Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1999, Page 197

VI From the tum of the century to Jan de Vries
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any way criticize the heathen gods, but he treats an old myth of great re-
ligious importance in such a light-hearted manner that it betrays a loosen-
ing of the old faith. The curses in st. 26-36 have a decidedly archaic fla-
vour, however, contrasting with the weaker tone of yearning love in other
parts of the poem. In Hårbardsljod the myth has lost its religious signi-
ficance, and nothing but a comic fairy-tale is left. Whether we are dealing
with scom or fun is difficult to decide. In Lokasenna the derision of the
gods is bolder, and the poem is close to a biting satire. “A Christian
preacher could not castigate the vices of the classical gods more sharply
than this Nordic poet has scolded the gods of his own people,” de Vries
said.114 The supreme achievement of this age of religious tensions is
Vg luspå, which expresses in sublime form the presentiment of an im-
pending catastrophe (de Vries 1941: 150-51). The poet’s heart clings to
the old era, but his aspirations lead him towards the new one.115
The fourth period is the first Christian century, and skaldic poetry
shows that as a consequence of the conversion, heathen elements were
very soon banned from poetry. As de Vries had shown in his book on
mythological kennings, the names of gods disappear from skaldic poetry
in a few decades, and a simpler and more poetic imagery replaced the
complications of the old kenning technique (de Vries 1941: 209-10). A
further consequence of the victory of Christendom was, according to de
Vries, that new mythological poems were not composed any more,
although the old ones were rescued from oblivion thanks to the interest
in the classical skaldic poems which would have been unintelligible if
Eddie poetry had not preserved the mythological knowledge necessary
to understand the kennings (cf. chapter XI below).
Heroic poetry continued without difficulty, but the old heroic spirit
was not compatible with Christianity, and the focus of interest therefore
shifted from its attitude towards life (“Lebenshaltung”) to its narrative
content (“Heldenschicksale”).116 The most important heroic poetry from
114 “[...] ein christlicher Prediger hatte die Laster der klassischen Gotterwelt nicht scharfer
geiBeln konnen, als es hier dieser nordische Dichter mit den Gottern seines eigenen Volkes
getan hat” (de Vries 1941: 171).
115 “Das Gedicht ist das erschiittemde Bekenntnis einer Seele, die zwischen zwei Welt-
perioden lebt; mit seinem Herzen hangt er an dem Alten, aber sein Verlangen fiihrt ihn
schon dem Neuen entgegen” (de Vries 1941: 175-76, cf. pp. 150-51).
116 “[...] die heldische Lebensgesinnung, aus der heraus die epische Dichtung entstanden
war, fand ihr Ende, sobald das Christentum den Sieg errungen hatte; damit war dieser