9.4 Fad THE POETIC EDDA VOLUME II MYTHOLOGICAL POEMS Edited with Translation Introduction and Commentary ; b URSULA DRONKE Yk CLARENDON PRESS - OXFORD 1997Oxford Unizersity Pres, Great Clarendon Sire, Oxford 0x3 bor Oxford New York Athen Anctland Banghok Bogota Bombay Buenos Aires Caleta Cape Town Dare Salem Delhi Fence Hong Kong Istanbul Karache ‘ale Lompar Madiat Madr Melbourne Mexico Giy Nairobi Paris Singapore Taipei Too Torn and asoiated companies in ‘erin Dadan Oxford isa rade mark of Oxford University Pres Published in the United States by Orford University Pre Ine, NewYork (© Orford Unicity Pres 1997 Albright rscrod. No part of hs pubicaton may be reproduce, red na erica temo tana in ay frm By ay meas thot the prior permission in ting of Orford UncesiyPres, Within the UR, exception are allowed in recto yf igh he Purpose ofrescarch or pretest oerticam of ese, a pee tundeh Coprigh, Designs and Patents Act, 198 orm he cate af reorographs reproduction in acrdance ih the erm of the he ‘sed bythe Copyright Liensing Agency Enquirer concerning oud hese terms and n ater coun be ‘sett the Righs Department, Oxford Unversity Pres ‘atthe adaresahore ‘British Library Cataloguing in Publication Dats Dataevailable Library of Congres Cataloging in Publication Data Date available ISBNo-1g-811180-9 13579108642 Typeset by Joshua Associates Ltd, Oxford Printed in Great Brain’ ‘on cif paper by Booka Lid, Midomer Norton Someret, GOTT For my daughterPREFACE As the main poems in this volume I have chosen five which are among the greatest of Norse poems and which all relate in some way to the period from the ninth to the eleventh century, when Norsemen were in most familiar contact with the Irish and the Anglo-Saxons. Assimilation of distinct traditions from these neighbour nations is most marked; at the same time all five poems share a mature affinity of style from being con- served as living poetry for two centuries in Iceland. The purpose of this edition is literary: to open up for the common reader the delights of the ‘complexities and felicities of the poems and the beauty of the language, and to show the poets? intellectual command of their themes, mythological, religious, and human. To this end I have tackled in commentary and discussion many problems which I know it is not in my competence to solve, in the hope that other scholars may be able to, ‘The five sections relating to the main poems are each introduced by a detailed table of contents, to clear the approach for the reader. Inevitably the section for Voluspa is the most intricate of all, as it is the most intricate of poems. Text and translation of Baldrs Draumar are given as an Appendix 10 Voluspé. Volumes i and 1v are already well advanced in their preparation. Tam fortunate and delighted to have the counsel of Professor Ingeborg Glier in presenting the Sigurdr poems in relation to German tradition in Volume mt, and of Dr Clive Tolley, who will be co-editor with me of the second collec tion of mythological poems in Volume w. Volume 1 is to be reprinted with corrections and bibliographical up- dating. Towe a very great debt to many people for the enlightenment their work has given me and for their ready advice. Peter Dronke’s deep interest and knowledge in so many fields, literary, artistic, philosophical, have been a constant source of orientation for me when I might otherwise have been lost in the wealth of ideas presented by these Eddic poems. Many other learned friends have advised me and answered my questions with unfailing indness. For their warm letters from Iceland, bringing news of new scholarship, I am particularly indebted to Gudriin Helgadéttir, Sverrir ‘Témasson, Stefin Karlsson. Friends on the Continent have kept me in touch with their work: Kurt Schier, Klaus von See, Gerd Weber, Hubert Seelow, Wilhelm Heizmann, Folke Strim, Lars Lénnroth, Jonna Louis- Jensen. Phe work of Margaret Clunies Ross has been a great stimulus to7 PREFACE Rani vital originality. Ihave benetited much from the insight and wit of Roberta Frank. I am deeply indebted to Sukumari Bhattchasit ioe hor guidance on Indian sources and the generous gift of her writings: remenc ber with delight her swift mind and rare learning in discussion in Outed and her cordial hospitality in Calcutta. Closer to home I have even longer chvs: to Joan Turvile-Petre, Peter Foote, Brian and Gudriin Dodswouh, Michael Lapidge, David Dumwille, Thomas Charles-Edwards, Sebeotet Brock, Arthur Hatto, Michael