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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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ÚlfrU Húsdr 12III/1 — Þar ‘There’

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.

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]’.

grammar

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