…
…
annat þarf at yrkja
allstórum mun fleira.
…
… greppr of snertu
(þat berum upp fyr ýta)
óhljóð (sǫgukvæði).
… þarf at yrkja annat, allstórum mun fleira … . Greppr … of óhljóð snertu; berum upp þat sǫgukvæði fyr ýta.
… need to compose something other, more by a very great amount … . The poet … about the tumult of onslaught; we [I] shall present that narrative poem before men.
[8] ‑kvæði: ‘qv[…]’ R, ‘qv[…]þi’ RCP, RFJ
[8] sǫgukvæði ‘narrative poem’: The meaning of this hap. leg. depends largely on which sense of sǫgu (nom. sg. saga f.) is relevant, out of the possible range of ‘something spoken, a story, narrative, history’ (cf. CVC, Fritzner: saga; AEW: saga 1; also Meulengracht Sørensen 1993a, 33-6, 50-1). LP glosses sǫgukvæði as historisk dikt ‘historical poem’ but Lindow (1982, 110) comments that Bjarni’s use of the term ‘has much to say about skaldic narrative [...] indicat[ing] the possibility of a skaldic poem intended not for ornament, praise, or lyric, but to tell a story’; see Introduction for further discussion of Bjarni’s intentions in composing Jóms.