Anon Leið 3^VII

Fǫður biðk ok son síðan
slétt óðarlag rétta;
minn styrki vel verka
vandan heilagr andi.
Ór munu aldar stýri
óþægilig frægjum
orð, nema mér til mærðar
málsgnótt fái dróttinn.

Síðan biðk fǫður ok son rétta slétt óðarlag; heilagr andi styrki vel vandan verka minn. Orð ór munu óþægilig {frægjum stýri aldar}, nema dróttinn fái mér málsgnótt til mærðar.

Then I ask the Father and Son to straighten out a smooth poem form; may the Holy Spirit strengthen my awkward work well. Our [my] words will be displeasing {to the famous steerer of men} [= God], unless the Lord gives me an abundance of language for the praise-poem.

Mss: B(10r), 624(85)

Editions: Skj AI, 619, Skj BI, 623, Skald I, 303, NN §3137; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 57-8, Rydberg 1907, 4, Attwood 1996a, 60, 171.

Notes: [4] vandan ‘awkward’: Finnur Jónsson translates vanskelige ‘difficult, awkward’, but Kock (NN §3137) objects to the interpretation of this term as pejorative, on the grounds that the poet speaks positively of his creation elsewhere (see, for example, 4/2, 43/7, 44). He suggests the meaning ‘wearisome, exhausting’ for vandan. That the poet does find his work wearisome is clear from 44/1-4, but Finnur’s interpretation is preferable here, as it seems to capture the parallelism between the slétt óðarlag ‘smooth poem-form’ that the Father and Son are asked to create in l. 2 and the vandan verk ‘awkward work’ for which the Holy Spirit is asked for help in the second cl. — [8] málsgnótt ‘abundance of language’: This cpd is hap. leg., but is obviously on the same model as orðgnótt ‘word-abundance’ (1/8, 2/6, 4/8; Geisl 10/2). This kind of variation supports the parallelism of theme and diction between the second helmingar of the first four sts.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Attwood, Katrina. 1996a. ‘The Poems of MS AM 757a 4to: An Edition and Contextual Study’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Leeds.
5. Rydberg, Hugo, ed. 1907. ‘Die geistlichen Drápur und Dróttkvættfragmente des Cod. AM 757 4to.’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Lund. Copenhagen: Møller.
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. Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 10’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 15-16.