Hlöðskviða

[Hlöðr’s poem] is a heroic eddic poem composed in

fornyrðislag

[old story meter]. The poem’s stanzas are preserved within the legendary

Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks

[The Saga of Hervor and Heidrek], near the saga’s end, where the stanzas are interspersed with the saga’s prose.

Hlöðskviða

’s stanzas survive in two of the three principal versions of

Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks

. The version of the saga preserved in GKS 2845 4to, an Icelandic parchment manuscript from the fifteenth century and commonly referred to as the R-version, contains the first nine stanzas of the poem. A second version of the saga survives in two paper manuscripts (U1 and U2), collectively identified as the U-version: Uppsalabók or U1 = R: 715 of the University Library in Uppsala was written…

542 words

Citation: McGillivray, Andrew. "Hlöðskviða". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 June 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=41262, accessed 12 December 2024.]

41262 Hlöðskviða 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.