Vǫluspǫ́
The Prophecy of the Seeress
Old Norse Poetry
English translation (1928) by Lee M Hollander.
Transcription by Eiður Eyþórsson.
I
About this translation
This Lee M. Hollander’s translation of Völuspá comes from his 1928, 1st edition of The Poetic Edda. In that work, the poem is presented in English translation, accompanied by Hollander’s notes and commentary.
Hollander’s work has been preserved as closely as possible to the form in which the translator originally presented it. The poem and its commentary remain unchanged.
We have moved Hollander’s notes on individual stanzas so that they now appear directly beneath the relevant stanza; in the printed edition they were placed at the bottom of each page. At the end of this page you will find Hollander’s original introductory to Völuspá.
Here Begins Völuspá
1
Hear me, all ye hallowed beings,
both high and low of Heimdall’s children:¹
thou wilt, Valfather,² that I well set forth
the foremost fates which befall the world.
¹According to the Lay of Ríg, the god Heimdall (Ríg) was the progenitor of the three estates of slaves, freemen and nobles.—Heimdall ‘the Brightly Shining’ (?) is the warder of the gods. ‘Hallowed beings’ probably refers more specially to the gods.
²The Father of the Battle-slain (Óthin), who are gathered into Valholl; cf. Grímn. 8.
2
I call to mind the kin of etins
which in times long gone did give me life.
Nine worlds I know, the nine abodes
of the wondrous world-tree,³ the welkin beneath.
³The ash-tree Yggdrasil; see 11, 19, and Grímn. 25f. It is not certain to what the number nine has reference.
3
In earliest times did Ymir⁴ live:
was nor sea nor sand nor salty waves,
neither earth was there nor upper heaven,
but a gaping nothing, and green things nowhere.
4
Was the land then lifted aloft by Bur’s sons⁵
who made Mithgarth,⁶ the matchless earth;
shone from the south the sun on dry land,
on the ground then grew the greensward soft.
⁵According to Snorri’s account, Gylfag. chap. 6, they are Óthin, Vili, and Vé.
⁶‘Middle World’, the earth as the abode of men; cf. Grímn. 41.
5
From the south the sun, by the side of the moon,
heaved his right hand over heaven’s rim;⁷
the sun knew not what seat he had,
the moon knew not what might he had,
the stars knew not what stead they held.
⁷Hoffory suggested that conditions near the Arctic Circle are alluded to in these lines, when the summer sun, advancing from the south, at midnight wheels from west to east along the horizon before mounting again in the sky. However, what follows seems to refer, rather, to unordered chaos.
6
Then gathered together the gods for counsel,
the holy hosts, and held converse;
to night and new-moon their names they gave,
the morning named, and midday also,
forenoon and evening, to order the year.
7
On Itha-field⁸ met the mighty gods;
shrines and temples they timbered high,
forges they formed to fashion gold,
tongs they did shape and tools they made;
⁸‘Field of Work’ (?).
8
Played at draughts in the garth: right glad they were,
nor aught lacked they of lustrous gold,—
till maidens three⁹ from the thurses came,
awful in might, from etin-home.¹⁰
⁹The Norns (cf. 12), who introduce the note of fate. They are of giant (thurs) kin.
¹⁰Scholars are agreed that the so-called Catalogue of Dwarfs following here in the original is an interpolation. It is given p. 383
9
To the coast then came, kind and mighty,
three great æsir from that meeting;
on the land they found, of little strength,
Ask and Embla,¹¹ unfated yet.
¹¹‘Ash and Elm’ (?). In many folktales the new-born babes are fetched from trees.
10
Sense they possessed not, soul they had not,
being nor bearing, nor blooming hue;
soul gave Óthin,¹² sense gave Hœnir,¹³
being, Lóthur,¹⁴ and blooming hue.
¹²Anglo-Saxon Wōden, the supreme deity of the Teutonic race.
¹³His name and function are as yet unexplained; cf. also 55, and Reg. Intro. Prose.
¹⁴Probably identical with Loki.
