THE COMPARATIVe VǪLUSPÁ
Stanzas 52-54
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 52:
Surtr ferr sunnan
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Surtr ferr sunnan með sviga lævi,
skínn af scerði sól valtíva;
griótbiǫrg gnata, en gífr rata,
troða halir helveg, en himinn klofnar.
Comes Surt from the south with singer-of-twigs,
the war-god's sword like a sun doth shine;
the tall hills totter, and trolls stager,
men fare to Hel, and the heavens rive.
Surt fares from the south with the scourge of branches,
The sun of the battle-gods shone from his sword;
The crags are sundered, the giant-women sink,
The dead throng Hel-way, and heaven is cloven.
Rides Surt from the South fire, bane of branches,
sun of the war gods, gleams from his sword.
The rock-hills crash, the troll-wives totter,
men flock Helward, and heaven is cleft.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
From the south comes Giant Swart, fire in hand;
the sword of the Demon of Death shines like the sun.
The granite-rocks are rending, the ravines fall in,
the Dead are marching up the road of Hell,
the Heavens are riven.
Surt from the south comes
with nickering flame; shines from his sword
the Val-god's sun.
The stony hills are dashed together,
the giantesses totter;
men tread the path of Hel,
and heaven is cloven.
a. Turner, 1836:
Surtur comes from the south
With Swiga — lesi
The sword of Valtivi radiates like the sun:
The stony rocks glide away:
The Deities are enraged
Men tread the way of Hela:
But the heaven is cleft in twain.
STANZA 53:
Ðá kømr Hlínar
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Ðá kømr Hlínar harmr annarr fram,
er Óðinn ferr við úlf vega,
en bani Belia, biartr, at Surti:
þá mun Friggiar falla angan.
Another woe awaiteth Hlín,
when forth goes Óthin to fight the Wolf,
and the slayer of Beli to battle with Surt:
then Frigg's husband will fall lifeless.
Now comes to Hlin yet another hurt.
When Othin fares to fight with the wolf,
And Beli's fair slayer seeks out Surt,
For there must fall the joy of Frigg.
d. Bray, 1908:
Soon comes to pass Frigg’s second woe,
when Odin fares to fight with the wolf;
then must he fall, her lord beloved,
and Beli’s bright slayer must bow before Surt.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
Hlin’s second woe shall now come to pass
when Woden goes forth to fight with the Wolf,
and Beli’s bright slayer [Frey] encounters Swart.
Frigga’s darling must die there.
Then arises Hlin's second grief,
when Odin goes with the wolf to fight,
and the bright slayer of Beli with Surt.
Then will Frigg's beloved fall.
Then Hlinar, the other grief, goes forth.
When odin goes to battle the Wolf.
The striker of Beli shining
Opposes Surtur.
Then the husband of Frigga falls.