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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Mgr 17VII

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Drápa af Máríugrát 17’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 771-2.

Anonymous PoemsDrápa af Máríugrát
161718

Máríu orð er mörg að skýra
mjög grætilig þjóð, en sæta,
máttuligrar móður dróttins,
meir enn hrein rieð slíkt að greina:
‘Því líkast var mier, sem mækir
mundi bjartr í gegnum hjarta
standa mitt, er eg Jésús undir
allar leit með benja sveita.

Mörg, mjög grætilig orð Máríu, {máttuligrar móður dróttins}, er að skýra þjóð, en hrein sæta rieð enn meir að greina slíkt: ‘Var mier líkast því, sem bjartr mækir mundi standa í gegnum hjarta mitt, er eg leit allar undir Jésús með {sveita benja}.

There are many, very distressful [lit. tearful] words of Mary, {the mighty mother of the Lord} [= Mary], to explain to people, and the pure lady again later proceeded to tell such things: ‘It was for me just as if a bright sword were to stand through my heart when I saw all Jesus’ wounds with {the sweat of injuries} [BLOOD].

Mss: 713(125)

Editions: Skj AII, 475-6, Skj BII, 510, Skald II, 279, NN §1667; Kahle 1898, 59, 104, Sperber 1911, 34, 74, Wrightson 2001, 9.

Notes: [1] er (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic.) ‘are’: Lit. ‘is’. The verb is used impersonally with orð ‘words’ as the object. — [2] sæta (f. nom. sg.) ‘lady’: Skj B takes en sæta as an adjectival phrase ‘the sweet’, which is construed with the emended mærin hrein ‘pure lady’ (l. 4). Skald emends to en sætu ‘the sweet’ modifying orð ‘words’ (l. 1) (see NN §1667). — [4] enn meir ‘again later’: Skj B emends to mærin hrein ‘the pure lady’, which is unnecessary (see NN §1667). — [5-8]: Cf. Mar (1871, 1006): ok syrgda ek þa suo hormuliga, at eingi er sꜳ lifandi madr ꜳ jardriki, er þar megi fra segia, ok uar þat eigi undr, þuiat ek sꜳ hlaupanda fra honum fiora blodlæki bædi af haundum ok fotum ‘and I then lamented so sorely that there is no living person on earth who can describe it, and that was not a marvel, because I saw four rivulets of blood running both from his hands and feet’. — [5-7] var mier líkast því, sem bjartr mækir mundi standa í gegnum hjarta mitt ‘it was for me just as if a bright sword were to stand through my heart’: This is not in Mar but echoes the prophecy of Simeon in the temple (see sts 6, 22, and Wrightson 1997a, 284-6, 291): et tuam ipsius animam pertransit gladius ‘and a sword shall pierce through your own soul’ (Luke II.35).

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
  3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  5. Sperber, Hans, ed. 1911. Sechs isländische Gedichte legendarischen Inhalts. Uppsala Universitets årsskrift, filosofi, språkvetenskap och historiska vetenskaper 2. Uppsala: Akademische Buchdruckerei Edv. Berling.
  6. Wrightson, Kellinde. 1997a. ‘Drápa af Maríugrát, the Joys and Sorrows of the Virgin and Christ, and the Dominican Rosary’. SBVS 24, 283-92.
  7. Wrightson, Kellinde, ed. 2001. Fourteenth-Century Icelandic Verse on the Virgin Mary: Drápa af Maríugrát, Vitnisvísur af Maríu, Maríuvísur I-III. Viking Society for Northern Research Text Series 14. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  8. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.
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