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Hrafnagaldr Óðins

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The storyline of Hrafnagaldr Óðins involves the goddess Iðunn and the gods Loki, Heimdallr and Bragi. Illustration by Lorenz Frølich.

Hrafnagaldr Óðins ("Odin's raven-galdr") or Forspjallsljóð ("prelude poem") is an Icelandic poem in the style of the Poetic Edda. It is preserved only in late paper manuscripts. In his influential 1867 edition of the Poetic Edda, Sophus Bugge reasoned that the poem was a 17th century work, composed as an introduction to Baldrs draumar. Since then it has not been included in editions of the Poetic Edda and not been extensively studied. But prior to Bugge's work the poem was considered a part of the Poetic Edda and included, for example, in the English translations of A. S. Cottle (1797) and Benjamin Thorpe (1866) as well as Karl Simrock's influential German translation (1851). In 1852, William and Mary Howitt characterized it as "amongst the most deeply poetical and singular hymns of the Edda".[1]

Date

Based on linguistic evidence and the seemingly corrupt state of the text Jónas (2002) argued in favor of an earlier dating than Bugge, perhaps to the 14th century.[2] Linguist Kristján Árnason disagreed and argued on the basis of a metrical analysis that the poem as it has come down to us can hardly be older than from the 16th century.[3] Annette Lassen argued that only a few lines have metrical indications of being young and that this is not proof of a young age for the entire poem. She concludes that the poem is a valid source which should not be subject to greater skepticism than e.g. Fjölsvinnsmál and Sólarljóð.[4]

Contents

The poem consists of 26 fornyrðislag eight-line stanzas. It involves several known figures from Norse mythology, including Odinn, Idunn, Heimdall, Loki and Bragi, but does not appear to describe a myth known from other sources.

The poem begins with five stanzas of ominous introduction, the narrative proper setting in in stanza 6. Idunn falls from the world-tree (stanzas 6-7) and is given a wolfskin to wear (stanza 8). Alarmed, Odin sends a trio of messengers led by Heimdall to get news from a woman designated as "the doorpost of Gjöll's sun" (Giallar sunnu gátt, a kenning for woman[citation needed]) (stanza 9). The identity of the woman that Heimdall and his companions visit in the lower world is not revealed. She has been variously identified as Idunn (Sophus Bugge, 1867), Hela (Emil Doepler, 1881), and as Urd (Viktor Rydberg, 1889). The messengers ask her the beginning, duration and end of heaven, the world, and hel (stanza 11). Tears are her only response (stanzas 12-13). The failed messengers return to Asgard, joining a feast in progress (stanzas 14-15). Heimdall tells the gods of their mission; Loki informs the goddesses (stanzas 16-19). The festivities conclude (stanza 21), and the onset of night[dubious – discuss] is described in mythological terms (stanzas 22-26). In the final verse, Heimdall lifts his horn toward heaven.

Manuscript tradition

Hrafnagaldur Oðins is transmitted in a single version contained in at least thirty-seven copies, now housed in Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Great Britian, Germany and the United States. Of these, only five are considered to have independent textual value. All manuscripts that contain the poem include the subtitle Forspallsljóð. The earliest manuscripts, known as A and B, date from the second half of the 17th century. The A manuscript of the poem was first brought to Sweden in 1681 by Guðmunður Ólafsson. The B manuscript, according to Páll Eggert Ólason's catalogue, was written c.1600 and in the 18th century. Most other manuscripts of Hrafnagaldur Óðins are derived from them. The number and ordering of stanzas is the same in all manuscripts. There are only minor differences in the texts. The text of the poem is cryptic and most probably corrupt. The final stanza does not appear to form a satisfactory conclusion, suggesting that the poem as it has come down to us is incomplete.

According to analysis of the best manuscripts, the various copies all derive from a single archetype. Since it is not transmitted in other than paper manuscripts, the poem is often considered a later work, possibly a post-medivael imitation of an Eddic poem, akin to Gunnarslagr, composed by Gunnar Pálsson. Nevertheless, a vellum manuscript of the poem may once have existed. Árni Magnússon makes reference to the poem in a letter dated June 18, 1729 to Jón Halldórsson, Dean of Hítardalur, raising the possibility that such a manuscript was lost in the Great Fire in Copenhagen of 1728, which destroyed a large part of Arni's library, including as many as 15 bound manuscripts of Eddic poetry.[5]

Ég hafðe (sem brann) bref Sal. Sra Olafs (Skolameistara ockar) ahrærande eina af þessum odis (mig minnir Hrafnaga. Odins) ad Mag. Brýniolfur hafe þá qvidu uppskrifa láteð epter gömlu saurugu einstaka blade, og minnir mig þar stæde, ad þar aftan vid hefde vantad, og eins kynne um fleira gengid vera. Þetta verður svo sem allt i þoku, því documentin eru burtu,'
"I had (which burned) holy Rev. Ólafur's (our principal's) letter regarding one of these odes (I believe Hrafnagaldur Odins) a song that Magister Brynjólfur had allowed to be copied from one old, dirty leaf, and as I recall, he said that there was something missing at the end, and that it may have occurred in the same manner. This is all as if in a fog, the documents are gone."

