THE COMPARATIVe VǪLUSPÁ
Stanzas 49-51
Joseph S. Hopkins for Mimisbrunnr.info, August 2022
The present page consists of an entry of Mimisbrunnr.info’s The Comparative Vǫluspá. The Mimisbrunnr.info team designed The Comparative Vǫluspá as a resource to assist in the study of both the poem and its English language translations. You can read about the project’s approach and goals here.
The Comparative Vǫluspá features six public domain English editions of Vǫluspá presented in reverse chronological order, specifically those of Lee M. Hollander (first edition, 1928), Henry Adams Bellows (1923), Olive Bray (1908), Guðbrandur Vigfússon and York Powell (1883), Benjamin Thorpe (1866), and Sharon Turner (1836). We precede these with Gustav Neckel’s 1914 Old Norse edition of the poem, which is also in the public domain in the United States, and which we’ve used as a basis for the project’s stanza order.
Please note that if this is your first encounter with the poem, The Comparative Vǫluspá can serve as an introduction, but you stand to benefit from Carolyne Larrington’s revised edition (2014) as your foundation. Not only do Larrington’s notes reflect contemporary scholarship but her revised edition contains two separate translations of the poem from two notably different manuscripts of the poem. Translators often combine these manuscripts and this can lead to significant confusion for non-specialists.
STANZA 49:
Geyr nú Garmr
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Geyr nú Garmr miǫk fyr Gnipahelli:
festr mun slitna, en freki renna.
Fiǫlð veit hon frœða, fram sé ek lengra
um ragna rǫk, rǫmm, sigtíva.
Garm bays loudly before Gnipa cave,
tears him free Fenrir and fares to battle!
The fates I fathom, yet farther I see:
of the mighty gods the engulfing doom.
Now Garm howls loud before Gnipahellir,
The fetters will burst, and the wolf run free;
Much do I know, and more can see
Of the fate of the gods, the mighty in fight.
Loud bays Garm before Gaping-Hel;
the bond shall be broken the Wolf run free.
Hidden things I know; still onward I see
the great Doom of the Powers, the gods of war.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
Not in translation.
Not in translation.
a. Turner, 1836:
Not in translation.
STANZA 50:
Hrýmr ekr austan
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Hrýmr ekr austan, hefiz lind fyrir;
snýz iǫrmungandr í iǫtunmóði,
ormr knýr unnir; en ari hlakkar,
slítr niðfǫlr; Naglfar losnar.
Fares Hrym from the east, holding his shield;
the Mithgarth-worm in the mighty rage
scatters the waves; screams the eagle,
his nib tears the dead; Naglfar loosens.
From the east comes Hrym with shield held high;
In giant-wrath does the serpent writhe;
O'er the waves he twists, and the tawny eagle
Gnaws corpses screaming; Naglfar is loose.
d. Bray, 1908:
Drives Hrym from the East holding shield on high;
the World-serpent writhes in jotun-rage;
he lashes the waves ; screams a pale-beaked eagle,
rending corpses, the Death boat is launched.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
The Giant Hrym comes driving from the east;
high he holds his linden shield;
the Monster Dragon writhes in giant-fury;
the Serpent lashes the waves; the Eagle screams;
Pale-neb [the vulture] tears the corpses;
Nail-board [the Ship of Doom] is launched.
Hrym steers from the east, the waters rise,
the mundane snake is coiled in jötun-rage.
The worm beats the water, and the eagle screams:
the pale of beak tears carcases; Naglfar is loosed,
Hrymer will drive his car from the east.
Jornumgandus will revolve round
With the rage of the Jotuns (giants),
The serpent will move the seas;
But the eagle flies
Through the seas of people:
And Lok will hold his club.
STANZA 51:
Kióll ferr austan
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Kióll ferr austan: koma muno Muspellz
um lǫg lýðir, en Loki stýrir;
fara fífls megir með freka allir,
þeim er bróðir Býleipts í fǫr.
Sails a ship from the north with shades from Hel;
o'er the ocean-stream steers it Loki;
in the wake of the Wolf rush witless hordes
who baleful Býleist's brother do fare.
O'er the sea from the north there sails a ship
With the people of Hel, at the helm stands Loki;
After the wolf do wild men follow,
And with them the brother of Byleist goes.
d. Bray, 1908:
Sails the bark from the North; the hosts of Hel
o’er the sea are coming, and Loki steering,
brother of Byleist, he fares on the way
with Fenrir and all the monster kinsmen.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
A bark is speeding from the west;
the sons of Muspell [the World-Destroyers] are crossing the sea,
with Loki for steersmen.
All the Demons are marching with the Wolf;
Byleist’s brother [Loki] is in their ranks.
That ship fares from the east:
come will Muspell's people o'er the sea,
and Loki steers. The monster's kin goes
all with the wolf; with them the brother is
of Byleist on their course.
Not in translation.