Anonymous, Skírnismál

Daniel Sävborg (University of Tartu)

Ed. by Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 1300

Places

Iceland (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

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Skírnismál

is an Eddic poem consisting of 42 stanzas in

ljóðaháttr

, preceded by a prose introduction. All the stanzas are in direct speech. The whole poem is preserved in the manuscript Codex Regius nr. 2365 4to (c.1270) and the first 27 stanzas also in A 748 Ia 4to (c. 1300). The former manuscript uses the name

Fǫr Skírnis

[Skírnir’s journey], while the latter uses the name

Skírnismál

. Snorri Sturluson quotes st. 42 in his

Edda

(

Gylfaginning

, ch. 23) after a short summary of the poem. In Codex Regius,

Skírnismál

is placed between

Grímnismál

and

Hárbarðsljóð

, as the only Freyr poem in the collection.

Skírnismál tells the story of how Freyr, assisted by his servant Skírnir, wins the giantess Gerðr as his wife or mistress. The poem itself is preceded by a prose

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2612 words

Citation: Sävborg, Daniel. "Skírnismál". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 March 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=40935, accessed 21 November 2024.]

Anonymous, Skírnismál

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