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The Story of the Volsungs & Niblungs: With Certain Songs from the Elder Edda
""And he chased the deer of the forest, and many a wood-wolf slew . . ."" *
Son of King Sigmund, young Sigurd is taught the ways of kings by the ancient, mysterious Regin -- who then sets him upon the seemingly impossible task: to steal the divine armor guarded by the Wallower on the Gold -- the great serpent Fafnir.
Astride the war-steed Grayfell and armed with a sword named the Wrath of Sigurd, the young hero crosses the Glittering Heath in pursuit of peril, glory -- and the Treasure of Andvari.
First published in 1876, this verse epic ranks high among the masterworks of William Morris (1835-1896).
Son of King Sigmund, young Sigurd is taught the ways of kings by the ancient, mysterious Regin -- who then sets him upon the seemingly impossible task: to steal the divine armor guarded by the Wallower on the Gold -- the great serpent Fafnir.
Astride the war-steed Grayfell and armed with a sword named the Wrath of Sigurd, the young hero crosses the Glittering Heath in pursuit of peril, glory -- and the Treasure of Andvari.
First published in 1876, this verse epic ranks high among the masterworks of William Morris (1835-1896).
275 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1876
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444 people want to read
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* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
See also: Anonymous
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 22, 2020
"Ye have heard of Sigurd aforetime, how the foes of God he slew;
How forth from the darksome desert the Gold of the Waters he drew;
How he wakened Love on the Mountain, and wakened Brynhild the Bright,
And dwelt upon Earth for a season and shone in all men's sight.
Ye have heard of the Cloudy People and the dimming of the day,
And the latter world's confusion, and Sigurd gone away."
These are the closing lines from Morris's translation in verse of this story, and they encapsulate it. The Eddas are the closest to the original Norse sagas. This is the Icelandic version.
I really liked this version of the Sigurd story the best of any I've ever read, especially as it's in verse and might be an approximation of what the skalds would declaim. I read this aloud and was pleasantly surprised at how easily I could visualize what happened. I was amazed at the vivid mind-pictures. I felt the verse was similar to, say, Tennyson; but William Morris *was* a Victorian, like Tennyson. It moved along quickly and smoothly. I feel this version keeps to the spirit of the original. I admire Morris for his attempting this. As poetry, it is certainly not a word-for-word translation. You might even call this in a sense a double translation--Icelandic to English prose, then finally to English verse. Morris felt more at home with verse. I appreciated the extensive biographical material on Morris [he was quite a talented fellow--in all forms of design--plus his literary output]. Also there was material on the Vikings, their religion, the Volsung Saga and a an extensive Glossary of obscure and obsolete words Morris used.
If his other verse translations of other legends or myths are half as good as this, I'd like to seek them out. He did consider Sigurd his best work.
Most highly recommended for those interested in folklore, legends, or mythology!! This is a good introduction to the Sigurd story for those unfamiliar with it.
This is a rereading; I first read it last Fall.
How forth from the darksome desert the Gold of the Waters he drew;
How he wakened Love on the Mountain, and wakened Brynhild the Bright,
And dwelt upon Earth for a season and shone in all men's sight.
Ye have heard of the Cloudy People and the dimming of the day,
And the latter world's confusion, and Sigurd gone away."
These are the closing lines from Morris's translation in verse of this story, and they encapsulate it. The Eddas are the closest to the original Norse sagas. This is the Icelandic version.
I really liked this version of the Sigurd story the best of any I've ever read, especially as it's in verse and might be an approximation of what the skalds would declaim. I read this aloud and was pleasantly surprised at how easily I could visualize what happened. I was amazed at the vivid mind-pictures. I felt the verse was similar to, say, Tennyson; but William Morris *was* a Victorian, like Tennyson. It moved along quickly and smoothly. I feel this version keeps to the spirit of the original. I admire Morris for his attempting this. As poetry, it is certainly not a word-for-word translation. You might even call this in a sense a double translation--Icelandic to English prose, then finally to English verse. Morris felt more at home with verse. I appreciated the extensive biographical material on Morris [he was quite a talented fellow--in all forms of design--plus his literary output]. Also there was material on the Vikings, their religion, the Volsung Saga and a an extensive Glossary of obscure and obsolete words Morris used.
If his other verse translations of other legends or myths are half as good as this, I'd like to seek them out. He did consider Sigurd his best work.
Most highly recommended for those interested in folklore, legends, or mythology!! This is a good introduction to the Sigurd story for those unfamiliar with it.
This is a rereading; I first read it last Fall.
