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The Skalds: A Selection of their Poems, with Introduction and Notes
From Old Norse antiquity has come down to us the large body of verse which the skalds -- or court poets of Norway and Iceland -- composed to signalize a feat of arms or an act of generosity by the lords.
The skalds were usually witty and ingenious young gentlemen of noble birth, who often composed their verses extemporaneously. Many such verses were preserved in the great sagas.
Lee M. Hollander has here translated many of these colorful but complicated poems and has provided an excellent understanding of the vivid personalities, important historical events, religious mythology, and folklore of the period. Chapters are devoted to the life and works of more than a dozen of the greatest skalds. This book will be of great interest to students of comparative literature as well as to the general reader.
The skalds were usually witty and ingenious young gentlemen of noble birth, who often composed their verses extemporaneously. Many such verses were preserved in the great sagas.
Lee M. Hollander has here translated many of these colorful but complicated poems and has provided an excellent understanding of the vivid personalities, important historical events, religious mythology, and folklore of the period. Chapters are devoted to the life and works of more than a dozen of the greatest skalds. This book will be of great interest to students of comparative literature as well as to the general reader.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1945
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 16, 2012
I don't think they write books like this anymore, which is a shame. Hollander's little introduction to skaldic poetry is accessible and charming.
First, this is more than a collection of poems. Hollander has chosen around a dozen skalds from the 10th-11th centuries and presented selections of their poems in context, giving brief biographies where these are possible, and augmenting them with salient anecdotes about the skald from Snorri's works or other Icelandic material. Verses sprout out of this prose quite naturally - and I can't think of a better way to present them, since skaldic poetry is notoriously difficult. Even with this contextualization, footnotes are required (and included) in order to explain the more obscure lines.
The translations of the poems themselves take some getting used to. Part of this is no doubt due to the nature of the originals. The skalds delighted in circumlocution, saying in several cleverly-designed kennings what could be said in a single word. The unforgiving verse forms must have led to syntactical contortions, and, as Hollander tries to recreate sense and substance, English syntax is duly contorted as well. And, since this book was made something like 50 years ago, much of the language is archaic - the archaicisms doubly so.
Skaldic poetry was entirely unknown to me before this book, and, it must be said, I can now see why - there is much poetry in other contemporaneous traditions that is simply better, or at least more immediately appealing to a modern audience. It is hard to conceal the greatness of 'Beowulf' or 'The Dream of the Rood'; even in an uninspired translation, something of it will shine out. If we compare apples to apples and choose what may be called the closest thing to a praise poem that survives in Old English, the 'Battle of Brunanburh', we can see that even it - never mistaken for great poetry - possesses more apparently genuine enthusiasm and reflective imagery than the skaldic stuff. One line from 'Brunanburh', describing the dead enemies of Aethelstan as 'sweordum aswefede' - 'put to sleep by swords' - will show, I think, the difference between the traditions even here. Given a similar situation to describe, a skald, instead of looking for an interesting, even paradoxical image, would think up three different ways to say 'carrion-bird' in reference to the piles of slain.
There is almost something riddlic about the poetry of the ealry skalds, though the OE riddles are entirely different in design and intent. At a couple of points in the book, Hollander describes skaldic poetry as 'Baroque'. I can't claim to know exactly what that means, but if it refers to an interest in form, cleverness - a sense of a game - the term seems appropriate.
The best thing about this book is not the poetry, but its easy and inviting depiction of a Northern culture at the turn of the millennium. I've let Snorri's 'Heimskringla' sit on my shelf for years untouched, but this book - drawing on that source and many others - put it on my short list. The second best thing is its evocation of a time when scholars could also be writers, popular introductions substantive, and literary studies sensible.
First, this is more than a collection of poems. Hollander has chosen around a dozen skalds from the 10th-11th centuries and presented selections of their poems in context, giving brief biographies where these are possible, and augmenting them with salient anecdotes about the skald from Snorri's works or other Icelandic material. Verses sprout out of this prose quite naturally - and I can't think of a better way to present them, since skaldic poetry is notoriously difficult. Even with this contextualization, footnotes are required (and included) in order to explain the more obscure lines.
The translations of the poems themselves take some getting used to. Part of this is no doubt due to the nature of the originals. The skalds delighted in circumlocution, saying in several cleverly-designed kennings what could be said in a single word. The unforgiving verse forms must have led to syntactical contortions, and, as Hollander tries to recreate sense and substance, English syntax is duly contorted as well. And, since this book was made something like 50 years ago, much of the language is archaic - the archaicisms doubly so.
Skaldic poetry was entirely unknown to me before this book, and, it must be said, I can now see why - there is much poetry in other contemporaneous traditions that is simply better, or at least more immediately appealing to a modern audience. It is hard to conceal the greatness of 'Beowulf' or 'The Dream of the Rood'; even in an uninspired translation, something of it will shine out. If we compare apples to apples and choose what may be called the closest thing to a praise poem that survives in Old English, the 'Battle of Brunanburh', we can see that even it - never mistaken for great poetry - possesses more apparently genuine enthusiasm and reflective imagery than the skaldic stuff. One line from 'Brunanburh', describing the dead enemies of Aethelstan as 'sweordum aswefede' - 'put to sleep by swords' - will show, I think, the difference between the traditions even here. Given a similar situation to describe, a skald, instead of looking for an interesting, even paradoxical image, would think up three different ways to say 'carrion-bird' in reference to the piles of slain.
