Anon Líkn 1^VII

Einn, lúk upp, sem ek bæni,
óðrann ok gef sanna
mér, þú er* alls átt ærit,
orðgnótt, himins dróttinn.
Þinn vil ek kross, sem kunnum,
(Kristr styrki mik) dýrka
(örr, sá er ýta firrir
allri nauð ok dauða).

{Himins dróttinn}, þú er* einn átt ærit alls, lúk upp {óðrann}, sem ek bæni, ok gef mér sanna orðgnótt. Ek vil dýrka þinn kross, sem kunnum; Kristr styrki mik, örr, sá er firrir ýta allri nauð ok dauða.

{Heaven’s Lord} [= God], you who alone possess a fullness of all, open up my {poetry-house} [BREAST], as I pray, and give me true word-abundance. I desire to glorify your Cross as [well as] we [I] can; may Christ strengthen me, the bountiful one, who removes men from all distress and death.

Mss: B(11r), 399a-bˣ

Readings: [1] Einn: ‘[...]inn’ B, Ẹinn 399a‑bˣ    [2] óðrann: óðar rann perceived abbrev. expanded 399a‑bˣ    [3] er*: ert B, 399a‑bˣ    [6] Kristr: ‘[...]ristr’ B, 399a‑bˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 150, Skj BII, 160, Skald II, 85; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 35, Rydberg 1907, 11, 47, Kock and Meissner 1931, I, 91, Tate 1974, 46.

Notes: [All]: The opening st. in which the poet appeals for divine inspiration in composing his poem, juxtaposes God’s fullness ærit alls ‘a fullness of all’ (l. 3), and the poet’s need as he pleads for the abundance -gnótt (l. 4) he lacks. — [1] einn ‘one, alone’: Restoration based upon 399a-bˣ, supported by the need for vowel alliteration. Despite its presence in 399a-bˣ, the ‘E’ may not actually have been legible to Jón Sigurðsson; as with the beginnings of other poems (except Anon Heildr) in B, space was left in the ms. for a possible rubricated capital which was never supplied. — [2] óðrann ‘poetry-house [BREAST]’: The kenning has typically been construed as [BREAST], the place of emotion or thought (thus LP: rann, also Meissner, 136-7; cf. hugar rann ‘house of thought’ 7/4), but in her analysis of C13th body-part kennings, Guðrún Nordal 2001, 250 considers it more likely to depict the mouth. — [3] er* ‘who’: All eds emend from ms. ert, an error (verb for rel. particle) following þú. — [6] Kristr ‘Christ’: The <k> is lost in a lacuna; required by alliteration and context. — [6] styrk-: dýrk-: This same full rhyme of short and long <y> occurs also in Geisl 7/4, 57/6, and Heildr 16/8; see also 13/8, 28/2 (dýrð-: fyrð-).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
4. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
5. Guðrún Nordal. 2001. Tools of Literacy: The Role of Skaldic Verse in Icelandic Textual Culture of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. Toronto, Buffalo and London: University of Toronto Press.
6. Rydberg, Hugo, ed. 1907. ‘Die geistlichen Drápur und Dróttkvættfragmente des Cod. AM 757 4to.’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Lund. Copenhagen: Møller.
7. Tate, George S. 1974. ‘Líknarbraut: A Skaldic Drápa on the Cross’. Ph.D. thesis. Cornell University. DAI 35:6112A.
8. Kock, Ernst Albin and Rudolf Meissner, eds. 1931. Skaldisches Lesebuch. 2 vols. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 17-18. Halle: Niemeyer.
9. 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.
10. Internal references
11. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Heilags anda drápa 16’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 465-6.
12. Katrina Attwood 2007, ‘ Anonymous, Heilags anda drápa’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 450-67. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1017> (accessed 23 April 2024)
13. Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 7’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 12-13.