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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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SnSt Ht 45III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 45’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1154.

Snorri SturlusonHáttatal
444546

text and translation

Lætr undin brot brotna
bragningr fyr sér hringa;
sá tekr fyr men menja
mætt orð of sik fættir.
Armr kná við blik blikna
brimlands viðum randa,
þars hǫnd at lið liðnar
lýslóðar berr glóðir.

Bragningr lætr {undin brot hringa} brotna fyr sér; {sá fættir menja} tekr mætt orð of sik fyr men. Armr {viðum randa} kná blikna við {blik {brimlands}}, þars hǫnd berr {glóðir {lýslóðar}} liðnar at lið.
 
‘The ruler lets twisted fragments of rings [GOLD] be fragmented before him; that diminisher of necklaces [GENEROUS MAN] gains a worthy reputation for himself on account of the necklaces. The arms of the trees of shields [WARRIORS] gleam against the gleam of the surf-land [SEA > GOLD] where the hand wears embers of the pollack-track [SEA > GOLD], slid onto the wrist.

notes and context

The dróttkvætt variant is stamhendr háttr ‘the stuttering-rhymed form’. In the odd lines, alliteration and internal rhyme (aðalhending) fall on the syllables in metrical positions 4 and 5, creating a stuttering effect. The rhyming words usually involve words with the same etymological root (see also sts 46-8 below).

The heading in is 37. For this metrical variant, see Kuhn (1969c, 226-7; 1983, 289) and Gade (1995a, 86, 99, 215, 226, 249 n. 21).

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 45: AII, 64, BII, 73, Skald II, 41; SnE 1848-87, I, 658-9, II, 392, III, 122, SnE 1879-81, I, 8, 79, II, 19, SnE 1931, 235, SnE 2007, 21-2; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 27.

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