The manuscript punctuation and capitalization-not wholly trustworthy guides-indicate the stanza divisions as in this translation.]ĥ. Thus they either make a separate stanza out of lines 3-5 or unite them in a six-line stanza with 5. Several editors assume a lacuna before line I, making a stanza out of the two conjectural lines (Bugge actually supplies them) and lines 1-2 of stanza 4. The manuscript and most editions have lines 1-2 in inverse order. Feather-dress: this flying equipment of Freyja's is also used in the story of Thjazi, wherein Loki again borrows the "hawk's dress" of Freyja, this time to rescue Ithun cf. Freyja's house was Sessrymnir ("Rich in Seats") built in Folkvang ("Field of the Folk") cf. Lokasenna, introductory prose and note, also Skirnismol, introductory prose. Freyja: Njorth's daughter, and sister of Freyr cf. Till he left behind him | the home of the gods,Īnd reached at last | the realm of the giants.ģ. Then Loki flew, | and the feather-dress whirred, "Thine should it be | though of silver bright,Īnd I would give it | though 'twere of gold." "Wilt thou, Freyja, | thy feather-dress lend me,Ĥ. Hear now the speech | that first he spake: To the dwelling fair | of Freyja went they, Nor in heaven above: | our hammer is stolen."ģ. He shook his beard, | his hair was bristling,Ģ. In striking contrast to many of the poems, it contains no prose narrative links, the story being told in narrative verse-a rare phenomenon in the poems of the Edda. The Thrymskvitha has been preserved in excellent condition, without any serious gaps or interpolations. There is also some resemblance between the Thrymskvitha and the Lokasenna (note, in this connection, Bugge's suggestion that the Skirnismol and the Lokasenna may have been by the same man), and it is not impossible that all four poems have a single authorship. It has been suggested, on the basis of stylistic similarity, that its author may also have composed the Skirnismol, and possibly Baldrs Draumar. The poem assumed its present form, most critics agree, somewhere about 900, and thus it is one of the oldest in the collection. Of course we know nothing specific of its author, but there can be no question that he was a poet of extraordinary ability. Its swift, vigorous action, the sharpness of its characterization and the humor of the central situation combine to make it one of the most vivid short narrative poems ever composed.
It has, indeed, been called "the finest ballad in the world," and not without some reason. Snorri does not quote from it, nor, rather oddly, does the story occur in the Prose Edda.Īrtistically the Thrymskvitha is one of the best, as it is, next to the Voluspo, the most famous, of the entire collection. The Thrymskvitha is found only in the Codex Regius, where it follows the Lokasenna. 174 THRYMSKVITHA The Lay of Thrym INTRODUCTORY NOTE The Poetic Edda, by Henry Adams Bellows,, at Sacred Texts Legends and Sagas Iceland Index Previous Next
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