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Lassen, Annette, ed. <i>Hrafnagaldur Ódins (Forspjallsljód). Edited
with introduction, notes and translation</i>. Text Series XX. London:
Viking Society for Northern Research. Pp. 120. Price GBP 12. ISBN-13:
9780903521819.

   Reviewed by Jonas Wellendorf
        University of California, Berkeley
        [log in to unmask]


This short but fascinating volume contains an edition and a
translation of the relatively unknown Icelandic poem <i>Hrafnagaldur
Ódins</i> as well as an introduction and a commentary to the text. The
26-stanza poem is composed in the meter and style of the better known
poems of the Codex Regius of the <i>Poetic Edda</i>, and
<i>Hrafnagaldur Ódins</i> was once held to belong to this group of
poems; for this reason, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century editions
and translations of Eddic poems often included this poem. Although
Sophus Bugge also included <i>Hrafnagaldur Ódins</i> in his classic
edition of Eddic poetry in 1867, he argued in his introduction that
the poem was probably not a medieval poem but was rather composed by a
learned Icelander in the seventeenth century, and that it should be
excluded from future collections of Old Norse poetry in the Eddic
style. [1] Subsequent editors have accepted Bugge's arguments for a
post-medieval date, and consequently not much attention has been
devoted to this strange and difficult poem since Bugge's days. This
has changed in the last decade.
A 2002 article in the weekend edition of the Icelandic newspaper
<i>Morgunbladid</i> by Jónas Kristjánsson [2] has elicited in a number
of scholarly articles on the poem. Jónas Kristjánsson argued that the
poem was indeed a medieval one and that it should be readmitted into
the Eddic corpus in a strict sense. Lassen herself also made a case
for a medieval date in 2006, but this goes unmentioned in the present
volume, where she argues--I would say conclusively--that the poem is
of post-medieval date and that it is probably a product of the milieu
around Bryjnólfur Sveinsson, bishop of Skálholt (r. 1639-1674),
Iceland. Her main argument is the presence in stanza 22 of what
appears to be an Icelandic version of a proverb that first became
widely known in Western Europe through Erasmus of Rotterdam's
<i>Adagia</i> (first published in 1500). A precondition for Lassen's
argument is that the text of <i>Hrafnagaldur Ódins</i> is a stable
text and that the proverb has not found its way into the text at some
point in time after its original composition, but that seems to be a
safe assumption in this case. This dating has been independently
supported by Haukur Thorgeirsson who, in an article published around
the same time as Lassen's edition, discusses various features of the
metrics of the poem, and on this basis dates it to the first part of
the seventeenth century. [3]
According to Lassen, the main title of the poem "seems to be a
misunderstanding" (21), but she also suggests, somewhat obliquely,
that the poem is uttered by Ódinn's ravens. This is a very reasonable
suggestion that agrees well with the poem's bird's-eye view of the
events in all the mythological worlds. If one accepts this, the title
should then be understood as "Ódinn's ravens' song," rather than
"Ódinn's raven-song." However, if this is the case, the ravens report
their observations to us, the audience of the poem, rather than to
Ódinn, who features among the actors in the poem. The alternative
title of the poem, <i>Forspjallsljód<i>, is more difficult to make
sense of, but Lassen follows Bugge and others in suggesting that it
should be taken to mean "Introductory poem." That title, she argues,
might be connected with the fact that in many cases <i>Hrafnagaldur
Ódins</i> occurs among the first poems in the manuscripts in which it
appears, which are usually collections of Eddic poetry.
The main part of Lassen's introduction (26-81) is taken up by a
relatively detailed description of the thirty-seven manuscripts known
to transmit the poem and an analysis of the filiation of these
manuscripts. Five manuscripts are singled out as having "independent
textual value (28)." This long discussion is handily concluded by a
section in which Lassen explains the significance of the manuscript
transmission for the reception of Eddic poetry in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. <i>Hrafnagaldur Ódins</i> is primarily
transmitted in manuscripts that aspire to contain all known Eddic
poetry. In older manuscripts it is often placed near the beginning of
the codex, while it gets demoted in later manuscripts. This downgrade
reflects the growing realization among scholars that the poem should
be considered a rather late addition to the Eddic corpus.

Lassen's edition consists of a diplomatic transcription of one of the
five manuscripts with independent value (Stockholm papp. 8vo nr 15,
from the second half of the seventeenth century, but before 1681).
Punctuation has been added, proper names have been capitalized, and
variant readings are given from the remaining four manuscripts with
independent textual value. When necessary, the main text is emended
with the help of these four manuscripts, and emendations divined by
earlier editors have occasionally been adopted. The word order of the
poem is in many cases more complex than in the other poems in Eddic
style, and below each stanza Lassen has given the text in prose word
order, as is often done in editions of skaldic poetry. Finally, each
stanza is translated. At the end of the edition (95-106), a commentary
has been added in small print. Despite these efforts at rendering the
Icelandic text comprehensible, it is not an easy read. The overall
plot is difficult to follow and many points of detail are obscure and
will probably remain so. This, however, is due to no fault of the
editor's.