There is almost something riddlic about the poetry of the ealry skalds, though the OE riddles are entirely different in design and intent. At a couple of points in the book, Hollander describes skaldic poetry as 'Baroque'. I can't claim to know exactly what that means, but if it refers to an interest in form, cleverness - a sense of a game - the term seems appropriate.
The best thing about this book is not the poetry, but its easy and inviting depiction of a Northern culture at the turn of the millennium. I've let Snorri's 'Heimskringla' sit on my shelf for years untouched, but this book - drawing on that source and many others - put it on my short list. The second best thing is its evocation of a time when scholars could also be writers, popular introductions substantive, and literary studies sensible.
December 6, 2024
“Flamed the firmament with
fiery lightnings, and all
lands below the hail did
lash, before Ull’s-kinsman,
as galloping, the goat-bucks—
hauled the wheelèd wain of
Hrungnir’s-foeman [Thor] thurs-ward.”
-Thiódólf of Hvin
“I sailed to the West
and of Odin’s breast
bear I the sea—
this is’t with me.
I put out to float,
at ice-break, my boat
freighted with load
of lofty ode.”
-Egil Skallagrímson
“Land ‘neath the sea sinketh,
sun groweth dim and darkling,
rive on high the heavens,
when great tides the mountains,
ere that in the Orkneys
atheling than Thórfinn
more glorious—may God help
his gallant hird—be born aye”
-Arnór Thórdarson
While Lee Hollander’s writing can be very academic at times, I understood most of it and found it very interesting. His style is more dense here and with The Saga of the Jómsvíkings, but his commentary is still fun and useful. His translations are also fantastic, and I love how he was dedicated to following the specific meter as much as possible. For someone who loves looking into Old Norse poetry, this was an absolutely wonderful handbook. I’ve highlighted a few skalds that I particularly like below, and the ones I did not talk about I had no particular feelings about or didn’t think my feelings were strong enough to warrant space in this review.
I love that you get a feel for Medieval literature culture with this book. While many of the individual skalds blur together to the modern eye, there are some that stand out — Bragi Boddason is a wonderful storyteller, and of the stories that appear in both his writing and Snorri’s, I prefer Bragi’s more flashy version. Bragi’s poems, however, seem to rely very heavily on kennings (as was typical) a little too much for me. But Thiódólf of Hvin’s poetry was magnificent and gorgeous, but his prose stories were about average.
Úlf Uggason didn’t seem to be very remarkable, but there was a fragment of a story about Heimdall and Loki’s quarrel for the Brisingamen necklace, one of the most intriguing stories we don’t have, and he also had a stanza on it which was very good. Heimdall is my primary deity, so that always interests me.
When I read Kormák’s actual saga, I didn’t much care for it, but Hollander really does justice to his verses and I ended up gaining a new appreciation for his poetry and his tragic story — which is ironic considering Hollander himself doesn’t seem to appreciate Kormák all too much!
Hollander says that Sigvat’s poetic style “employs fewer kennings and has a simplicity of sentence structure,” and goes on to talk about how he thinks Sigvat isn’t a very good skald altogether — but I disagree. I think it’s because the lack of excessive kennings and the simplified meter and rime make his works much more accessible to a modern eye, and much more enjoyable overall. At the very least, Sigvat is a good introduction to Old Norse poetry because of his more simple nature.
fiery lightnings, and all
lands below the hail did
lash, before Ull’s-kinsman,
as galloping, the goat-bucks—
hauled the wheelèd wain of
Hrungnir’s-foeman [Thor] thurs-ward.”
-Thiódólf of Hvin
“I sailed to the West
and of Odin’s breast
bear I the sea—
this is’t with me.
I put out to float,
at ice-break, my boat
freighted with load
of lofty ode.”
-Egil Skallagrímson
“Land ‘neath the sea sinketh,
sun groweth dim and darkling,
rive on high the heavens,
when great tides the mountains,
ere that in the Orkneys
atheling than Thórfinn
more glorious—may God help
his gallant hird—be born aye”
-Arnór Thórdarson
While Lee Hollander’s writing can be very academic at times, I understood most of it and found it very interesting. His style is more dense here and with The Saga of the Jómsvíkings, but his commentary is still fun and useful. His translations are also fantastic, and I love how he was dedicated to following the specific meter as much as possible. For someone who loves looking into Old Norse poetry, this was an absolutely wonderful handbook. I’ve highlighted a few skalds that I particularly like below, and the ones I did not talk about I had no particular feelings about or didn’t think my feelings were strong enough to warrant space in this review.
I love that you get a feel for Medieval literature culture with this book. While many of the individual skalds blur together to the modern eye, there are some that stand out — Bragi Boddason is a wonderful storyteller, and of the stories that appear in both his writing and Snorri’s, I prefer Bragi’s more flashy version. Bragi’s poems, however, seem to rely very heavily on kennings (as was typical) a little too much for me. But Thiódólf of Hvin’s poetry was magnificent and gorgeous, but his prose stories were about average.
Úlf Uggason didn’t seem to be very remarkable, but there was a fragment of a story about Heimdall and Loki’s quarrel for the Brisingamen necklace, one of the most intriguing stories we don’t have, and he also had a stanza on it which was very good. Heimdall is my primary deity, so that always interests me.
When I read Kormák’s actual saga, I didn’t much care for it, but Hollander really does justice to his verses and I ended up gaining a new appreciation for his poetry and his tragic story — which is ironic considering Hollander himself doesn’t seem to appreciate Kormák all too much!
Hollander says that Sigvat’s poetic style “employs fewer kennings and has a simplicity of sentence structure,” and goes on to talk about how he thinks Sigvat isn’t a very good skald altogether — but I disagree. I think it’s because the lack of excessive kennings and the simplified meter and rime make his works much more accessible to a modern eye, and much more enjoyable overall. At the very least, Sigvat is a good introduction to Old Norse poetry because of his more simple nature.
September 12, 2018
This collection is a mixed bag. The poetry is amazing and the footnotes provide required glosses of kennings. Unfortunately, there is just far too much biographical information on each poet. Indeed, the chapters were really just relating the life of each skald with the poems included almost as afterthoughts. I recognize that cultural context is necessary to understand the poems, and it’s great to know the biographical details of these poet-warriors, but the incredible poems get lost in overwhelming prose details that can be found in other texts. Also lost is any critical commentary on the poems. The Selected Bibliography at the end doesn’t serve the reader well in this regard either, as most of the titles are not in English translation.
September 12, 2018
Wonderful volume of the Viking skalds [court poets] from the 9th to the 11th Century. It was a demanding form of poetry. The biographical sketches are great and the translations are beautiful. It makes one want to sit with a horn of mead and sharpen one's sword.
January 19, 2016
This book on the Norse skalds (poets) was not quite what I was expecting. Unlike Hollander's translation of The Poetic Edda and his collection entitled Old Norse Poems, this work contains far more commentary than poetry. Because the poetry of the skalds was generally composed for specific occasions (praise of a leader, thanks for a gift, etc.) a large part of the text consists of biographies of the various skalds which then provide a framework for the poetry. Along the way, you can pick up an interesting overview of Norse politics from approximately the mid-900's to early-1000's.
The poetry itself is less exciting than the narrative poetry of the Edda. The skalds were more interested in technical excellence, clever wordplay, and shameless flattery than in passionate story-telling. Hollander's translation of the poetry is as readable as ever. He replicates the meter and alliteration of the skaldic poetry nicely, but only in one or two of the poems does he replicate the internal rhyme as well (which I thought was a truly impressive feat).
Overall: another Lee Hollander must-read for fans of all things Norse.
The poetry itself is less exciting than the narrative poetry of the Edda. The skalds were more interested in technical excellence, clever wordplay, and shameless flattery than in passionate story-telling. Hollander's translation of the poetry is as readable as ever. He replicates the meter and alliteration of the skaldic poetry nicely, but only in one or two of the poems does he replicate the internal rhyme as well (which I thought was a truly impressive feat).
Overall: another Lee Hollander must-read for fans of all things Norse.
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May 7, 2023"...the fact that a man was poetically gifted is always mentioned by saga writers; and generally we are told whether a person is noted as a court poet (hirðskáld), or as being an inditer of erotic verse (mansǫngr), or as one skilled--and feared--as a maker of lampoons (níðvísur)."
"To furnish an example by no means unusual: let us say that Haki is the name of a sea-king of old. Then Haka dýr (the animal of Haki) can stand for 'ship': and Haka dýrs blik (the glamour of the animal of Haki) for 'shield'--shields were fastened on the railings of the viking ship; and Haka dýrs bliks dynr (the tumult of the glamour of the animal of Haki) for 'battle'; and Haka dýrs bliks dyns sœðingr (the gull of the tumult of the glamour of the animal of Haki) for 'raven' or 'vulture'; and finally, Haka dýrs bliks dyns sœðinga hungrdeyfir (the appeaser of the hunger of the gulls of tumult of Haki's anima) for 'warrior,' 'king'!"
"To furnish an example by no means unusual: let us say that Haki is the name of a sea-king of old. Then Haka dýr (the animal of Haki) can stand for 'ship': and Haka dýrs blik (the glamour of the animal of Haki) for 'shield'--shields were fastened on the railings of the viking ship; and Haka dýrs bliks dynr (the tumult of the glamour of the animal of Haki) for 'battle'; and Haka dýrs bliks dyns sœðingr (the gull of the tumult of the glamour of the animal of Haki) for 'raven' or 'vulture'; and finally, Haka dýrs bliks dyns sœðinga hungrdeyfir (the appeaser of the hunger of the gulls of tumult of Haki's anima) for 'warrior,' 'king'!"
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews