Anonymous, Hyndluljóð [Song of Hyndla]

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. 1387 - 1394

Places

Iceland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poem

Resources

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Hyndluljóð

[Song of Hyndla] is a mythological eddic poem composed in

fornyrðislag

[old story metre]. The poem is divided into 50 stanzas. The poem survives in a vellum manuscript, Flateyjarbók (GKS 1005 fol.), composed c. 1387–94. Stanza 33 also appears in manuscripts of

Snorra Edda

[Snorri’s Edda], in chapter 5 of the

Gylfaginning

[Deluding of Gylfi] section, where the stanza is said to be from a text known as

Völuspáhin skamma

[The short Völuspá].

Hyndluljóð

’s stanzas are all in the form of direct speech, a dialogue between the goddess Freyja and the giantess Hyndla. The poem follows a pattern familiar to other eddic mythological poems in which a god travels away from Ásgarðr [Home of the gods] to another world, encounters a paranormal being, and aquires knowledge.

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1338 words

Citation: McGillivray, Andrew. "Hyndluljóð". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 July 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=41006, accessed 04 May 2024.]

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