July 3, 2013
It is easy enough to find a summary of this epic poem in another review, Wikipedia, etc. Suffice it to say that it is Morris's redaction of the Volsunga Saga, with too many twists (incest, poisonings, burnings, shape-changing) and interesting characters (Nibelungs, werewolves, dragon, dwarves) to list in a brief review. Not often read today, it was Morris's proudest literary accomplishment and the favorite poem of Yeats. The most important things I would say to a potential reader is that it is not difficult to read, and it is a marvel for fantasy fans, though it is not fantasy, per se. Here one may find "the sword that was broken,The Wrath, and the marvelous landscape of northern medieval Europe. The plot moves so quickly that a reader may sometimes forget that it is an epic poem. This is characteristic of much of Morris; in spite of his vast store of knowledge he never forgets that he is a storyteller, in fact the greatest bard since the middle ages, excepting the fellow from Stratford. So take a walk in a Morris landscape, and don't feel bad knowing it will end: Morris was a prolific writer-- there is much more waiting to be read.
November 11, 2015
This is really quite good epic norse poetry, it does go on a bit too long towards the end but overall better than Beowulf and a real treat for any Lord of the Rings fans. You can see the origin of Aragorn and Arwen as well as Eowyn, Gandalf, the ring and Isildur's sword.
Of course the vast differences in where the stories go is also part of the fun. Speaking of fun, you might find it lacking in the latter parts as it turns into a real tragedy, still compelling though. Torn between a 3 or 4 score for this one but a i said a little long winded.
I read the full version (i think) by William Morris 1876.
Of course the vast differences in where the stories go is also part of the fun. Speaking of fun, you might find it lacking in the latter parts as it turns into a real tragedy, still compelling though. Torn between a 3 or 4 score for this one but a i said a little long winded.
I read the full version (i think) by William Morris 1876.
Read
April 6, 2019I find William Morris and his era rather interesting. His "News from Nowhere" is the first work I read of him and I've been to exhibitions of his print work. However, I didn't know that he had re-written this epic and he has done a great job as well. The verse is rich and sounds quite nice. Apparently, this was his favourite work as well. :)
June 12, 2022
This 1876 epic poem retells in large part the story of the Nibelungenleid, the 13th century German saga, which would also quite loosely be adapted by Wagner in his Ring cycle of operas. Being familiar with both of these, it was sometimes hard for me to keep the developments of this poem clear in my head: was I remembering what I’d read or heard elsewhere, or was I getting the idea Morris had intended? But this is a minor point, as it is nonetheless a wonderful story.
There is a shape changing witch who allows a sister to sleep with her brother, who later doesn’t realize that his nephew is really his son. There is a wedding feast interrupted by Odin who thrusts a sword into the massive oak tree which provides a centre piece to their hall. There is an intense jealousy when one king fails to withdraw it only to be shown up by the son of another king. This leads to war and death, as does a later choice of a husband by a young princess which leads to the disappointed suitor killing her husband. Three gods oppose three dwarfs, with one killing one of the other over a hoard of gold which carries a baneful curse. Then, a guard for this hoard turns into a serpent, while his brother helps fashion a sword for the hero. He kills the serpent, captures the hoard and, in order to forestall a treacherous act of betrayal, kills the final brother of the three dwarfs. A rescue from a mountain top fire of a heroic female warrior and later, a hostess drugging the drink of her guest leads to his forgetting the true nature of his affections. A shape-shifting form of duplicity compounds the sense of dramatic irony as the hero woos his true love for his supposed friend. Later petty jealousies and revealed betrayals lead to numerous divisions and deaths. Finally, an enforced marriage opens an opportunity for the exaction of fratricidal vengeance.
There are thus a lot of ups and downs in what is essentially a heroic story meant to be told around a hearth fire over cups of mead after an evening meal. However, the balance between celebration of chivalrous deeds and despair at the vagaries of fate is very heavily weighted in favour of the latter. This peculiar element I feel Morris added provided an overarching sense of doom and sadness which casts a pall over all the deeds, no matter how heroic they may appear to be. The treasure of gold is the key to this despair, as it carries a curse which will prevent its changing owners from ever achieving any happiness.
Yea thereof, from the Gold of Andvari, the spark of the waters wan
Sprang a flame of bitter trouble, and the death of many a man,
And the quenching of the kindness, and the blood of the broken troth,
And the Grievous Need of the Niblungs and the Sorrow of Odin the Goth.
