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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Lil 92VII/8 — ór ‘out’

Tungusætr ef einnhverr ýta,
orðum hygz í kvæði að skorða
mjúkan dikt að makligleikum,
mín drotning, af heiðri þínum,
því er líkast, sem rasi og reiki
ráðlauss seggr að ýmsum veggjum
fældr og byrgðr, og feti þó hvergi
fúss í burt ór völundarhúsi.

Ef einnhverr ýta, tungusætr, hygz að makligleikum að skorða orðum mjúkan dikt af heiðri þínum í kvæði, mín drotning, er líkast því sem ráðlauss seggr rasi og reiki, fældr og byrgðr, að ýmsum veggjum, og feti hvergi í burt ór völundarhúsi, þó fúss.

If some man, sweet of tongue, intends fittingly to support with words a supple poem about your honour in verse, my queen, it would be as if a bewildered man should stumble and stagger, panic-stricken and hemmed in, from wall to wall and was not at all able to make his way away out of a labyrinth, although he was eager to.

notes

[8] ór völundarhúsi ‘out of the house of Vǫlundr, labyrinth’: The Gmc. hero Vǫlundr was associated with the classical Daedalus, who was in turn associated with the labyrinth. The term domus Dedali ‘house of Daedalus’, gave rise to the Icel. term völundarhús (Granlund 1974). Cf. Stjórn: laborintho. er sumir menn kalla Vo᷎lundar hús ‘labyrinth, which some men call Vǫlund’s house’ (Unger 1862, 85). While the extended metaphor in this st. is a conventional inexpressibility topos (it is impossible to praise Mary adequately), the formula völundarhús can also be regarded as an original designation of poetry. The poet’s comments in the sts that follow suggest that he regards the traditional skaldic st. as a labyrinth: it holds the delight of compressed symmetry, but can also be a confining trap (for both skald and hearer/reader), which frustrates movement forward.

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