Specialists on the learned textual culture of seventeenth- and
eighteenth-century Iceland are few (but not necessarily far between),
and their scholarship is not always easily accessible. Lassen's
efforts therefore deserve the highest praise. In comparison with the
great reward that awaits the readers of the volume, my points of
criticism are minor and focus on details only. Although Lassen has
found convincing solutions to many problems of interpretation, her
suggestions are occasionally open to discussion. I give three examples
below:

I found the suggestion that the Alfödur, "All-father," mentioned in
stanza 1 should be understood as the Christian God unfounded. The
author's reliance on <i>Snorra Edda</i> (underlined by Lassen on p.
26) in combination with the poet's general avoidance of explicit
Christian imagery and notions make it more likely that Alfödur
primarily should be understood as the Alfodr that appears in <i>Snorra
Edda</i>.

Stanza 4 tells that "Allsvidur (Ódinn?) often fells (<i>fellir</i>)
from above and often gathers up the fallen again (83)." An object of
the verb <i>fella</i> is not given, but Lassen takes the object to be
"warriors" and sees this as a reference to Ódinn's massing of warriors
in Valholl. However, in the context of the poem, it would make more
sense if the implicit object of the verb was <i>blótspánn</i>, "chip
used in divination," and <i>fella blótspán</i> is indeed a collocation
found elsewhere in the corpus. Ódinn (or whoever is doing the felling)
would then be depicted as trying in vain to figure out what fate has
in store for the gods.

Stanza 5 tells that "the wise being hides itself in Mímir's renowned
spring" (84). "The wise being" is a translation of <i>vissa vera</i>
and the commentary suggests the alternative interpretation
"certain/secure existence" (98). In both instances <i>vera</i> is
understood as a noun and <i>vissa</i> as an adjective. It is also
possible to take <i>vissa</i> as a noun meaning "certain knowledge"
and <i>vera</i> as a genitive plural of the noun <i>verr</i> "man,
being." In this case, the sentence might translate "certain knowledge
of men is hidden in Mímir's renowned spring."

Given that the non-canonical narrative poetry not included in the
standard editions of the Eddic poems will be relatively unfamiliar
territory for many readers, it would have been helpful if the long
manuscript descriptions had been supplemented with a few lines
introducing the other poems also found in such manuscripts. Readers
who need to be told that Yggr, Hangatyr and Hroptr are names of Ódinn
(cf. the commentary to stanzas 17.7, 18.1, and 23.7) would probably be
grateful for some hints concerning the nature and contents of texts
such as <i>Brísingamen</i>, <i>Gunnarsslagur</i>, <i>Gullkársljód</i>,
and <i>Taflkvaedi</i>. I also wondered why it was thought necessary to
translate the Danish quotations from Bugge's edition of the Eddic
poems but not quotations in Latin, Greek, or early modern Icelandic.
On a more pedantic note, I will also mention that Lassen appears to
have misunderstood Bugge's remark on <i>hveim</i> (11 n.5) and that
there are typographic errors in the Greek words (18-19).

However, these points of criticism are negligible and they do not
detract from my very positive impression of the volume. Many readers
in the past have given up when trying to make sense of <i>Hrafnagaldur
Ódins</i>, but, thanks to Lassen's efforts and determination, future
readers of the poem now get a head start. Her edition will be the
obvious starting point for any scholarly examination of the poem in
foreseeable future. The Viking Society for Northern Research should be
commended for producing such a fine-looking volume and also for making
their publications freely available online a few years after
publication. The present volume was published in 2011 and can already
be downloaded free of charge from http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/.
The book has been translated into English by Anthony Faulkes.

--------
Notes:
1. Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1867. <i>Norraen fornkvaedi</i>, reprinted by
Universitetsforlaget (Oslo, 1965), at pp. xlvi–xlvii. Elsewhere in his
edition, Bugge argues that <i>Hrafnagaldur Ódins</i> is from the Late
Middle Ages (idem p. 140).
2 Jónas Kristjánsson, ed. "Hrafnagaldur Ódins--Forspjallsljód:
Fornkvaedi reist úr ösku," <i>Lesbók Morgunbladsins</i> April 27
(2002), 4-6.
3 "<i>Gullkársljód</i> og <i>Hrafnagaldur</i>: Framlag til sögu
fornyrdislags," <i>Gripla</i> 21 (2010), 299-334, at p. 315.