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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Refr Ferðv 3III/4 — munni ‘the mouth’

En sægnípu Sleipnir
slítr úrdrifinn hvítrar
Ránar rauðum steini
runnit brjóst ór munni.

En úrdrifinn Sleipnir sægnípu slítr brjóst, runnit rauðum steini, ór munni hvítrar Ránar.

But the spray-spattered Sleipnir <mythical horse> of the sea-peak [WAVE > SHIP] tears its breast, covered with red paint, out of the mouth of white Rán <sea-goddess>.

notes

[2, 3, 4] slítr brjóst … ór munni hvítrar Ránar ‘tears its breast … out of the mouth of white Rán <sea-goddess>’: A metaphorical depiction of the ship as it re-emerges from the trough of a foaming wave, thus escaping from the jaws of the sea which threatens to swallow it. As in the previous stanza the sea appears as a cannibalistic monster. The description of Rán as hvítrar ‘white’ presumably refers to the white crests of waves.

grammar

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