Barnes, Olive Sayce, Nigel Palmer, Love Motz, Erich Poppe, Jacqueline Simpson, for readily giving me their exper aavice. For the benefits of their scholarly companionship over many years auid forthe freshness of vision in their researches, to which frequent acknowledgement is made inthis volume, I have many younger scholive ey thank, especially Heather O'Donoghue, Diana Whaley, Alison Finkay, Daphne Davidson, Susan Blackall, John Hines, Gudriin Nordal, Carolyne Girtineton, lan Graham, John Enoch, Alan Davey, Peter Robinson, Andy Orchard, Ian Shiels. I thank Richard North for many stimulating sugues, fons and interpretations. To Clive Tolley [ owe a special debt of thank fog his great help in presenting Volume u. He has organized the very complee seri for the printer and watched over its accuracy with impeccable Scholarship; specific ideas that are his are marked CT. What flaws semaig are all mine. The value of Tolley’s own mythological researches for she Content of the volume will be evident from the frequent reference to hig ‘writings in the course of discussion, ‘The work on Rigsbula is dedicated to Gesche Kabler and the late Martin Dreher, who first asked to read the poem with me in Munich in 1973, UD. Cambridge Tune, 1996 CONTENTS PREFACE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS THE MANUSCRIPTS THE PRINTED TEXT ‘Symbols Used in the Texts ABBREVIATIONS VOLUSPA Contents ‘Text and Translation Introdu: Ae vex Spend: Blds Dmar Test Transition, and Commentary RIGSPULA Contents ‘Text and Translation Introduction ‘Commentary on the Text VOLUNDARKVIDA Contents ‘Text and Translation Introduction Commentary on the Text Index of Personal Names LOKASENNA Contents ‘Text and Translation Introduction Commentary on the Text xi xii xiii 25 105 154 161 162 1% 215 2g 243 255 jot 37 331 32 349 356SKIRNISMAL Contents ‘Text and Translation Introduction ‘Commentary on the Text CONTENTS 1OGRAPHY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ‘The Franks Casket, front panel. Scene in Weland’s smithy The Franks Casket, front panel. Weland and the Magi Srontispiece 283 THE MANUSCRIPTS ‘Tue four heroic poems edited in Volume rare preserved only in the Codex Regius (R), written in Iceland ¢. 1270. Four of the mythological poems edited in Volume 11 are also preserved in that MS: Voluspa, Volundarkviéa, ‘Skimismal, and Lokasenna. A short description of R and its history is given in Volume t. xi~xiii (R is there referred to as CR). ‘A variant version of Voluspa is preserved on two leaves (H) inserted into an early fourteenth century Icelandic MS., Hauksbok. On the dating of these two leaves see Voluspd Introduction m. a. ‘Two thirds of the text of Voluspd can be found either cited or rendered in prose in Snorri Sturluson’s Gylfaginning, of which there are four main MSS, listed in Voluspa Introduction 1. a, where the relationship of the variant texts of the poem is examined in detail. For a most helpful and lucid account of the SnE MSS. see Faulkes (6), xxix-xxxii; see also G. Lorenz 1-8 for further documentation. A fragmentary MS,, written in Iceland between 1300 and 1325, AM 7481 4° (A), contains on six of its surviving twenty-eight leaves three entire Eadic poems, Baldrs Draumar, Grimnismdl, Hymiskvida, and parts of four others, Héirbardsliod, Skimismél, Vafpridnismal, and Volundarkvida. The first twenty-seven stanzas of Skrnismdl occur in A. Comparison of the two texts of these stanzas is given in Skirnismai Introduction v. Only a few lines of the prose prologue of Volundarkoida are preserved in A at the end of the sixth leaf, when a lacuna begins." Régspula is preserved, with a beginning and middle, but without an ending, only on two sides of a single leaf in the Codex Wormianus, one of the main MSS. of the Snorra Edda, from ¢. 1350 or somewhat later (see Voluspa Introduction ws). The problems of the text and the lost ending are discussed in Rigsbula Introduction u. and 1.8, and commentary to 49/'. Facsimile editions and transcriptions of the MSS. used in the present edition are listed at the beginning of the Bibliography. 1 Inboth Rand A Vio appears tobe considered a mythological rather than a hero poem in R preceded by Pry and followed by le, in A preceded by Hm, That Fo may have been commonly Eopied in calleetons of mthologieal poems would account forthe fact that palaeographically Viv is closer tothe mythological poems than to the heroic (Lindblad 261-2)THE PRINTED TEXT I Have made some small changes to the 1. Thave kept abbreviations for MSS. (e.g. Re 1) (italics) refers tothe edition of Finnur J6 'innur Jonsson. 2. For Voluspd I have used a differet 2 , used a different method of arias, placing the SnE variants separately below those of R sed View make the texal relationships clearer. “ee 3. To the notes in Volume. xiv-xv on the spel wae I. spellings of consonants i ould now add reference tothe fequency with which "is used form rd (rp eanore conventionally, for my): eg moras (for mevan, Vip 2/7), tea Gi 22/0), Klein (Vip 31/4), matkas (Vp 57/4), vana (Shon 189. a Ha Ravencrest, where single stands or mus rangi such spelling i rac pelings among the variants unlessa problem ofinter- 4. MS. abbreviations are expanded usin i ids n 18 superscript characters in atom 9S forms MS. macros and ampersans svete ae listinctions (such as the variant forms of i ined, however; for these, the facsimile edi ves : wever; , the facsimile editions and transcriptions fi in the Bibliography should be consulted. MS. forms are enclaees tee Speech marks when itis clearer soto distinguish them, ie spelling of ON personal names and. plac Ine spel names and place n: en normalized in discussion and commentary, when the fees jgzed (nc text), eg. Freyja / Freya, Geflun / Gefon, 6. When citing in discussion n discussion from a diplomatic text normalized the spelling, unless thee was reason not oe off, tars itroduced tong vowel marks in italicized citations of OF ON leaes ea o.make philological argument and comparisons wth + In the occasional citations of Sanskrit words: dra pened eas fared ses, Ihave standardized OUP ome oe sa agible W.D. O'Flahery’s Aceon and Eracom i the Mytoogy 8. Thave used cross-references t : 2s to sections and subsections rath SARIS general tbl of contents at the begining of the volume lexes of contents that precede the indivi and provide page referen i maf ae and provide page references tothe sections and subsections ‘of te a THE PRINTED TEXT silt 49. In the case of three poems, Voluspa, Volundarkvida, Skirnismdl, Uhave traced the sequence of ideas, or actions, in the Introduction, noting the relevant stanza in the margin, and referring to this stanza as ‘ad loc.’ in sub- sequent discussion. In the case of Rigspula and Lokasenna the same pro- cedure is not so fitting and I have not used it 10. Bibliographical references have been kept as brief as possible. The Bibliography at the end of the volume contains full details of all works cited; in the main text, references are confined to the author’s surname (with initials if necessary), or to the title of the work cited, as appropriate, followed by the volume number and the page reference. Different works by one author are identified as (a), (6), etc., and are so listed in the graphy. The most commonly cited authors and works are abbreviated still further; the abbreviations are included in the Bibliography. Norse and other medieval works are generally listed by their titles, even when the author is known, Symbols used in the texts lies indicate emendation, or MS. rubrics. (1 enclose letters or lines that are not in the MS, but are supplied by conjecture or by analogy with the practice of the text elsewhere, or from another MS. +t enclose text in the edited version transferred from another place in the MS. ++ enclose text in the textual notes written above the line in the MS. $$. enclose text as yet uninterpreted. © indicates an editorial omission from the text of the MS., where the omission alters the sense (other omissions, usually erroneous scribal repetitions or anticipations of the text, are noted in the textual notes only). A line of dots indicates that one or more lines are omitted in the MS. ‘Smaller type indicates lines not considered by the editor to be part of the poet's original text. MSS. make varied use of capital letters: in R, a large capital marks the beginning of a poem, and of a preceding prose prologue. ‘Marginal capitals are used sporadically; these are noted in the textual notes. A capital is used, within the continuous text, to mark the beginnit of a stanza (or, in the prose, of a sentence): these capitals, and their absence, are noted in this edition only when they do not correspond with the beginnings of stanzas (or sentences) as printed here.ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviation of a purely bibliographical nature, and abbreviations for Eddic poems, willbe dh ibirph Maman hedar hehe TA ace. accusative neut. neuter adj adjective no. number adv. adverb nom. nominative AM ‘Armamagnaean np. no place ©. century Norw Norwegian ‘ circa OE Old English ch. chapter OF Old French col, column OHG Old High German conj conjunction Oleel_ Old Icelandic Dan Danish om. omitted dat dative ON Old Norse ed. edited by ONorw Old Norwegian edn, edition OS Old Saxon esp. especially OSwed Old Swedish £ following P. page fem, art. participle Fig. PE Poetic Edda fol. Prep. preposition gen, genitive ret. preterite Gme Germanic pl plural hap.leg. hapaxlegomenon,ie. pres. present ‘only occurrence? Pron. pronoun IE Indo-European repr. reprinted indic. indicative Fev. revised by Introd Introduction Sa. sub anno, ‘under the year? L lege, ie. ‘read? sb. substantive Lat Latin Sc. scilicet, ‘namely’ fit, literally sg singular ase, masculine Skr Sanskrit ME Midate English Suppl. Supplement MEG Middle High German sr sub voce, under the word? ModE Modern English trans. translated by/translation, Modicel_ Modern Icelandic x. verse, versus ModNorw Modern Norwegian vb. yer MS. ‘manuscript vi varia lectio, ‘variant reading’ a note vol. volume nd, no date VOLUSPACONTENTS TEXT AND TRANSLATION 1 ' | | ' INTRODUCTION 1. The Structure ofthe Poem A. The grand architecture of Voluspé (x - 20, 43 - 62) 8. The progress to Ragnargk (zr - 42) The sibylline voices 1. The Sequence of Ideas: A Reading ofthe Poem in the Codex Regius Text A. Prologue: the vplva’s authority (x - 2) 8, The establishment of the cosmos (3 ~ 20) 1. The beginnings (3 - 4/4) 2, Sun and moon and the establishment of time (4/5 - 6) 3. The gods and the refrain of power (6, cf. 9, 23, 25) 4. Thegolden age (7 ~ 8) 5. Gold-mining dwarfs (9) 6. Am interpolation and lacuna inthe text (10 ~ 16) 7. The first man and woman and the tree of life (17 - 20) ¢. Progress to Ragnarok and the dissolution of the world (@x~53) 1. Narrative prelude: three events before Ragnarpk (21 - 33) (i) The divine war of sir and Vanir (21 ~ 24) Gi) The giant builders attempt to possess the goddess Freyja (25 - 26) (Gil) The killing of Baldr and its prelude (26 ~ 32) (a) The oaths (6) The vl involved: a vpluspd within Voluspa (2) Heimdallr as watchman (2) Odinn’s old-world runes—Fimbultjs formar rrinar G) The vision of Baldr’s fate—oripgfilgin (iv) Post mortem 30 S SbSSE‘ VOLUSPA 2. Moral prelude: punishments and portents before Ragnargk (34-46) 3. Emotional prelude: compassion forthe fated gods (47 ~ 53) ». After Ragnarok: the ending and renewing of the world (54-62) m. The Texts of Voluspa and their Relationship +. MSS. of the poem used in the present edition 2. The history of the text 1. A general foreword 2. Causes of error in the transmission ofthe text 3: Amoutline of the history ofthe text © Analysis of textual Problems (I-VI) relating to the history of the text Problem: Sribal error in *R ML (i) Scribalerrorin *R 11 transmitted oR and (a) 7/1 (b) 43/1 © 39/7 (ii) Seribalervor in *R AL transmitted to R and SnE Problem Ik: Interpolations (© Tro interpolations common to R, H, and SnE, inherited Jom "RL (a) 5/510: the sun, stars, and moon in uncertainty (0) 10~ 16: the dwarf stanzas (ii) A third interpolation in R Problem II: Divergence from *R Lin H and Sn, () Divergence between R and H, SnE. (verse citations) (a) Standardization of tense in 37 ~ 39 in H, SnE (0) Standardization of stanza sequence in 45 ~ 50 in H, SE (©) Deconstruction in H, SnE of the battle sequence 5 (aX (ii) Divergence between R and H, SnE (prose) (a) Standardization of dwelling place: from lake to hall (20/3) (6) Standardization of vocabulary (57, 58) 8 CONTENTS Tivo substantial substitutions forthe R. text in H, which can be associated with Sn. (a) wig Dh lel (iv) Divergence between Rand H where there sno SnE. para text (other than instances considered under Problems V and V1) (@) 20/g-12 (b) 22/5-6 (0) 43/5-6 Prom: bss carians not shared by R, H (@) y/2 (0) §/5-10 (c) 9/55 10/5-7 (d) 19/1, 3 (©) 26/1 37/1 38/1, 61/1 () 38/7 (A) 53/00 () 61/3 Problem V: Textual laws in R that are not in H () Scribal lips in R (a) Omissions: 1/2, 57/56 (#) Other copying errors: 25/5, 26/1, 40/5, 45/9-12, 38/4 (Gi) Less certain sribal lips in R (a) 26/8 (b) 41/6 ©) 53/11 Problem VI: The further development ofthe H text: changes not directly attributable to Snorri (@) Rearrangement ofthe stanza order 21 ~ 43, causing accidental omission of 28 - 33 (@) 20H, 25-27 H (b) 39-40H (0 2-24H @d) 4H © BH 4- eH (f) 37-38H,43- 44H (Gi). Omission of two stanza sequences (a) 8-33 () 35-36 ASS