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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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SnSt Ht 58III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 58’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1167.

Snorri SturlusonHáttatal
575859

text and translation

Es til hjálma hyrjar
herjum styrjar væni,
þar svát jarl til ógnar
egnir tognu sverði.
Sjá kná garð fyr grundu
grindar Þundar jaðra,
es skatna vinr skjaldar
skyldisk galdr at fremja.

Væni es herjum til {styrjar {hyrjar hjálma}}, þar svát jarl egnir tognu sverði til ógnar. Kná sjá {garð {jaðra {grindar Þundar}}} fyr grundu, es {vinr skatna} skyldisk at fremja {galdr skjaldar}.
 
‘There is an expectation for the troops of a tumult of the fire of helmets [SWORD > BATTLE] where the jarl baits the drawn sword for battle. One can see the fence of the edges of Þundr’s <= Óðinn’s> gate [SHIELD > SHIELD-RIMS > SHIELD-WALL] before the land, when the friend of the people [RULER] pledges himself to perform the chant of the shield [BATTLE].

notes and context

The metre is called Braga háttr ‘Bragi’s verse-form’ after the earliest named skald whose poetry has been preserved (Bragi Boddason (Bragi)). It is characterised by a lack of internal rhymes in the odd lines, but the syllable in position 5 of each odd line (in the cadence) forms internal rhyme with the syllables in positions 1 (skothending) and 3 (aðalhending) in the following even line.

The heading in is 50. — Not all of the features that characterise this metre occur in the surviving poetry attributed to Bragi. His odd lines frequently lack internal rhyme, and there are occasional examples of the syllable in the cadence of odd lines rhyming with syllables in the following even lines, and also of rhyme in positions 1 and 3 of the even lines (see Kuhn 1981; 1983, 80-2).

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 58: AII, 67, BII, 77, Skald II, 43, NN §§1161C, 2992B; SnE 1848-87, I, 672-3, III, 125-6, SnE 1879-81, I, 9, 81, II, 22, SnE 1931, 240, SnE 2007, 26; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 35.

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