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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Innsteinn Innkv 14VIII (Hálf 34)

Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 34 (Innsteinn Gunnlaðarson, Innsteinskviða 14)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 331.

Innsteinn GunnlaðarsonInnsteinskviða
131415

The third and final section of Innkv (Hálf 34-7) is another monologue spoken by Innsteinn after Hálfr has fallen and the remainder of the Hálfsrekkar have come up from their ships and have fought courageously until many have been killed, ultimately including Innsteinn himself. The stanzas do not follow the course of the fight (so Edd. Min., xxviii) but rather praise the heroic courage and loyalty of the Hálfsrekkar and reflect upon Innsteinn’s own prudent heroism, as well as the inevitability of death. They present the situation in a more restrained manner than the stanzas recited before the fight and during the arousal of the warriors in the burning hall. The dominant motifs – loyalty, death and fame – have been touched upon already in the second part of the poem (Hálf 31 and 33), while Innsteinn’s final elegaic reflection on his past life takes up a theme already announced in Hálf 28.

Hér sá ek alla         einum fylgja
jafnröskliga,         öðlings syni.
Hittumz heilir,         þá heðan líðum;
er eigi léttara         líf en dauði.

Hér sá ek alla fylgja einum, {syni öðlings}, jafnröskliga. Hittumz heilir, þá líðum heðan; líf er eigi léttara en dauði.

Here I saw that all followed one man, {the son of a prince} [PRINCE = Hálfr], with equal bravery. May we meet happily, when we pass from here; life is not easier than death.

Mss: 2845(36v) (Hálf)

Editions: Skj AII, 262, Skj BII, 283, Skald II, 148; Hálf 1864, 24, Hálf 1909, 110, FSGJ 2, 116-17, Hálf 1981, 125-6, 184-5; Edd. Min. 37.

Context: This stanza is preceded by a short prose passage. Having managed to get out of the fire, Hálfr and his band succumb to their enemies and are slain. The stanza is introduced by the words: Innsteinn kvað, er kóngr var fallinn … ‘Innsteinn said, when the king had fallen …’.

Notes: [4] syni öðlings ‘the son of a prince [PRINCE = Hálfr]’: Meissner 360 lists the kenning sonr öðlings among those which emphasise a ruler’s princely descent; cf. also SkP I, lxxix. Andrews (Hálf 1909, 110), who interprets syni as acc. pl., matching alla in l. 1, translates alla syni öðlings as alle krieger ‘all warriors’. In this case, the meaning of the kenning sonr öðlings would be ‘warrior’. — [5] hittumz heilir ‘may we meet happily’: Lit. ‘May we meet happy’. See Hálf 31/1 and Note.

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. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
  5. SkP I = Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Ed. Diana Whaley. 2012.
  6. Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
  7. Hálf 1981 = Seelow, Hubert, ed. 1981. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. RSÁM 20. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.
  8. Hálf 1864 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1864. Saga af Hálfi ok Hálfsrekkum. Norrøne Skrifter af sagnhistorisk Indhold 1. Christiania (Oslo): Det Nordiske Oldskriftselskab.
  9. Hálf 1909 = Andrews, A. Le Roy, ed. 1909. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. ASB 14. Halle: Niemeyer.
  10. Internal references
  11. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 28 (Innsteinn Gunnlaðarson, Innsteinskviða 8)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 326.
  12. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 31 (Innsteinn Gunnlaðarson, Innsteinskviða 11)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 329.
  13. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 34 (Innsteinn Gunnlaðarson, Innsteinskviða 14)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 331.
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