THE COMPARATIVe VǪLUSPÁ
Stanzas 64-66
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 64:
Sal sér hon
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Sal sér hon standa, sólo fegra,
gulli þakþan, á Gimléi:
Ðar skolo dyggvar dróttir byggia
ok um aldrdaga ynðis nióta.
I see a hall than the sun more fair,
thatched with red gold, on Gimlé's heights.
There will the gods all guiltless throne,
and live forever in ease and bliss.
More fair than the sun, a hall I see,
Roofed with gold, on Gimle it stands;
There shall the righteous rulers dwell,
And happiness ever there shall they have.
I see yet a hall more fair than the sun,
roofed with gold in the Fire-sheltered realm;
ever shall dwell there all holy beings,
blest with joy through the days of time.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
I see hall, brighter than the sun, shingled with gold,
standing on Gem-lea.
The righteous shall dwell therein
and live in bliss for ever.
She a hall sees standing than the sun brighter,
with gold bedecked, in Gimill:
there shall the righteous people dwell,
and for evermore happiness enjoy.
a. Turner, 1836:
A hall stands brighter than the sun;
Covered with the gold of Gimle.
There virtuous people will dwell:
And for ages will enjoy every good.
STANZA 65:
x
STANZA 66:
Ðar kømr inn
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Ðar kømr inn dimmi dreki fliúgandi,
naðr fránn, neðan frá Niðafiǫllom;
berr sér í fiǫðrom — flýgr vǫll yfir —,
Níðhǫggr, nái — nù mun hann søkkvaz.
Comes the darksome dragon flying,
glossy Níthhogg, from the Nitha-fells;
he bears in his pinions as the plains he o'er flies,
naked corpses: now he will sink.
From below the dragon dark comes forth,
Nithhogg flying from Nithafjoll;
The bodies of men on his wings he bears,
The serpent bright: but now must I sink.
d. Bray, 1908:
Fares from beneath a dim dragon flying,
a glistening snake from the Moonless Fells.
Fierce-stinger bears the dead on his pinions
away o’er the plains.— I sink now and cease.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
Hither comes Nidhogg, the dark Dragon,
the fiery serpent winging his way
up from the hills of Darkness,
flying over the earth with corses on his wings.
There comes the dark dragon flying from beneath,
the glistening serpent, from Nida-fells.
On his wings bears Nidhögg, flying o'er the plain,
a corpse. Now she will descend.
There will come the obscene dragon flying,
The serpent from Nidar-fiolli.
He carries the corpses in his wings:
He flies over the ground:
The infernal serpent, Nidhoggur:
Now the earth gapes for him.