Kormáks saga
Encyclopedia
Kormáks saga is one of the Icelanders' sagas
. It tells of the tenth-century Iceland
ic poet, Kormákr Ögmundarson
, and Steingerðr, the love of his life. The saga preserves a significant amount of poetry attributed to Kormákr, much of it dealing with his love for Steingerðr. Though the saga is believed to have been among the earliest sagas composed it is well preserved. The unknown author clearly relies on oral tradition and seems unwilling to add much of his own or even to fully integrate the different accounts he knew of Kormákr. Often he does little more than briefly set the scenes for Kormákr's stanzas.
The following stanzas represent some of Kormákr's love poetry. He tells us of the first time he met Steingerðr. Read aloud.
Icelanders' sagas
The Sagas of Icelanders —many of which are also known as family sagas—are prose histories mostly describing events that took place in Iceland in the 10th and early 11th centuries, during the so-called Saga Age. They are the best-known specimens of Icelandic literature.The Icelanders'...
. It tells of the tenth-century Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
ic poet, Kormákr Ögmundarson
Kormákr Ögmundarson
Kormákr Ögmundarson was a 10th century Icelandic skald. He is the protagonist of Kormáks saga which preserves a significant amount of poetry attributed to him. According to Skáldatal he was also the court poet of Sigurðr Hlaðajarl and fragments of a drápa to the jarl are preserved in...
, and Steingerðr, the love of his life. The saga preserves a significant amount of poetry attributed to Kormákr, much of it dealing with his love for Steingerðr. Though the saga is believed to have been among the earliest sagas composed it is well preserved. The unknown author clearly relies on oral tradition and seems unwilling to add much of his own or even to fully integrate the different accounts he knew of Kormákr. Often he does little more than briefly set the scenes for Kormákr's stanzas.
The following stanzas represent some of Kormákr's love poetry. He tells us of the first time he met Steingerðr. Read aloud.
| Brunnu beggja kinna | The bright lights of both | Brightly beamed the lights-of- |
| ljós á mik drósar, | her cheeks burned onto me | both-her-cheeks upon me— |
| oss þat eigi, | from the fire-hall's felled wood; | e'er will I recall it— |
| eldhúss of við felldan; | no cause of mirth for me in that. | o'er the heaped-up wood-pile; |
| enn til svanna | By the threshold I gained a glance | and the instep saw I |
| ítrvaxins gatk líta, | at the ankles of this girl | of the shapely woman— |
| muna oss of ævi | of glorious shape; yet while I live | no laughing matter, lo! my |
| eldask, hjá þreskeldi. | that longing will never leave me. | longing—by the threshold. |
| Brámáni skein brúna | The moon of her eyelash—that valkyrie | Brightly shone the beaming |
| brims und ljósum himni | adorned with linen, server of herb-surf— | brow-moons of the goodly |
| Hristar glæstrar | shone hawk-sharp upon me | lady linen-dight, how |
| haukfránn á mik lauka; | beneath her brows' bright sky; | like a hawk's, upon me; |
| en sá geisli sýslir | but that beam from the eyelid-moon | but that beam from forehead's- |
| síðan gullmens Fríðar | of the goddess of the golden torque | bright-hued-orbs, I fear me, |
| hvarmatungls ok hringa | will later bring trouble to me | of the Eir Eir In Norse mythology, Eir is a goddess and/or valkyrie associated with medical skill. Eir is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; and in skaldic poetry, including a runic... -of-gold doth |
| Hlín Hlín In Norse mythology, Hlín is a goddess associated with the goddess Frigg. Hlín appears in a poem in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in kennings found in skaldic poetry... ar óþurft mína. |
and to the ring goddess herself. | ill spell for us later. |
| — Einar Ól. Sveinsson's edition | — Rory McTurk's translation | — Lee M. Hollander's adaptation |
Other sources
- Einar Ól. Sveinsson (Ed.) (1939). Íslenzk fornrit VIII - saga. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag.
- Hollander, Lee M. (Ed.) (1949). The Sagas of Kormák and The Sworn Brothers. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Viðar Hreinsson (Ed.) (1997). The Complete Sagas of Icelanders - Volume I. Reykjavík: Leifur Eiríksson Publishing. ISBN 9979-9293-1-6.
External links
- Full text of the saga in the original language
- Full text and translations at the Icelandic Saga Database
- All of Kormákr's poetry in the original language
- W. G. Collingwood and Jón Stefánsson, The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald, Viking Club Translation Series, 1 ([Ulverston: Holmes, 1902]), available as a pdf at http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Cormac%20the%20Skald.pdf and as text at http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/epics/LifeandDeathofCormactheSkald/Chap1.html
- http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~alvismal/7kormak.pdf Russell Poole, "Composition Transmission Performance: The First Ten lausavísur in Kormáks saga," Alvíssmál 7 (1997): 37–60.