Grimhald, whose drugging of Sigurd leads to most of the troubles, is but a pawn on this chessboard of the fate doomed by the Norns: ‘may oft is she nothing/Save a staff for the foredoomed staying, and a sword for the ordered death.’
A possible supposition. William Morris led a life of repeated disenchantment. His early enthusiasm as part of the Pre-Raphaelite movement quickly passed away. His wife did not love him, despised his later socialism, and knowingly carried on an affair with his friend. His frustration with modern builders and their destructive restorations of buildings led him to found the Anti-Scrape movement. His Firm was set up to recapture the sense of craftsmanship and artistry which modern industrial production techniques had largely forsaken. He frequently left England to travel to the barrens of Iceland, finding in its waters, rocks and poems some solace. He thoroughly detested the bellicose foreign policy of Disraeli and the Queen with respect to the Eastern Question and his several years as leader of the Socialist League were spent largely in factional disputations. His later writings of fantasy romances provided a true escape from an existence in the real world he far too frequently found difficult and unsatisfying.
The most poignant pages of this epic involve a hero, overwhelmed by his adversaries, who is cast into a pit of vipers to die. Before this fated end, he picks up his lyre and sings a song of the heroic deeds of his family’s ancestors. To sing while death awaits you on all sides seems to have been a symbolic depiction of the difficult position Morris found himself in, caught between a romantic imagination and an unrelentingly harsh world.
Exceptionally easy to read, the seven-beat line and repetitive aabb… rhyme scheme allow Morris to capture the essence of the oral tradition from which the story derived even though he knew he was writing for readers than for listeners.
As fantasy, this is a true exemplar of heroic deeds. But it is designed to leave its hearers not with a sense of elated wonder, but rather with a sense of resigned sadness.
Highly recommended.
There is a shape changing witch who allows a sister to sleep with her brother, who later doesn’t realize that his nephew is really his son. There is a wedding feast interrupted by Odin who thrusts a sword into the massive oak tree which provides a centre piece to their hall. There is an intense jealousy when one king fails to withdraw it only to be shown up by the son of another king. This leads to war and death, as does a later choice of a husband by a young princess which leads to the disappointed suitor killing her husband. Three gods oppose three dwarfs, with one killing one of the other over a hoard of gold which carries a baneful curse. Then, a guard for this hoard turns into a serpent, while his brother helps fashion a sword for the hero. He kills the serpent, captures the hoard and, in order to forestall a treacherous act of betrayal, kills the final brother of the three dwarfs. A rescue from a mountain top fire of a heroic female warrior and later, a hostess drugging the drink of her guest leads to his forgetting the true nature of his affections. A shape-shifting form of duplicity compounds the sense of dramatic irony as the hero woos his true love for his supposed friend. Later petty jealousies and revealed betrayals lead to numerous divisions and deaths. Finally, an enforced marriage opens an opportunity for the exaction of fratricidal vengeance.
There are thus a lot of ups and downs in what is essentially a heroic story meant to be told around a hearth fire over cups of mead after an evening meal. However, the balance between celebration of chivalrous deeds and despair at the vagaries of fate is very heavily weighted in favour of the latter. This peculiar element I feel Morris added provided an overarching sense of doom and sadness which casts a pall over all the deeds, no matter how heroic they may appear to be. The treasure of gold is the key to this despair, as it carries a curse which will prevent its changing owners from ever achieving any happiness.
Yea thereof, from the Gold of Andvari, the spark of the waters wan
Sprang a flame of bitter trouble, and the death of many a man,
And the quenching of the kindness, and the blood of the broken troth,
And the Grievous Need of the Niblungs and the Sorrow of Odin the Goth.
Grimhald, whose drugging of Sigurd leads to most of the troubles, is but a pawn on this chessboard of the fate doomed by the Norns: ‘may oft is she nothing/Save a staff for the foredoomed staying, and a sword for the ordered death.’
A possible supposition. William Morris led a life of repeated disenchantment. His early enthusiasm as part of the Pre-Raphaelite movement quickly passed away. His wife did not love him, despised his later socialism, and knowingly carried on an affair with his friend. His frustration with modern builders and their destructive restorations of buildings led him to found the Anti-Scrape movement. His Firm was set up to recapture the sense of craftsmanship and artistry which modern industrial production techniques had largely forsaken. He frequently left England to travel to the barrens of Iceland, finding in its waters, rocks and poems some solace. He thoroughly detested the bellicose foreign policy of Disraeli and the Queen with respect to the Eastern Question and his several years as leader of the Socialist League were spent largely in factional disputations. His later writings of fantasy romances provided a true escape from an existence in the real world he far too frequently found difficult and unsatisfying.
