Anonymous, Hlöðskviða

Andrew McGillivray (University of Winnipeg)

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), Kjerstin Moody (Gustavus Adolphus College), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 750 - c. 850

Places

Iceland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poem

Resources

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Hlöðskviða

[Hlöðr’s poem] is a heroic eddic poem composed in

fornyrðislag

[old story meter]. The poem’s stanzas are preserved within the legendary

Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks

[The Saga of Hervor and Heidrek], near the saga’s end, where the stanzas are interspersed with the saga’s prose.

Hlöðskviða

’s stanzas survive in two of the three principal versions of

Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks

. The version of the saga preserved in GKS 2845 4to, an Icelandic parchment manuscript from the fifteenth century and commonly referred to as the R-version, contains the first nine stanzas of the poem. A second version of the saga survives in two paper manuscripts (U1 and U2), collectively identified as the U-version: Uppsalabók or U1 = R: 715 of the University Library in Uppsala was written…

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542 words

Citation: McGillivray, Andrew. "Hlöðskviða". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 June 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=41262, accessed 08 September 2024.]

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