Publication history

The first printed edition of the poem appeared in Guðmundar Magnússon's Edda Sæmundar hinns fróði, 1787 p. 199-232, with commentary by Gunnar Pálsson (1728-1787). The text is that of MS Icel. 47, a manuscript edition made by Jón Eiríksson, which contained variant readings, used in the critical apparatus of the edition. The poem next appeared in Edda Sæmundar hinns fróða, 1818, edited by Erasmus Rask and Arvid August Afzelius. Hallgrimur Scheving (1837), P.A. Munch (1847), Hermann Lüning (1859), Theodor Möbius (1860), and Frederich Wilhelm Bergmann (1875) also published editions of the poem. Finnur Magnusson (1822), Karl Simrock (1851) and Benjamin Thorpe (1865) produced translations into Danish, German and English respectively.

Sophus Bugge in his 1867 edition of the Poetic Edda argued that the poem was a work of the 17th century, and after this, it was mostly ignored by editors and students of the Edda. An exception is Viktor Rydberg, who in 1886 accepted the poem as authentic and sought to explain its narrative as referring to the time Idun was taken from Asgard by Thjazi.[6]

Interest in the poem has been renewed after 1998, when Eysteinn Björnsson and William P. Reaves posted an edition of the poem with English translation and commentary online. Althought this edition was "for the most part removed again in 2002", leaving only the English translation of the poem in its place,[7] "Eysteinn Björnsson and Reaves' work on the poem led to the performance of the choral and orchestral work 'Hrafnagaldur Óðins with music by Sigur Rós, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, and Steindór Andersen."[8] [9] In support of this, their translation was printed in the program of the London performance of the work at the Barbicon Centre in 2002.[10] This popular interest in the poem was followed by an Icelandic edition, edited by Icelandic philologist Jónas Kristjansson, former head of the Arni Magnusson Institute, published in the Lesbók of the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðid, 27/4 2002 in which he acknowledges the recent popular works.[11]

Notes

  1. ^ Howitt 1852:85.
  2. ^ Jónas Kristjánsson 2002.
  3. ^ Kristján Árnason 2002.
  4. ^ Lassen 2006.
  5. ^ (Bugge (eds.) 1965 [1867], xlviii).
  6. ^ Undersökningar i Germanisk Mthologi, I
  7. ^ Lassen, Annette (2011) Hrafnagaldur Óðinns, Viking Society for Northern Research, p. 9.
  8. ^ Lassen, Annette (2011) Hrafnagaldur Óðinns, Viking Society for Northern Research, p. 9.
  9. ^ Service 2002.
  10. ^ sigur rós + hilmar örn hilmarsson + steindór andersen, hrafnagaldur óðins, barbican centre, london, april 21st, 2002, p. 6. [1]
  11. ^ Jónas Kristjánsson 2002 [2]

References

  • Cottle, Amos S. (tr.) (1797). Icelandic Poetry or The Edda of Saemund. Bristol.
  • Thorpe, Benjamin (tr.) (1866). (2 vols.) London: Trübner & Co. ]
  • Bugge, Sophus (1867). Norræn fornkvæði. Christiania: Malling. [3].
  • Howitt, William and Mary Howitt (1852). Literature and Romance of Northern Europe. Reprinted 2003, Kessinger Publishing.
  • Jónas Kristjánsson (2002). Hrafnagaldur Óðins - Forspjallsljóð. Morgunblaðið April 27, 2002. Available online at [4] (article), [5] (edition of the poem) and [6] (synopsis and commentary)
  • Kristján Árnason (2002). Hljóðdvöl í Hrafnagaldri Óðins. Morgunblaðið May 25, 2002. [7]
  • Service, Tom. (2002) Sigur Ros. The Guardian April 23, 2002. [8]
  • Lassen, Annette (2006). "Hrafnagaldur Óðins / Forspjallsljóð : et antikvarisk digt?" in The Fantastic in Old Norse/Icelandic Literature, pp. 551-560. English Translation with Facing Danish Text
  • Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir, The Werewolf in Medieval Icelandic Literature, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol.106:3 (2007) [9]
  • Lassen, Annette (2011) Hrafnagaldur Óðinns, Viking Society for Northern Research, 120 pages, 978-0903521819 [10]

External links

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