ÚlfrU Húsdr 12^III

Þar kømr ô, en æri
endr bark mærð af hendi,
(ofrak svá) til sævar,
sverðregns (lofi þegna).

Þar kømr ô til sævar, en endr bark mærð af hendi {æri {sverðregns}}; ofrak svá lofi þegna.

There the river comes to the sea, and once more I handed over a praise poem {to the messenger {of sword-rain}} [BATTLE > WARRIOR]; thus I raise up the praise of men.

Mss: R(36v), Tˣ(38r), U(36r), A(12v), C(6r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] ô: ár A;    en: er U, hinn A;    æri: so U, A, ‘ǫri’ R, ‘o᷎ri’ Tˣ, orri C    [2] af: at Tˣ, A, C, á U

Editions: Skj AI, 138, Skj BI, 130, Skald I, 72; SnE 1848-87, I, 468-9, II, 340, 447, 591, III, 96, SnE 1931, 165, SnE 1998, I, 84.

Context: The helmingr is cited in Skm (SnE) among stanzas exemplifying ókend heiti for ‘poetry’.

Notes: [1, 3] þar kømr ô til sævar ‘there the river comes to the sea’: This must be a metaphorical expression for the conclusion of something, such as an activity or a poem, and it also appears in Sveinn Frag ll. 1, 4 and Anon Mhkv 27/5 (see Note there). Clover (1978, 71) regards this as an instance of the recurring metaphor of poetry as a liquid: ‘The poem comes as a wave from the breast, flows through the mouth, and at poem’s end, moves to a consonant image (“the river comes to the sea”)’. Cf. st. 9/2, 4 hróðrmál líða ‘praise-speeches flow’ and the poem-kenning of st. 1/1, 4 l geðfjarðar Hildar hjaldrgegnis ‘the water of the mind-fjord [BREAST] of the promoter of the noise of Hildr <valkyrie> [(lit. ‘noise-promoter of Hildr’) BATTLE > = Óðinn > POEM]’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Clover, Carol J. 1978. ‘Skaldic Sensibility’. ANF 93, 63-81.
5. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
6. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. Internal references
8. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
9. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 28 April 2024)
10. Roberta Frank (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Málsháttakvæði 27’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1240.
11. Margaret Clunies Ross 2017, ‘ Sveinn, Fragment’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 397. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3312> (accessed 28 April 2024)