Tag Archives: Poetry

Morguhn drapa inn Langferðamaðr (Drapa for Morguhn the Long Road Walker)

12 Thursday Feb 2015

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Today, February 12th, is Duke Morguhn’s birthday. In his memory, I present the erfidrapa I wrote for him. The title comes from the witness he bore at Ekaterina Volkova’s Pelican elevation. The kennings are pretty easy. The last line in each stef (refrain) means “Morguhn’s spirit over the land.”

Morghun_FBMorguhn drapa inn Langferðamaðr
(Drapa for Morguhn the Long Road Walker)
by Fridrikr Tomasson
(Pennsic 38, July-August 2009)

Met in boldest battle
Better sword not yet found
Great duke merry mighty
Morguhns ǫnd ofar lǫndum

Saw I flame haired fighter
Field stand never yielding
Brash youth green clad granted
Great knights swift deaths eight-fold
Fought from dawn til dark fall
Dragon tors’d fed corse hawks
Conquered Manfred mighty
Made Rowan his first queen

Saw I fiercesome fighters
forty seeking glory
Grass clad Morguhn mighty
Mowed down those who stood there
Met there turquoise tyger
Tribesman Randall gliding
Shadows minion stalwart
Stood til Morguhn slew him

Laughter rang out loudly
Light heart sang in bright eyes
Keep his memory mighty
Morguhns ǫnd ofar lǫndum

Saw I Dragon’s doomsman
Delve lords guide to Hel’s door
Crossing river’s rock span
that roaring Calon horde kept
Four great giants joined there
Jarred loose rock-scarred foeman
Charging woeful warriors
Wedge from rock’s edge threw them.

Saw I Pennsic pastures
Potent Gavin great king
Brought his knights to kneel there
Noble Morguhn summoned
Round his waist the white belt
Wedded spurs to high boots
Chain of gold was given
Green clad lord thus knighted

Saw I lord of leaf’d round
Longed to hear the swan’s song
Soaring heaven highward
Hied to tourney’s violence.
Verdant Morguhn met there
Mighty western belt-lord
Ronald’s head was hewn there
High born Morguhn won crown.

Met in boldest battle
Better sword not yet found
Great duke merry mighty
Morguhns ǫnd ofar lǫndum

Saw I realm made royal
Ruled by Princes truly
Leaf clad leaf lord led them
Loved by clear-voiced Meirwen
Four times stood he stalwart
Staid by none nor laid low
Fairly reigned by right hand
Ring lord by his prowess

Saw I oak-strong Aethling
Evil’s eye struck death blow
Stood the berry browed lord
Brave til battles ending
Long road walker wanders
Whither no wight follows
We go to join his journey
Gentle Morguhn leads us

Laughter rang out loudly
Light heart sang in bright eyes
Keep his memory mighty
Morguhns ǫnd ofar lǫndum

Atsókn vetrar – Winter’s Attack

04 Thursday Dec 2014

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Atsókn vetrar – Winter’s Attack,
by Fridrikr Tomasson

DSC01978This poem in Old Norse is in the form called dróttkvaett which has the following main characteristics:

  • Eight lines to a stanza
  • Six syllables to a line
  • Alliteration (repeating beginning sounds)
  • Internal rhyming (imperfect in the odd-numbered lines, perfect in the even-numbered lines)
  • Use of kennings (metaphorical figures)

This particular verse is intended to celebrate the coming of winter. Following the verse, there is a word-for-word translation, a prose version in proper English, and a list of kennings used in the poem.

Þagnaðu er þegnar
Þorra fuglar bruggað;
festar vetrar fastliga
fagra kæfaðu garða;
hremddu á hrímþursar
hringagrundar brúnhvítr;
jálkar frystat Jökulls
ýsna fyrir lýskála.

Prose order translation of the poem:

Grew silent when thegn of Thorri birds schemed; Chains of winter tightly fair choked fields; Clutched at rime-thurses rings of the ground white-browed; The mares froze of Jokull haddock’s over fish-hall.

Regular prose order translation:

Birds grew silent when Thorri’s thegn schemed. Chains of winter tightly choked fair fields. White-browed rime-thurses clutched at ground-rings. Jokull’s mares froze over the haddock’s fish-hall.

Kennings used in this poem:

þegna Þorra – Thora’s thegn – Thorri is the goddess of winter, her thegn is winter weather.

festar vetrar – chains of winter – snow drifts & ice.

hrímþursar – rime-thurses (ice-giants) – winter storms

hringagrundar – rings of the ground – fields

jálkar Jökulls – Jökul’s mare – ice floes. Jökull is the name given to the glaciers. His horse (mare) is the ice he rides into the valleys.

lýskála – fish-hall – a lake or pond.