Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1999, Side 195

VI From the tum of the century to Jan de Vries
175
where it became the object of a Frisian-Saxon poem, which soon there-
after was imitated in England and Norway. The Norwegian poem, at all
events, will have to be dated before 800, say, about 700. This Vglundar-
kvida from 700 is not identical with the poem we know, however, and a
second influence from Saxony at a later stage is likely. In a later chapter,
on the period 1150-1200, it is suggested that VQlundarkvida may have
been renewed in order to comply with the more romantic taste of this
period, by the addition of the fairytale-like introduction of the swan
maidens (de Vries 1941: 57-59; 1942: 161).
No existing religious Eddie poem belongs to this pre-Viking period
proper, according to de Vries; but in mueh the same way as Gothic hero-
ic poetry had motivated Scandinavian epic poems on Northern heroes,
these Scandinavian heroic poems in their tum inspired mythological
epic poems, which are the probable sources of the mythological know-
ledge alluded to in skaldic poetry from the 8th century onwards. It is
probable that mythological epic poetry of the same kind as the late
Hymiskvida and Prymskvida, which is a genre known only from Scandi-
navia, was composed already in the 8th century (de Vries 1941: 64-66).
The bulk of mythological information handed down from heathen times
to the Middle Ages seems to presuppose the existence also of religious
memorial poetry (“Merkverse”) from this period, possibly preforms of
poems like Sigrdrifumål, Giimnismål and Vafjprudnismål.
In the next chapter, covering the period that lasted until the settlement
of Iceland, only Norwegian skaldic poetry and Swedish runic inscrip-
tions are treated, but in the third period, preceding the introduction of
Christianity, Eddie poetry occupies an important place. The Viking Age
endowed the heroic ideal with a new presence, de Vries maintained,
more colourful than the stem heroism of the period of the Great Migra-
tion. The poems are less tragic and more open to the lust for life and suc-
cess; death itself is not seen as a gloomy fate, but as a door to the pleas-
ures of Valhalla.110
110 “Die Wikingerzeit war aber farbenreicher als jene der Volkerwanderungszeit” (de
Vries 1941: 142). “Die Gefiihle sind schroff und stark; es gibt noch keine Spur der spate-
ren Empfindsamkeit. Der stark tragische Ton des alten Heldenliedes wird gemildert; das
muntere Wikingerleben mit seiner anregenden Abenteuerlust hat auch ein offenes Auge fur
das Gelingen und den Sieg. Der Tod, wenn er eintritt, ist nicht ein finsteres Schicksal, son-
dem das Tor zu den glanzenden Freuden in Walhalla” (de Vries 1941: 143).