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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Leið 45VII

Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Leiðarvísan 45’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 178.

Anonymous PoemsLeiðarvísan
4445

Nú skal drótt á lok líta
— lopthjalms dǫgum optar
dýrkim dǫglings verka
dáðhress — bragar þessa.
Heim laði dýrr frá dómi
dags hallar gramr allan
— þjóð hjali kersk of kvæði —
kristinn lýð til vistar.

Nú skal drótt líta á lok bragar þessa; dýrkim dǫgum optar verka {dáðhress dǫglings {lopthjalms}}. {Dýrr gramr {dags hallar}} laði allan kristinn lýð heim frá dómi til vistar; þjóð hjali kersk of kvæði.

The company shall now look on the end of this poem; let us praise more often than [there are] days the works {of the deed-hearty king {of the sky-helmet}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God]. May {the glorious prince {of day’s hall}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)] invite all Christian folk home from judgement to his dwelling place; may people chatter cheerfully about the poem.

Mss: B(11r), 399a-bˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 626, Skj BI, 633, Skald I, 308, NN §2562; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 70, Rydberg 1907, 11, Attwood 1996a, 71, 182.

Notes: [1] nú skal ‘now shall’: Kock (NN §2562), observing that the l. is septasyllabic, omits skal and emends to Nú’s ‘now is’. — [1] drótt ‘company’: In skaldic court poetry, drótt refers to a king’s or earl’s retinue, but here the nature of the poet’s audience is not courtly. It is probably most likely to be monastic or ecclesiastical, but it may be a lay or mixed audience. — [2] dǫgum optar ‘more often than [there are] days’: The same expression is in Anon Nkt 73/6II, but nowhere else in the skaldic corpus. — [3-4] dǫglings lopthjalms ‘of the king of the sky-helmet [SKY/HEAVEN > = God]’: Cf. 30/5, 8: dǫgling lopthjalms ‘prince of the sky-helmet’ (of Christ). — [4] dáðhress ‘deed-hearty’: See Notes to dáðmáttugr (5/7) and fjǫlhress (19/4). Having described his own exhaustion in 44/1-4, the poet here draws attention to the hearty freshness of God’s creative energy. — [6] gramr dags hallar ‘prince of day’s hall’: Cf. dróttinn dags hallar ‘lord of day’s hall [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)]’ in 15/5-6.

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. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Anonymous Poems, Nóregs konungatal 73’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 805.
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