11
An ash I know, hight Yggdrasil,¹⁵
the mighty tree moist with white dews;
thence come the floods that fall a-down;
evergreen stands at Urth’s¹⁶ well this tree.
¹⁵Ygg’s (Óthin’s) Horse’; for the explanation of the kenning, cf. Hǫ́v. 139. This ‘world-tree’ is the symbol of the ordered universe.
¹⁶‘Fate’; by popular etymology conceived as meaning ‘the Past’. The names of the two other norns, or goddesses of fate, Verthandi ‘the Present’, and Skuld ‘the Future’, are now understood to be learned inventions of the Twelfth Century, on the pattern of the three Parcæ or Μοῖραι of Classical Antiquity. Like them, they ‘spin the thread of Fate’; cf. H.H. 1, 3.
12
Thence wise maidens three betake them—
under spreading boughs their bower stands—;
[Urth one is hight, the other, Verthandi,
Skuld the third: they scores did cut,]
they laws did make, they lives did choose:
for the children of men they marked the fates.
13
¹⁷I ween the first war in the world was this,
when the gods Gullveig gashed with their spears,
and in the hall of Hór¹⁸ burned her—
three times burned they the thrice re-born,
ever and anon: even now she liveth.
¹⁷This difficult stanza is generally interpreted in connection with those immediately following. Gullveig (‘Essence, or Spirit, of Gold (?)’, possibly represents the Vanir (as gods of commerce ?), in their power to corrupt—she is a witch. The vain attempts of the Æsir to annihilate her bring about war between them and the Vanir in which the latter are victorious (16). Hostages are exchanged, then, and the two races of gods rule the world together. Cf. also 40, note.
¹⁸‘The One-eyed’, Óthin. Cf. 19, note, and 21.
14
Heith¹⁹ she was hight where to houses she came,
the wise seeress, and witchcraft plied—
cast spells where she could, cast spells on the mind:
to wicked women she was welcome ever.
¹⁹A name frequently borne by witches.
15
Then gathered together the gods for counsel,
the holy hosts, and held converse:
should the Æsir a truce with tribute buy,
or should all gods share in the feast.²⁰
²⁰I.e. both Æsir and Vanir share in the sacrificial feast offered up by men?
16
His spear did Óthin speed o’er the host:²¹
the first of feuds was thus fought in the world;
was broken in battle the breastwork of Ásgarth,
fighting Vanir the field trampled.
²¹A ceremonial shot by which Óthin, the god of war, dedicates the opposing host to death.
17
Then gathered together the gods for counsel,
the holy hosts, and held converse:
who had filled the air with foul treason,
and to uncouth etins Óth’s wife given.²²
²²She was not, indeed, actually handed over. Snorri, in his Gylfag., chap. 42, relates how, after the castle wall of Ásgarth (the dwelling of the Æsir) had thus been battered down, a giant offered to erect within three years’ time walls proof against the attack of the giants. As price he demanded Sun and Moon and the goddess Freyja, Óth’s wife. The gods accepted, providing the work was done within one year; but when it neared completion, Loki by a stratagem foiled the builder; and when he remonstrated about this manifest breach of faith, Thór slew him (18).
18
Thewy Thór²³ then overthrew the foe,—
he seldom sits when of such he hears:
were sworn oaths broken, and solemn vows,
gods’ plighted troth, the pledges given.
²³’The Thunderer’. The god of strength, arch-enemy of the giants. He is often hasty in his actions.
19
Where Heimdall’s horn is hid, she²⁴ knows,
under heaven-touching holy world-tree;
on it are shed showery falls
from Fiolnir’s pledge:²⁵ know ye further, or how?²⁶
²⁴I.e. the seeress. Alternation between the first and the third person, used by the speaker of himself, is frequent in the Edda.
²⁵‘Fiolnir’s pledge’ is Óthin’s one eye: “But under that root (of Yggdrasil) which spreads over the home of the frost giants there is the well of Mímir (or Mim) in which wit and wisdom are hidden; and he is hight Mímir who owns that well. He is full of knowledge because he drinks its water out of the Gjallarhorn (see 38). Thither came Óthin and asked for a draught from the well, but got it not before giving him one eye as a pledge.” (Gylfag. chap. 15) Cf. 21.—Óthin’s eye being hidden in the well, its water may in skaldic language be said to come from ‘Fiolnir’s pledge’ (Fiolnir ‘the Multiscient’ is one of Óthin’s names).
²⁶This dark and challenging refrain is used with the events of the present and the future divined by the seeress.
20
Alone she sat out²⁷ when the lord of gods,
Óthin the old, her eye did seek:
“what seekest to know, why summon me?
Well know I, Ygg,²⁸ where thy eye is hidden.”
²⁷‘Sitting out’ is the technical expression for the witches’ and sorcerers’ communing with spirits, out of doors and at night.
²⁸‘The Terrifier’, Óthin. He is often pictured as a grey-beard, strong, wise, crafty, and cruel.
21
She knows that Óthin’s eye is hidden
in the wondrous well of Mímir;
each morn Mímir his mead doth drink
out of Fiolnir’s pledge: know ye further, or how?
22
Gave Ygg to her armrings and gems
for her seeress’ sight and soothsaying:
(the fates I fathom, yet farther I see,)²⁹
see far and wide the worlds about.
²⁹Supplied after the corresponding passage in 36.
23
The valkyries³⁰ flock from afar she beholds,
ready to ride to the realm of men:
Skuld held her shield, Skogul likewise,
Guth, Hild, Gondul, and Geirskogul:
[for thus are hight Herian’s³¹ maidens,
ready to ride o’er reddened battlefields].
³⁰Literally, ‘Choosers of the Slain’—the shield-maidens of Óthin, who ride through the air over the battlefield, marking with their spears those who are to fall, and conducting the battle-slain to Valholl, ‘the Hall of the Slain’, Óthin’s abode. Another catalogue of valkyries is given in Grímn. Their names have to do with war and weapons.
³¹ ‘Warrior’, Óthin.
24
I saw for Baldr,³² the blessed³³ god,
Ygg’s dearest son, what doom is hidden:
green and glossy, there grew aloft,
the trees among, the mistletoe.
³² ‘The Lord’ or ‘the Glorious’. He is the son of Óthin and Frigg.
³³ Following Bugge’s emendation.
25
The slender-seeming sapling became
a fell weapon when flung by Hoth;³⁴
but Baldr’s brother³⁵ was born full soon:
but one night old slew him Óthin’s son.
³⁴ ‘Hate’ (?), the blind god. The beautiful story is told more fully in Gylfag., chap. 49: “Baldr had had heavy dreams about his early death. Then Frigg took an oath of all beings and all things not to harm him. When thus assured of Baldr’s life, the gods in sport shot and hewed at him: but Loki in malice found out that the mistletoe had not been sworn in, as too weak. He gave it to blind Hoth as a missile, and he shot Baldr dead.”—Loki’s punishment is told in 27, and the Final Prose of Lok.
³⁵ Váli, engendered by Óthin with the giantess Rind, since the gods could not avenge the deed on one of their own; cf. Bdr. 11.
26
Neither cleansed his hands nor combed his hair
till Baldr’s slayer³⁶ he sent to Hel;³⁷
but Frigg³⁸ did weep in Fensalir
the fateful deed: know ye further, or how?
³⁶ I.e. Hoth.
³⁷ Hel ‘the Concealer’ is the goddess of the lower world where the shades of the dead dwell in cold and darkness (as in the Greek Τάρταρος). Hence, ‘to send to Hel’ comes to mean merely, ‘to slay’.
³⁸ ‘The Beloved’, Óthin’s wife, who dwells in Fensalir ‘the Ocean Halls’.
27
A captive lies in the kettle-grove,³⁹
like to lawless Loki in shape;⁴⁰
there sits Sigyn, full sad in mind,
by her fettered mate: know ye further, or how?
³⁹ I.e. the grove about hot springs (?).
⁴⁰ That is, Loki ‘The Ender’ (?) himself.—Instead of these lines, the Hauksbook has the following:
With meshes mighty made the gods then
girding fetters out of Váli’s guts.
This Váli (not to be confused with Óthin’s son, 25) was a son of Loki. The gods transformed him into a wolf.
28
There flows from the east,⁴¹ through fester-dales,
a stream hight Slíth,⁴² filled with swords and knives.
⁴¹ The east is the home of the frost-giants: from the point of view of the Norwegians of the western coast who had in mind the snowy mountain wastes of the interior.
⁴² ‘The Frightful’. It is ‘poisonous’ and ‘cutting’ with cold.
29
⁴³Waist-deep wade there through waters swift
mainsworn men and murderous,
eke those who betrayed a trusted friend’s wife;
there gnaws Níthhogg⁴⁴ naked corpses,
there the Wolf⁴⁵ rends men —wit ye more, or how?
30
Stood in the north on the Nitha-fields⁴⁶
a dwelling golden which the dwarves did own;
an other stood on Ókólnir,⁴⁷
that etin’s beer-hall who is Brimir hight.
⁴⁶ ‘The Dark Fields’. The stanza evidently is interpolated, perhaps from some other poem, because of its analogy to the following one.
⁴⁷ ‘Ever-Cold’ (?).
31
A hall standeth, from the sun so far,
on Ná-strand’s⁴⁸ shore: turn north⁴⁹ its doors;
drops of poison drip through the louver,
its walls are clad with coiling snakes.
⁴⁸ ‘The Strand of the Dead’, where Hel’s hall stands.
⁴⁹ The direction of evil omen; cf. Ríg. 26.
32
In the east sat the old one,⁵⁰ in the Iron-wood,⁵¹
bred there the bad brood of Fenrir;⁵²
will one of these, worse than they all,
the sun swallow, in seeming a wolf.
⁵⁰ Probably, the giantess Angrbotha, about whom cf. note below.
⁵¹ This is the typical name for an old and monster-infested forest.
⁵² Or Fenris-Wolf: a mythical wolf engendered by Loki with the giantess Angrbotha ‘Boder of Ill’; cf. above and Hynd. 42. Others of this brood are Skoll and Hati, of whom the former will swallow the sun, the latter, the moon (Grímn. 39), and Garm, 36.
33
He feeds on the flesh of fallen men,
with their blood sullies the seats of the gods;
will grow swart the sunshine⁵³ in summers thereafter,
the weather woe-bringing: do ye wit more, or how?
⁵³ Blood-red sunsets, dim sunshine, and famine years presage the end of the world; cf. Vaf. 44.
34
His harp striking, on hill there sat
gladsome Eggthér,⁵⁴ he who guards the ogress;
o’er him gaily in the gallows-tree
crowed the fair-red cock which is Fialar⁵⁵ hight.
⁵⁴ ‘Servant of the Sword’, the husband of the ogress (?).
⁵⁵ ‘Multiscient’. He wakes the giants to the last combat.
35
Crowed o’er the gods Gullinkambi;⁵⁶
wakes he the heroes with Herian who dwell;
another crows the earth beneath
in the halls of Hel, of hue dark red.
⁵⁶ ‘Golden-comb’.
36
⁵⁷Garm bays loudly before Gnipa cave,
tears him free Fenrir and fares to battle.
The fates I fathom, yet farther I see:
of the mighty gods the engulfing doom.
⁵⁷ He is the Κέρβερος, of Hel, cf. Bdr. 2. This portent, together with the following lines, is repeated as a refrain.
37
Brothers will battle to bloody end,
and sisters’ sons their sib betray;
woe’s in the world, much wantonness;
[axe-age, sword-age— sundered are shields—
wind-age, wolf-age, ere the world crumbles;]
will the spear of no man spare his brother.⁵⁸
⁵⁸ The breaking down of all moral laws forewarns of the end of the world.—The bracketed lines elaborating this conception of an ‘Iron Age’ are generally thought to be interpolated. It is interesting to compare Ovid’s description, Metamorphoses I. 141f:
Jamque nocens ferrum, ferro nocentius aurum
prodierat . . . non hospes ab hospite tutus,
non socer a genero; fratrum quoque gratia rara est.
imminent exitio vir conjugis, illa mariti . . .
38
Mímir’s sons dance;⁵⁹ the doom doth break
when blares the gleaming old Giallar-horn;⁶⁰
loud blows Heimdall, the horn is aloft,
in Hel’s dark hall horror spreadeth.⁶¹
⁵⁹ According to Müllenhoff’s thoughtful (but not generally accepted) explanation the sons of Mímir are the brooks and rivers which betray the general unrest in nature by overflowing their banks and spreading chaos.
⁶⁰ ‘The Loud Horn’, in possession of Heimdall; cf. 19.
⁶¹ Line 4 is put here, instead of line 3 of 39, following Much.
39
Trembles the towering tree Yggdrasil,
its leaves sough loudly: unleashed is the etin;⁶²
once more Óthin with Mím’s head speaketh⁶³
ere the sib of Surtr⁶⁴ doth swallow him.
⁶² I.e. the wolf Fenrir, the offspring of evil etins. Below, he is called the ‘Sib of Surt’.
⁶³ Cf. note 61.—According to Snorri’s Ynglingasaga (Heimskringla chap. 4), at the conclusion of the war between them, the wise Mímir (and Hœnir) had been sent by the Æsir as hostages to the Vanir who, suspecting treason, hewed off Mímir’s head and returned it to Óthin. He embalmed it and by his magic got it to speak with him and to tell him of many hidden things.
⁶⁴ Fenrir. As to Surt, cf. 44.
40
What ails the æsir and what the alfs?⁶⁵
In uproar all etins— are the æsir met.
At the gates of their grots the wise dwarfs groan
in their fell-fastnesses: wit ye further, or how?
⁶⁵ Here, as ‘Light-alfs’ practically identical with the Vanir; whereas the ‘Swart-alfs’ are sinister dwarfs.
41
Garm bays loudly before Gnipa cave,
tears him free Fenrir and fares to battle!
The fates I fathom, yet farther I see:
of the mighty gods the engulfing doom.
42
Fares Hrym⁶⁶ from the east, holding his shield;
the Mithgarth-worm⁶⁷ in mighty rage—
scatters the waves; screams the eagle,⁶⁸
his nib tears the dead; Naglfar⁶⁹ loosens.
⁶⁶ He is the leader of the giants, whose home is in the east.
⁶⁷ The great serpent encircling the world of men (Mithgarth), the fruit of Loki’s intercourse with the giantess Angrbotha; see note 52. Cf. the Greek Ωκηεανός, the Hebrew Leviathan.—In Gylfag. chap. 51 it is said that “now the sea rushes up on the land, because the Mithgarthsworm wallows in giant-rage . . .”.
⁶⁸ Viz. in gleeful anticipation of the carnage to follow; cf. e.g. H.H. I, 6.
⁶⁹ ‘The Ship of the Dead’ or ‘the Nail-ship’; but the explanation of Gylfag. loc. cit. that “it is made of the nails of dead men, and it is therefore reprehensible if a man die and be buried with nails uncut” seems somewhat ad hoc.
43
Sails a ship from the north with shades from Hel;
o’er the ocean-stream steers it Loki;
in the wake of the Wolf⁷⁰ rush witless hordes
who with baleful Býleist’s brother⁷¹ do fare.
⁷⁰ Fenrir.
⁷¹ I.e. Loki himself, cf. Hynd. 42; followed by ‘witless hordes’ of giants.
44
Comes Surt⁷² from the south with the singer-of-twigs,⁷³
the war-god’s⁷⁴ sword like a sun doth shine;
the tall hills totter, and trolls stagger,
men fare to Hel, the heavens rive.
⁷² ‘The Swart’, the ruler over Múspelheim, the world of fire, thought to be in the south. In the final battle he slays the god Frey, Lok. 42.
⁷³ A kenning for ‘fire’.
⁷⁴ Here in a general sense: Surt’s.
45
Another woe awaiteth Hlín,⁷⁵
when forth goes Óthin to fight the Wolf,
and the slayer of Beli⁷⁶ to battle with Surt:
then Frigg’s husband⁷⁷ will fall lifeless.
⁷⁵ Óthin’s wife, Frigg. Her first sorrow is Baldr’s death, 26.
⁷⁶ According to Gylfag. 37, the giant Beli’s slayer is Frey.
⁷⁷ I.e. Óthin, who is swallowed by Fenrir.
46
Strides forth Víthar,⁷⁸ Val-father’s son,
the fearless fighter, Fenrir to slay;
to the heart he hews the Hvethrung’s⁷⁹ son;
avenged is then Víthar’s father.
47
Comes Hlóthyn’s son,⁸⁰ the hammer-wielder;
gapes the grisly earth-girdling Serpent
when strides forth Thór to stay the Worm.
⁸⁰ ‘The Son of Earth’, Thór.—The reading of this stanza is uncertain.
48
Mightily mauls Mithgarth’s warder⁸¹—
shall all wights in the world wander from home—;⁸²
back falls nine steps Fiorgyn’s offspring⁸³—
nor fears for his fame— from the frightful worm.
⁸¹ Another kenning for Thór, who is the protector of the world of man (Mithgarth) from all sorts of monsters.
⁸² I.e. the world which, after Thór’s death, becomes uninhabitable.
⁸³ Like ‘Hlóthyn’s Son’ (above), Thór.
49
’Neath sea the land sinketh, the sun dimmeth,
from the heavens fall the fair bright stars;
gushes forth steam and gutting fire,
to very heaven soar the hurtling flames.
50
⁸⁴Garm bays loudly before Gnipa cave,
tears him free Fenrir and fares to battle.
The fates I fathom, yet farther I see:
of the mighty gods the engulfing doom.
⁸⁴ Like the last thunder of a passing storm, this burthen which has resounded with lyrical power to accompany the destruction of the old world, now heralds the creation of a new one in the future.
51
Again see I, bright green afresh,
the earth arise from out of the sea;
fell-torrents flow, overflies them the eagle,
on hoar highlands hunting for fish.
52
Again the æsir on Itha-field meet,
and speak of the mighty Mithgarth-worm,—
go over again the great world-doom,
and Fimbultýr’s⁸⁵ unfathomed runes.
⁸⁵ ‘The Great God’, Óthin.
53
Then in the grass the golden tablets,⁸⁶
the far-famed ones, will be found again,
which they had owned in olden days,
(the foremost gods and Fiolnir’s⁸⁷ kin).
⁸⁶ With which they had, of yore, played at draughts, 8.
⁸⁷ ‘He of Many Shapes’, Óthin. This line is added from the Paper Manuscripts.
54
On unsown acres the ears will grow,
all bale will be bettered; will Baldr come then.
Both he and Hoth with Hropt⁸⁸ will dwell
and the war-gods alway: do ye wit more, or how?
⁸⁸ One of Óthin’s names.
55
Will high-souled Hœnir handle the blood-wands,⁸⁹
and Ygg’s brother’s sons⁹⁰ forever will dwell
in wide Wind-home:⁹¹ do ye wit more, or how?
⁸⁹ That is, divine future events as the priest of the gods; cf. Hym. 1.
⁹⁰ Ygg’s (Óthin’s) brothers are Vili and Vé, cf. Lok. 26; and note 5, above.
⁹¹ A kenning for ‘the Heavens’.
56
I see a hall than the sun more fair,
thatched with red gold, on Gimlé’s⁹² heights.
There will the gods all guiltless throne,
and live forever in ease and bliss.
⁹² ‘Gem-roof’ or ‘Fire-shelter’. It is worthy of note that in the corresponding passage in Gylfag. chap. 78, the abode of the blessed itself is called Gimlé; which would lend strength to the former interpretation.
57
A-down cometh to the doom of the world
the great godhead⁹³ which governs all.
⁹³The unknown (Christian?) god.—This half-stanza with its Christian tinge does not occur in Cod. Reg. but only in the Hauksbook, and is therefore rejected by some editors. The Paper Manuscripts add the following lines:
He settles strife, sits in judgment,
and lays down laws which shall last alway.
58
Comes the darksome dragon flying,
glossy Níthhogg, from the Nitha-fells;⁹⁴
he bears in his pinions as the plains he o’erflies,
naked corpses: now he will sink.
⁹⁴‘The Dark Fells’.
⁹⁵The interpretation of this stanza is doubtful. If the reading of the main manuscript: ‘now she will sink’ be retained, with some editors, the meaning must be that the seeress is about to disappear again, having completed her prophecy; cf. the situation in Bdr., Hynd., Gróug. But adopting the reading as above, the dragon must be meant who is seen on his usual flight, carrying corpses, but will sink out of sight in the new order of things.
III
Introductory note
The poem referred to in the Prose Edda of Snorri as Vǫluspǫ ¹ᵃ significantly occupies first place in the Codex Regius collection of Eddic songs. It was probably felt to be the most comprehensive and representative of them all, at the same time furnishing a kind of philosophic introduction to Norse cosmogony, and embodying the outlook of thoughtful heathen of the later Viking Age. It makes a similar appeal now: notwithstanding the deplorable condition of the poem as handed down it thrills us as vision after vision of a Norse apocalypse rises before us, of the fates of gods and powers of the eld—the past and future of the world. Norse terseness, at its best here, accomplishes a triumph in condensing a world of meaning into narrowest compass. A certain stern ethical pathos in some passages is consonant to the sombre tone of the whole.
None of the Eddic poems has been a greater theme for controversy; which is not to be wondered at, seeing the condition of the text, with its vague outlines, the hopeless confusion of statement—even beyond the inevitable self-contradictions of any primitive cosmogony,—the puzzling gaps, the abrupt transitions, the obscure allusions—all of which makes elaborate comments indispensable to the understanding. Indeed, there is little agreement among scholars on the fundamental points of the purpose and the structure of the poem.
Óthin, it seems, has summoned the seeress from her grave to appear before the assembled gods. To legitimate herself, she tells of first-created things, and
In the beginning how the heavens and earth
Rose out of Chaos—
how man was given the breath of life. A golden age of innocence (among the gods) ends with the coming of the Norns (the Fates) and the (ill-understood) slaying of Gullveig, a Pandora-like figure sent to the Æsir by the Vanir, an older race of gods. A war between these powers results disastrously for the Æsir whose battlements are laid low. In their rebuilding, broken oaths embroil the (now united?) gods with the world of giants, representative of brute force and darkness. Baldr, god of light, is slain, and evil enters into the world. Then, with strokes of tremendous dramatic power, the ‘doom of the gods’ is foretold, the breaking loose of all the powers of destruction, and the cataclysmic end of the old world. Out of its ruins, a new world is born in which Baldr and other benign gods will establish a reign of justice and peace.
In the concluding lines, some scholars have seen an adumbration of the coming of Christ, and traces of Christianity in the poem as a whole; but at present the best scholarship would declare this as an interpolation (because at variance with the prevailing spirit of the poem) the very passages on which such an inference could be based.
However, this does not preclude a general acquaintance with the fundamental concepts of Christianity such as pervaded the North in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries—times when its imagination was stimulated vigorously through the multifarious activities of the Viking Age. A study of the language and versification (fornyrðislag) of the poem has led to similar conclusions. For all that, much of the matter of the poem may be of considerably earlier date.
The Vǫluspǫ is found in the Codex Regius and in the Hauksbook. The latter version, though on the whole inferior to that of Cod. Reg., has a better text sometimes. Besides, we have the paraphrase in the Snorra Edda which also quotes, in part or in full, nearly half of the stanzas, some in variant versions.
¹ᵃ Vala, gen. vǫlu, ‘seeress’; spǫ ‘prophecy’.
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