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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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SnSt Ht 31III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 31’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1137.

Snorri SturlusonHáttatal
303132

text and translation

Stáls dynblakka støkkvi
stinngeðs samir minnask
— álms bifsœki aukum
Yggs feng — á lof þengils.
Odds bláferla jarli
ǫrbrjót né skal þrjóta
— Hárs saltunnu hrannir
hrœrum — óð at stœra.

Samir {støkkvi {dynblakka stáls}} minnask á lof stinngeðs þengils; aukum {feng Yggs} {bifsœki álms}. Né skal þrjóta {ǫrbrjót {bláferla odds}} at stœra jarli óð; hrœrum {hrannir saltunnu Hárs}.
 
‘It is fitting for the compeller of the prow’s din-steeds [SHIPS > SEAFARER = Snorri] to recall the praise of the strong-minded lord; we [I] increase Yggr’s <= Óðinn’s> booty [POETRY] for the tremble-seeker of the elm-bow [WARRIOR = Skúli]. Nor shall the liberal breaker of the spear-point’s dark paths [SHIELDS > WARRIOR = Snorri] cease to magnify the praise to the jarl; we [I] stir the waves of Hárr’s <= Óðinn’s> hall-barrel [POETRY].

notes and context

With this stanza the praise of Jarl Skúli Bárðarson commences (SnE 2007, 17): Nú hefr upp annat kvæði  ‘Now the second poem begins’ (R, ). The metrical pattern that characterises the stanza is called bragarbót ‘poem’s improvement’, which is a regularised use of Type D2 odd lines, that is, a monosyllabic noun followed by a trisyllabic compound with a short first element followed by a long syllable carrying internal rhyme.

The headings are 24 () and bragar háttr ‘poem’s verse-form’ (U(47r)). In W, the stanza is introduced as follows: Her hefr annat kvæði þat er ort er vm skvla iarl ok heitir bragar bót ‘Here the second poem begins, which is composed about Skúli jarl and is called poem’s improvement’. — For this variant, see Kuhn (1969a; 1983, 165) and Gade (1995a, 113). — [4, 7]: The kennings feng Yggs ‘Yggr’s booty’ and hrannir saltunnu Hárs ‘the waves of Hárr’s hall-barrel’ refer to the myth about how Óðinn obtained the mead of poetry (see SnE 1998, I, 3-5).

readings

sources

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.

editions and texts

Skj: Snorri Sturluson, 2. Háttatal 31: AII, 60-1, BII, 69, Skald II, 39; SnE 1848-87, I, 642-3, II, 371, 387, III, 118, SnE 1879-81, I, 5, 77, II, 15, SnE 1931, 229, SnE 2007, 17; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 19-20.

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