Anonymous, Grímnismál [The Lay of Grímnir]

Andrew McGillivray (University of Winnipeg)

Ed. by Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Kjerstin Moody (Gustavus Adolphus College), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 1200

Places

Iceland (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

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Grímnismál

[Grímnir’s sayings] is an Old Norse-Icelandic mythological poem. It is composed for the most part in

ljóðaháttr

[song meter], though many of the stanzas have an irregular meter, and stanzas 27 through 29 are composed in

fornyrðislag

[old story meter]. The poem is divided into 54 stanzas, and before and after the stanzas of poetry are prose passages which introduce and conclude the narrative frame. Stanzas 1 through 3 and 51 through 53 add to the frame story, with the remaining 48 stanzas mostly didactic in function. The oldest version of

Grímnismál

survives in a vellum manuscript from c. 1270, Konungsbók eddukvæða (Codex Regius of Eddic Poetry; GKS 2365 4to). The poem also survives in AM 748 I a 4to, from c. 1300. Many verses of the poem are found in manuscripts…

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2304 words

Citation: McGillivray, Andrew. "Grímnismál". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 September 2022 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=40735, accessed 04 May 2024.]

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