The most poignant pages of this epic involve a hero, overwhelmed by his adversaries, who is cast into a pit of vipers to die. Before this fated end, he picks up his lyre and sings a song of the heroic deeds of his family’s ancestors. To sing while death awaits you on all sides seems to have been a symbolic depiction of the difficult position Morris found himself in, caught between a romantic imagination and an unrelentingly harsh world.
Exceptionally easy to read, the seven-beat line and repetitive aabb… rhyme scheme allow Morris to capture the essence of the oral tradition from which the story derived even though he knew he was writing for readers than for listeners.
As fantasy, this is a true exemplar of heroic deeds. But it is designed to leave its hearers not with a sense of elated wonder, but rather with a sense of resigned sadness.
Highly recommended.
January 18, 2015
Morris took the Völsunga saga, a late 13th century Icelandic prose mixture of heroic deeds, vendetta, court intrigue, the revenge of queens, dragon slaying and a cursed ring, and using this as his source turned it into a powerful and moving English epic poem. I enjoyed this far more than I thought I would. The characters are vivid. The dramatic tension at the center of the poem where the conflicting values of honor, political necessity, love and envy that lead to tragic conclusions is portrayed realistically in rhyming verse with the flavor of a bygone era.
Morris made his Victorian adaptation sound more medieval by liberally sprinkling his modern English with archaic words, for example it’s always held instead of yard or courtyard, and dight instead of ordered, thee and thou instead of you, and clingeth instead of clings. However having access to the Oxford English Dictionary—Thank you to the Houston Public Library for making this available online—made it easy to decipher these.
This work greatly exceeded my expectations of it.
Morris made his Victorian adaptation sound more medieval by liberally sprinkling his modern English with archaic words, for example it’s always held instead of yard or courtyard, and dight instead of ordered, thee and thou instead of you, and clingeth instead of clings. However having access to the Oxford English Dictionary—Thank you to the Houston Public Library for making this available online—made it easy to decipher these.
This work greatly exceeded my expectations of it.
March 6, 2024
Mother I crave violence! I love how absolutely unhinged and metal the Viking gods were. Misunderstood your brother? Have you thought about ✨killing him?✨ loved it
January 4, 2018
This was quite a hard nut to crack.
The poem is quite long, and the style is flowery, convoluted, and prone to archaisms.
All things considered it still deserves a read if you are into the Northern Thing, and the various versions of the story of Sigurd and the Niflungs/Gjukids.
It is interesting to compare this one with Tolkien's effort, published in "The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun". I think that one is an easier read, insofar it is shorter and the style is bare, reduced to the essential, closer to the Eddaic tradition of Norse poetry. However, it is very difficult to parse the story reading Tolkien's account, especially if you are not familiar with it beforehand. Morris offers us plenty of details, and in this sense can be a good introduction to the story, if one can tolerate his poetic bent.
In this regard, I found part II (Regin) the weakest link of the poem. Morris tried to frame Regin's story in a conflict between the Gods and the dwarfs (or at least the two brothers), but this additional element overburdens the plot. His description of Fafnir is quite underwhelming (Tolkien's is much better), and the first awakening of Brynhild left me quite cold. Part III and IV luckily get back to the good quality of Part I and Morris's Victorian sensibilities are more balanced with the spirit of the source material (mostly the Volsunga Saga and the Elder Edda).
Morris found the "last interview" between Sigurd and Brynhild a most moving point, maybe the highest of the Saga (and he considered the Volsunga Saga the best tale ever or so, despite acknowledging its inconsistencies) and this is well reflected in the poem. I could feel the mythical power and the conflicting emotions among the characters while reading those sections. The final fight of the Niblungs brothers and their heroic deaths ends the story on a high note.
Give it a try. Not for the faint of heart
The poem is quite long, and the style is flowery, convoluted, and prone to archaisms.
All things considered it still deserves a read if you are into the Northern Thing, and the various versions of the story of Sigurd and the Niflungs/Gjukids.
It is interesting to compare this one with Tolkien's effort, published in "The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun". I think that one is an easier read, insofar it is shorter and the style is bare, reduced to the essential, closer to the Eddaic tradition of Norse poetry. However, it is very difficult to parse the story reading Tolkien's account, especially if you are not familiar with it beforehand. Morris offers us plenty of details, and in this sense can be a good introduction to the story, if one can tolerate his poetic bent.
In this regard, I found part II (Regin) the weakest link of the poem. Morris tried to frame Regin's story in a conflict between the Gods and the dwarfs (or at least the two brothers), but this additional element overburdens the plot. His description of Fafnir is quite underwhelming (Tolkien's is much better), and the first awakening of Brynhild left me quite cold. Part III and IV luckily get back to the good quality of Part I and Morris's Victorian sensibilities are more balanced with the spirit of the source material (mostly the Volsunga Saga and the Elder Edda).
Morris found the "last interview" between Sigurd and Brynhild a most moving point, maybe the highest of the Saga (and he considered the Volsunga Saga the best tale ever or so, despite acknowledging its inconsistencies) and this is well reflected in the poem. I could feel the mythical power and the conflicting emotions among the characters while reading those sections. The final fight of the Niblungs brothers and their heroic deaths ends the story on a high note.
Give it a try. Not for the faint of heart
January 24, 2019
Quite an achievement, keeping up the metre and rhyme over so many thousands of lines, it really bounces along. The story isn't always quite clear - I had to go back and reread a few times to sort out who was who, especially in the first book. It's fascinating to see what Morris made of essentially the same material as went into Wagner's Ring. There was just the occasional jar, as when he incorporated a quote from the New Testament, and a few words of Wordsworth, but that's forgiveable in a work of such a scale.
February 17, 2020
Morose, Vengeful, Violent and Sullen. The Saga of the Volsunga bridges esoteric Norse legend with Dark Age blood-feud.
Sigurd alone stands as a champion worthy of sympathy; such is the brutality of every character and kin of his through-out this saga.
Truly there is something more brooding and savage in the realms of Northern European Mythology, Germanic and Scandinavian, than the cheerful, tragic but deeply empathetic storytelling of the Mediterranean (of which Gaeilge literature and folklore is more akin than that of the icy, dark-forested European traditions).
Sigurd alone stands as a champion worthy of sympathy; such is the brutality of every character and kin of his through-out this saga.
Truly there is something more brooding and savage in the realms of Northern European Mythology, Germanic and Scandinavian, than the cheerful, tragic but deeply empathetic storytelling of the Mediterranean (of which Gaeilge literature and folklore is more akin than that of the icy, dark-forested European traditions).
March 9, 2024
Morris skriver vackert, handlingen följer i stort Völsungasagan fram till Gudruns hämnd där Völsungasagans historia smällts samman med Nibelungenlied. Morris har ett öga för att spara och lyfta de mest sköna och storslagna motiven. Stilmässigt ligger Morris långt ifrån Eddans ofta korta nästan karga stil och även historiens storskalighet tycks ta mer influenser från tyskttradition.
Morris har också besparat oss en del av de mer morbida inslagen från sagan.
Morris har också besparat oss en del av de mer morbida inslagen från sagan.
January 24, 2019
Gripping, exciting, swashbuckling - but primarily, it helped me understand northern European culture that little bit more.
January 15, 2017
DAAAAAMMMMMN the ending was brutal. Don't mess with the wife!
I did not like this translation. It may or may not be in keeping with the meter of the saga, but the "thou" and "hast" and other King James speak was annoying. I want the story told to me in away that I can relate to, as if I'm eating meat and drinking ale next to a fire in a great Hall. Not as if listening to some stuck up snobbish high English speaking priss before the King's court.
Great story. Dated and dead translation. Less lace and more muscle. This was as inspired translation/telling of an epic saga as milk toast a sub for a hearty meal.
I did not like this translation. It may or may not be in keeping with the meter of the saga, but the "thou" and "hast" and other King James speak was annoying. I want the story told to me in away that I can relate to, as if I'm eating meat and drinking ale next to a fire in a great Hall. Not as if listening to some stuck up snobbish high English speaking priss before the King's court.
Great story. Dated and dead translation. Less lace and more muscle. This was as inspired translation/telling of an epic saga as milk toast a sub for a hearty meal.
April 26, 2015
All I read was an excerpt from this, picking up the story when Sigurd is a young boy, and ending at Brynhild's death. I'd like to read the whole thing at some point. I love the mighty warriors and fearless heroes and great deeds. Very dysfunctional relationships though. Brynhild, for all her supposed wisdom, makes a lovely mess for herself.
July 16, 2009
swords + lust + glory
September 2, 2010
Epic, truly epic.
September 27, 2011
you gotta love a sarcastic dragon, a few good blood feuds, and women warriors. northern sagas have it all!
February 11, 2015
Not an easy read, but worth the effort, so stick with it. If you've read the 'Nibelungenlied,' then you'll be familiar with the plot of this epic poem.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews