Poetic Edda II. Mythological Poems (review)

148 Reviews with the appearance of the second volume of her Poetic Edda. In relation to it they act as an amplified commentary and discussion, supplementing and further motivating the treatment in the edition proper. Meanwhile in their o w n right they will continue to prove an invaluable resource, not to say essential reading, for all w h o interest themselves in Old Norse/Icelandic literature and mythology and can respond to the palpable enthusiasm of a fine scholar and teacher. M y only remaining regret is that notable items of her o w n students' work, generously acknowledged here and therefore the object of some curiosity, have yet to be made conveniently available to the wider circle of researchers. Russell Poole School of English and Media Studies Massey University Dronke, Ursula, ed., Poetic Edda II. Mythological Poems, Oxford: Clarendon 1997; cloth; pp. xiv, 443; R.R.P. £65.00. The poems from the so-called Poetic Edda presented in this monumental volume are Voluspd (with Baldrs Draumar appended), Rigspula, Volundarkvida, Skimismdl, and Lokasenna. All except Volundarkvida could fairly be termed mythological. Dronke states her prime purpose as being 'to open up for the common reader the delights of the complexities and felicities of the poems and the beauty of the language and to show the poets' intellectual command of their themes, mythological, religious, and human' (p. vii). While I harbour a suspicion that fully paid-up c o m m o n readers m a y be as mythical as the protagonists within the poems, Dronke has certainly worked hard to make them feel welcome. The material is lucidly organised and Dronke writes with clarity and flair. The presentation of each poem begins with a text and parallel translation. The text makes a sensible compromise between normalisation and fidelity to manuscript idiosyncracies. Apparent lacunae are conjecturally filled out where possible. The translation is lineated like verse; justifiably, there is only occasional imitation of the original metre. The attempts at alliteration are sometimes infelicitously forced: thus in Lokasenna 'saryr3om sakaz' is rendered as 'rail at each other with rending words' (v. 19); similarly in Skirnismal we find the obscure translation 'slim, sign-marked' for 'midvan, maifan' (vv. 23 and 25). But generally Dronke's English version of these highly resistant texts proceeds with adroitness and verve. Almost Skeltonesque are the picturesque renderings of the numerous heiti in Rigspula. Some archaisation of the vocabulary is admitted in Voluspd, as in 'crew' (v. 41, for normal 'crowed') or 'kindir' as 'seed' (v.l), and equally some colloquialisms, as in 'were . . . alive and kicking on the plain' [recte 'plains'] for '[k]natto . . . /vollo sporna' (v.24). Reviews 14g Some interpretive decisions seemed questionable: isn't 'monnum bjarga' {Rigspula v.44) simply 'save men', not 'deliver the new-born'? In Rigspula v.4, 'brunginn sadum' reads more naturally as 'crammed with grains' than 'wedged with grains'. Next in the expository sequence comes an overview of the text. Probably Dronke's most impressive single feat is her articulation of the grand design of Voluspd. She sheds light on the synthesis ofrivalcreation stories, the account of the rebirth of the Vanir after Odinn's military assault, and much else. In Rigspula a system of colour symbolism and conflicting conceptions of kingship are elucidated. Volundarkvida is penetratingly analysed as centring on two opposite imprisonments. Regrettably, the exposition of Skirnismdl is weakened by impressionistic filling out of the narration and the general reader may be misled by a construction of the poem as a play, complete with 'programme notes' (p. 386) and 'stage directions' which 'would invite audience support with hoof-claps and barks and torches' (p. 390). More convincing is Dronke's association of Lokasenna with early Icelandic verbal contests. In general, though, Dronke holds to a highly individualist model of poetic composition and transmission and is reluctant to allow the wider community any significant role. She places what she regards as the poet's text in a dichotomy with 'popular' elements, on vague grounds (pp. 86, 120). The discussion of textual history contains many teleological and personalised motivations of variant readings that might better be traced to comparatively routine transmissional processes. From time to time...