Anonymous, Hárbarðsljóð [The Lay of Hárbarðr]

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. 1150

Places

Iceland (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

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Hárbarðsljóð

[Harbard’s song] is a mythological eddic poem composed in a mix of

fornyrðislag

[old story meter],

ljóðaháttr

[song meter],

málaháttr

[speech meter], and some irregular or free verse. The poem is divided into 60 stanzas with some prose insertions. The oldest version of

Hárbarðsljóð

survives in a vellum manuscript from c. 1260-1280, Konungsbók eddukvæða (Codex Regius of Eddic Poetry; GKS 2365 4to). A fragmentary version of the poem is also found in AM 748 I a 4to, from c. 1300, that includes the final two-thirds of the

Hárbarðsljóð

text, from stanza 19 line 7, where the surviving manuscript begins, on to the end of the poem.

Þórr and Óðinn—here disguised as Hárbarðr [Grey beard]—trade stanzas of speech from across an inlet that Þórr encounters

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1013 words

Citation: McGillivray, Andrew. "Hárbarðsljóð". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 September 2022 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=40736, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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Anonymous, Hárbarðsljóð [The Lay of Hárbarðr]

Dates

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