Anonymous, Þrymskviða

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 1260 - 1280

Places

Iceland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poem

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Þrymskviða

[Thrym’s poem] is a mythological eddic poem composed in

fornyrðislag

[old story metre]. The poem is divided into 33 stanzas, a mixture of narration and direct speech.

Þrymskviða

survives in a vellum manuscript from c. 1260-1280, Konungsbók eddukvæða (Codex Regius of Eddic Poetry; GKS 2365 4to). Its origins are uncertain, its language very accessible.

Four characters play significant roles in the poem’s story: Þórr, who has lost his hammer, Mjöllnir, and must retrieve it; Loki, who helps Þórr retrieve Mjöllnir; Freyja, who lends out her feather-shirt so Loki can travel to the land of the giants and locate Mjöllnir; and the giant Þrymr, who has stolen Mjöllnir and attempts to extort the Æsir in exchange for its return. Þrymskviða can be divided into four

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1801 words

Citation: McGillivray, Andrew. "Þrymskviða". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 June 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=41003, accessed 04 May 2024.]

Save this article