Upphaf . . .

What a delightful first read! The “UPPHAF” (Beginning) of the poem, the first 8-line stanza:

Of old was an age
when was emptiness,
there was sand nor sea
nor surging waves;
unwrought was Earth,
unroofed was Heaven—
an abyss yawning,
and no blade of grass.

The alliterative stresses are on vowels in the line pairs or on repeated consonants. So you don’t read it like English poetry with iambs or whatever; instead you stress the alliterated sounds, which really adds a great deal of meaning. I read the first section of Volsungakvida en nyja, “Upphaf,” aloud and enjoyed it a great deal. The dog thought I’d lost it.

It’s the beginning, in case you didn’t get that yet, of the tale of the Volsungs. The gods build the earth and all is well until the Giants attack . In response the gods create Thor’s Hammer, with which he scatters the Giants. Then the wise woman prophesies, a rather enigmatic foretelling of Sigurd’s appearing:

If in day of Doom
one deathless stands,
who death hath tasted
and dies no more,
the serpent-slayer,
seed of Odin,
then all shall not end,
nor earth perish. (63)

The section ends with the gods feasting, rather uneasily awaiting the “World’s chosen” (65).

So far Tolkien has captured the Northern “feel” of the tale, and he’s gotten in a lot of the Norse mythology—really packed into the 8-line stanzas: Heimdal, the Sentinel of the gods; the rainbow bridge connecting Asgard and Midgard (Middle-earth); Yggdrasill, the World Tree; Fenrir, the wolf—foe of Odin; Surt, the fire-demon; and the Serpent of Midgard. So the stage is set, Now we await our hero.

Intro to Sigurd and Gudrun

Tolkien’s Sigurd and Gudrun consists of two long poems: Volsungakvida en nyja, the “New Lay of the Volsungs, and Gudrunarkvida en nyja, the “New Lay of Gudrun.” They are not translations of Old Norse poems or sagas but a re-working of the ancient Norse myths. They are in his words, from a letter to W H Auden, something he did “many years ago when trying to learn the art of writing alliterative poetry: an attempt to unify the lays about the Volsungs from the Elder Edda” (6). They are written in modern English but using the Old Norse alliterative 8-line stanza, a form called “fornyrdislag” (This “d” as those in the titles, ought to be the ON or OE “eth” but I haven’t figured out how to do that in this program yet.) J R R T mentions that he read in William Morris (another of my favorites) that these Northern myths ought to be to the British “what the tale of Troy was to the Greeks” (13). So even here we see T’s interest in providing a myth for his homeland, something some readers believe he attempted in The Lord of the Rings.

This book is edited by T’s son, Christopher Tolkien, who has included several helpful sections that will be of use to readers not familiar with Old Norse poetry. One especially nice surprise is a lecture given by his father on the subject; it is delightful to hear the topic treated in T’s own voice. There is also a substantial commentary on each poem, which I haven’t delved into yet, but these are presented as endnotes, so they don’t interfere with the reading of the poems; however, I’m sure I’ll be using them throughout my reading.

Looking forward to actually getting to the poems now but am thankful for the preparation afforded by the (rather long) Intro.

Happy New Year!

Well, I actually did read the Intro to Sigurd and Gudrun, but since it's already tomorrow, I'll wait to write my entry re: that till this evening. Just watched the Times Square Ball drop--Hooray for a new decade!

To begin . . .

I've decided to start with CSL's Allegory of Love, which I finally got on ebay for under $50. And I'll also start Tolkien's The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, which I just got, too. In January I'll be re-reading CSL's Ransom trilogy with my Special Topics class. I've got a couple books on Lewis as well to read along with those. I always like to read a work of fiction along with a critical work--seems to be a nice way to balance things and helps me look at the fiction from new angles.

Getting things set up

I just watched Julie and Julia and decided I want to try writing a blog this year. And while I do like to cook, I'm going to blog about my reading, specifically about my reading--and re-reading--of texts by the Inklings.