SnSt Ht 70^III

Mitts of mœti
mart lag bragar
áðr ókveðit
oddbraks spakan.
Hlýtr grams geta
greppr óhneppra
skýrr skrautfara.
Skjǫldunga ungr.

Mart bragarlag mitt of {spakan mœti {oddbraks}} [e]s áðr ókveðit. Skýrr greppr hlýtr geta óhneppra skrautfara grams. … Ungr skjǫldunga …

Many a poetic metre of mine about {the wise encounterer {of the point-crash}} [BATTLE > WARRIOR = Skúli] has never been used before. The intelligent poet [I] must report on the not meagre splendour-expeditions of the ruler. … Young of lords …

Mss: W(149), R(51v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Mitts (‘Mitt er’): ‘[…]’ R    [2] bragar: ‘[…]gar’ R    [3] áðr ókveðit: ‘aðr o[…]þit’ R    [5] grams: ‘[…]’ R    [6] óhneppra: ‘ohnepp[…]’ R    [7] skýrr: ‘[…]rr’ R

Editions: Skj AII, 70, Skj BII, 80, Skald II, 44; SnE 1848-87, I, 684-7, III, 129, SnE 1879-81, I, 12, 82, II, 27, SnE 1931, 244, SnE 2007, 30; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 44.

Context: This is the third variant of tøglag and it is called hagmælt ‘skilfully spoken’. The odd lines contain two alliterating staves and skothending, and the even lines have aðalhending.

Notes: [All]: The top of fol. 51v is partly damaged in R, and W is the main ms. for this stanza. — [All]: For other poems composed in hagmælt ‘skilfully spoken’, see ESk Hardr II^II. — [1-4]: Skj B connects the prepositional phrase of spakan mœti oddbraks ‘about the wise encounterer of the point-crash’ (ll. 1, 4) with ókveðit lit. ‘non-composed, non-recited’ (l. 3) and takes it to mean that Snorri has not used some of these metrical variants in his earlier poetry about Skúli. It is more likely, however, that Snorri boasts of having created new metres for these poems (see SnE 2007, 68). — [2] bragarlag ‘poetic metre’: For a similar cpd, see drôpulag ‘drápa metre’, GunnlI Sigdr 2/4^V (Gunnl 8). In the present stanza, the reverse order of the elements was necessitated by the metre (to avoid resolution on bragar-). — [7] skýrr ‘intelligent’: Lit. ‘clear’. See Note to Ólhv Hryn 3/7^II. — [8]: This line concludes the split refrain in st. 68/1 (see Note to that line above). According to Snorri’s commentary, a correct refrain in tøgdrápulag ‘journey-poem metre’ should commence in the first line of the first stanza and be completed in the last line of the last stanza, i.e. the last stanza of the section of the poem comprising a stefjamél ‘refrain passage’ or ‘stef-interval’. An entire poem could contain several stefjamél with various split refrains, but, according to Snorri, all refrain passages ought to be of equal length.

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. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
6. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. SnE 1879-81 = Möbius, Theodor, ed. 1879-81. Hattatal Snorra Sturlusonar. 2 vols. Halle an de Saale: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
9. Internal references
10. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘ Einarr Skúlason, Haraldsdrápa II’ 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, pp. 544-8. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1146> (accessed 20 April 2024)
11. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2022, ‘Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu 8 (Gunnlaugr ormstunga Illugason, Sigtryggsdrápa 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 837.
12. Lauren Goetting (ed.) 2009, ‘Óláfr hvítaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda 3’ 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, pp. 660-1.