enn vilda ek smíða annat hátt stef í sléttum hróðri {alfríðustum dróttni {gotna himins}}. {Gramr {hreggranns}} skóp hauðr ok himna sem kyn seggja; {snjallr {sólar sal}konungr} [e]s einn hjalpari allra.

Further I would like to fashion another exalted refrain in the smooth praise-poem {for the altogether fairest lord {of the men of heaven}} [ANGELS > = God]. {The king {of the storm-house}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God] created land and heavens, as well as the race of men; {the excellent king {of the hall of the sun}} [(lit. ‘hall-king of the sun’) SKY/HEAVEN > = God] is alone the helper of all.

Mss: B(10v), 624(89), 399a-bˣ

Readings: [3] hátt: ‘ha[...]’ 624;    sléttum: so 624, 399a‑bˣ, ‘sle[...]’ B

Editions: Skj AI, 623, Skj BI, 628, Skald I, 305; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 64, Rydberg 1907, 8, Attwood 1996a, 66, 177.

Notes: [2] alfríðustum ‘for the altogether fairest’: See also 9/4 and 36/4. Alfríðr provides the hǫfuðstafr in each case. — [3-4] hátt stef ‘exalted refrain’: The identical phrase is used to describe the first refrain in 13/1. — [3] í sléttum hróðri ‘in the smooth praise-poem’: Cf. the poet’s prayer for a slétt óðarlag ‘smooth poem-form’ in 3/2. These comments on the ‘smoothness’ of the poem are presumably intended to call attention to its apparently effortless artistry, though in fact much about the poem is rather self-conscious. Cf. the introductions to the refrains in 13/1-4 and 25/1-4, the prayers for inspiration and a hearing which occupy almost half of the upphaf and the expression of gratitude to prestr… Rúnolfr in st. 43 — [5-8]: The first instance of the second refrain. The opening couplet of this refrain is very similar to that of the first refrain in Has 20/5-6: Ern skóp hauðr ok hlýrni | heims valdr sem kyn beima ‘The powerful ruler of the world [ = God] created earth and heaven as well as the kinsfolk of men’. The helmingr as a whole is similar to one preserved in Skm and attributed there to Markús Skeggjason (d. 1107) (Mark Frag^III), probably from a poem about Christ (SnE 1998, I, 77 and 201). — [5-6] gramr hreggranns ‘king of the storm-house [SKY/HEAVEN > = God]’: See also 2/4 and 17/2 and cf. the God-kenning konungr hreggranns ‘king of the storm-house’ in Mdr 24/2. — [7] salkonungr sólar ‘hall-king of the sun’: I.e. ‘king of the hall of the sun’, ‘king of heaven [ = God]’. Cf. Geisl 66/6, where God is described as salkonungr himna ‘hall-king of the heavens’. Salkonungr sólar is used twice in God-kennings in Heildr (13/1, 17/5).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. Attwood, Katrina. 1996a. ‘The Poems of MS AM 757a 4to: An Edition and Contextual Study’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Leeds.
4. Rydberg, Hugo, ed. 1907. ‘Die geistlichen Drápur und Dróttkvættfragmente des Cod. AM 757 4to.’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Lund. Copenhagen: Møller.
5. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
6. 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.
7. Internal references
8. (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 19 April 2024)
9. Jayne Carroll 2017, ‘(Biography of) Markús Skeggjason’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 292.
10. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Máríudrápa 24’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 498-9.
11. Katrina Attwood 2007, ‘ Anonymous, Heilags anda drápa’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 450-67. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1017> (accessed 19 April 2024)
12. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Markús Skeggjason, Fragments’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 293. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1303> (accessed 19 April 2024)
13. 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.
14. 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.