Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1967, Page 65

THE POETRY OF EGILL SKALLA-GRÍMSSON
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lng experience, especially if one felt
that it could have been avoided. The
loss of kinsmen would in all prob-
ability have prompted Egill to
starve himself to death, if his atten-
hon had not been directed to the
gifts of the fickle Óðinn and if he
had not concluded that they out-
Weighed his loss. For how often had
^ðinn not stood him in good stead?
^ðinn had indeed led him to victory
ln the numerous battles which he
nad fought. In magic Egill had
ihwarted and outsmarted the Royal
®°use of Norway in spite of Gunn-
hildr’s mastery of that art. And Óð-
lnn had given him a temper which
always made
it necessary for his
tr°acherous enemies to disclose their
trne attitude towards him. And as
to the gift of poetry: did it not save
his head in Eiríkr’s hall? And most
lrnP°rtant of all: did not the gift of
p0etry, the power of expression,
save him from suicide in this last
end most critical test to which fate
ah Put him? The saga says: “Egill
regained his spirits as he went on
COínposing.” And he himself ends
°n a cheerful note:
Gladly, though,
ungrudgingly,
With light heart
Hel I will bide.
The same note is struck in Háva-
^fal' Odin’s Wisdom, the philosophy
the Vikings:
ólad and wholesome
lne hero be
ul cometh his dying day.
We saw before that Egill was an
unusual innovator in his humorous
self contemplation, the mock-heroic
description of his unhandsome ap-
pearance. Then we see him as an
even greater innovator in that he
succeeds in giving free rein to his
personal feeling and in gaining con-
trol over the redeeming power of
selfexpression. The Catholic Church
has all along known the worth of
confession, an Icelandic saying ex-
presses the same Christian thought.
Modern poets are very conscious
of the power of poetry. But many
centuries had to pass after Egill’s
time until such insight was redis-
covered by Icelandic poets.
Thus Egill the first Icelandic
poet — some have said the last Ger-
manic poet — stands alone in his
originality and his greatness of
thought.
It appears certain that Egill based
his most sonorous poem (Höfuð-
lausn) on a church hymn metre A. C.
Bouman, in his Paiierns in Old Eng-
lish and Old Icelandic Lileralure
(Leiden 1962, pp. 17-40), believes
that Egill’s most profound poem
Sonaiorrek was influenced by King
Alfred’s version of Boethius’ De
Consolaiione Philosophiae the most
common and most profound philo-
sophical treatise of the Middle Ages.
In spite of his contact with Christian
forms and Christian thought Egill,
as described in his saga, has
remained the ideal of heathen hero-
ism and bravery up to the present
day in Iceland.