The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English LiteratureNordby, Conrad Hjalmar
General
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
Nordby, Conrad Hjalmar
Comparative literature -- English and Icelandic; Comparative literature -- Icelandic and English
In this same scene, a notable deviation from the saga is the
conversation between Regin and Sigurd concerning the relations that
shall be between them after the slaying of Fafnir. Here Morris impresses
the lesson of Regin's greed, taking the un-Icelandic device of preaching
to serve his purpose:
Let it lead thee up to heaven, let it lead thee down to hell,
The deed shall be done tomorrow: thou shalt have that measureless Gold,
And devour the garnered wisdom that blessed thy realm of old,
That hath lain unspent and begrudged in the, very heart of hate:
With the blood and the might of thy brother thine hunger shalt thou
sate:
And this deed shall be mine and thine; but take heed for what followeth
then!
(P. 119.)
In still another place has Morris departed far from the saga story.
According to the poem, Sigurd meets each warning of Fafnir that the gold
will be the curse of its possessor with the assurance that he will cast
the gold abroad, and let none of it cling to his fingers. The saga,
however, has this very frank confession: "Home would I ride and lose all
that wealth, if I deemed that by the losing thereof I should never die;
but every brave and true man will fain have his hand on wealth till that
last day." Here, again, we see an adaptation of the story of the poem to
modern conceptions of nobility. It remains to be said that the ernes
move Sigurd to take the gold for the gladdening of the world, and they
assure him that a son of the Volsung had nought to fear from the Curse.
The seven-times-repeated "Bind the red rings, O Sigurd," is an admirable
poem, but it does not contain information concerning Brynhild, as do the
strophes of _Reginsmál_ which are the model for this lay.
Let us look at the art of Morris as it is shown in telling "How Sigurd
awoke Brynhild upon Hindfell." As in the saga, so in the English poem,
this incident has a setting most favorable to the display of its
remarkable beauties. It is a picture as pure and sweet as it has ever
entered into the mind of man to conceive. The conception belongs to the
poetic lore of many nations, and children are early introduced to the
story of "Sleeping Beauty." There are some features of the Old Norse
version that are especially charming, and first among them is the
address of the awakened Brynhild to the sun and the earth. We are told
that this maiden loved the radiant hero that here awoke her from her
age-long sleep, but not for him is her first greeting. A finer thrill
moves her than love for a man, and in Morris's poem, this feeling finds
singularly beautiful expression:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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