Lögberg-Heimskringla - 04.10.1973, Side 2

2
LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 4. OKTÓBER 1973
Högberg-itetméfmngla
0 úíb il tn EtttUtnli
Richard Beck
Some Observations on John Masefieid and the lcelandic Sagas
This article originally appeared in Saga og sprok. Siudies in
language and literalure. Ediled by John M. Weinsiock. —
Presenied io Lee M. Hollander. Ausiin. Texas, fall of 1972.
The article is reprinied wiih ihe special permission of Prof.
Weinsiock. — Regreifully, ii should be added, ihat Profess-
or Lee M. Hollander, highly esleemed and veiy produciive
^scholar in ihe field of Old Icelandic liierature. passed away,
nearly 92 years of age, early in November 1972. We Iceland-
ers, in parlicular. owe him a great and lasting debi of grati-
4 iude. — R. Beck.
Thc Iructifying powcr of Old lcelandic literature, in particular the Eddas and the
sagas, is attested by the fact that it has not only kept alive a remarkable literary
activity in iceland itself down through the centuríes but has also been the source
of inspiration for numerous poets and prose writers outside lceland. English
writers from Thomas Gray down to John Masefield, the recently deceased Poet
Laureate, have, for instance., found in Old lcelandic literature themes for some
of their significant works.1 To the best of my knowledge, however, the
relationship of John Masefield to Old Icelandic literature has not been dealt with
in English before but is fully worthy of special consideration.
Xú er hún
komin-
bókin um
gosið i
Eyjum
VOLCANO 'I
(JRDEAL n\ liiu.
IIS K:ill,AM)S \\ ivSTMA\N ISlAMXS
Bókin hefur þegar hlotið fádæma góðar viðtökur,
enda er hér um að ræða frábært úrval Ijósmynda
frá meira en tuttugu Ijósmyndurum. Margar at-
hyglisverðustu myndirnar, sem teknar hafa verið
í Eyjum, flestar litprentaðar.
I upphafi er brugðið upp svipmynd af sérkenni-
legri náttúru Vestmannaeyja, sögu, lífi og starfi
fólksins í Heimaey eins og það var áður. Síðan er
saga gossins rakin í máli og frábærum myndum.
Textann skrifaði Árni Gunnarsson, fréttamaður,
sem þekkti Eyjar áður og fylgdist með gosinu frá
upphafi.
Látið ekki dragast að eignast þessa einstæðu
bók — og senda kunningjum og viðskiptamönn-
um erlendis VOLCANO — Ordeal by Fire in lce-
land’s Westmann Islands. Kostar aðeins kr.
995,00.
Iceland Review
LAUGAVEGI 18 A SÍMI 18950
Among English poets none has been as deeply influenced by Old
Icelandic literature as William Morris, who found in the sagas and the Eddas
subject matter for some of his most notable works of poetry. It was through thc
influence of Morris that Masefield became deeply interested in the lcelandic
sagas and, in fact, a wholehearted admirer of them. Fortunately, we have his
own account of how this came about in his recollections:
I had not read far in Willaim Morris before 1 came to the Saga
of Grettir the Strong, and through that, at once, to all the Icelandic
sagas then done into English (Morris had done his lion’s share in doing
them.). The effect of the sagas upon me was profound. I found in them
a reality touched with romance that seemed the perfection of story-
-telling.
I learned that they had been written down in the middle ages,
after being in the minds and mouths of story-tellers for ovcr two
hundred years. They were written down ín a simple age, that respected
the tradition, in a prose so plain that the events seemed to be happening
before the reader’s eyes.
They were over-burdened with genealogies that tended to
delay the start of the story proper: these one quickly forgave. One saw
that thé descendants of those stocks of heroes were the listeners when
the tales were told, and the guards of the tradition. What would one
give for an Arthurian tradition, so vouched-for. so guarded?
For some years, all modern story-telling seemed thin and
unreal compared with the sagas. That leisurely setting out of the pieces,
that slow sure approach, then the masterly fury of the tale, the ebbing
of the tide, and the quiet end, with nothing but the tidemarks left, all
these things, put down in writing, yet based, so clearly, on the tales still
told by word of mouth, seemed to me to be unmatchable, unbeatable.
Good inventions had been added to the great traditions: there were
prophetic utterances, dreams and some appalling ghosts. Poetry was not
omitted there were pixtms in nearly ali the sagas: and though the
poetry was of a kind that made Victorian flesh creep, being a Gothíc
Gongorism, it interested the reader. It was so literary a poetry, so
strange a product in a society so given to man-killings and piracies. It
was a difficult poetry: it could never have been easy to follow, even to
those accustomed to the method; yet quite clearly it had been
followed. The poets had sung the songs to their sixiety, and hao öeen
listened to with delight. The society must havc been much more full of
joy in art than any society known to the Victorians. All those who
listenea to such songs with pleasure niust have been used from
childhood to all manner of delicate and intricate art, gold-work,
smithery, shipbuilding, wood-working, carving, the making of tools,
weapons, sails, clothing, buttons, studs, jewels, oars, buckets: all that
life made necessary to them. We Victorians, who came to know the
sagas more through William Morris than through any other, understood
why it was that lceland meant so much to him.2
Masefield’s admiration of the sagas bore fruit; it resulted in his finding
in them the themes for two of his works. For his one-act play The Locked Chest
(1906) he found his theme in Laxdœia Saga, more specifically in the account of
the dealings between Ingjald Saudeyjargoði, an intluential district chief, and
Thord Goddi concerning Thorolf, a destitute outlaw. who had killed Ingjald’s
brother. Vigdis, Thord’s wife, was related to Thorolf; itnd when he sought her
help, she felt compelled to shelter him, overruling her husband, who felt he
would get into trouble by letting Thorolf stay at their place. Ingjald. naturally.
was bent on revenge, and suspected corrcctly that Thorolf had souglit refuge at
the homc of his kinswoman, Vigdis. Through resolute action, she succeeded.
however. in helping Thorolf escape although Ingjald had bcen succcssful in
bribing her husband tnto revealing where Thorolf had temporarily been hidden
m the slteep sheds on the farm. Thord, however, pays dearly for his cowardice.
Not only does Vigdis succeed in driving Ingjald and his henchmen away and
retaining the money with which he has bribed her husband, but shc divorces liirn
as well.
In his play Masefield follows in the main the account in Laxdœla Saga,
but he has, at the same time, added some fcatures, interprcting the subject
matter in liis own way as is a poct’scustom and privilege ih such circumstances.
The saga does not. for instance, say that Vigdis rescues Thorolf from Ingjald and
his followers by locking him up in the chest belonging to Thord, to which the
saga makcs reference and from which the play derives its name. Also, while the
saga says that Vigdis divorces Thord, it nowhere states that she runs away with
Thorolf although this constitutes the conclusion of the play. By his use of the
chcst episode as a high point in the action and by making Vigdis elope with
Thorolf. Mascfield has. of course, added to the dramatic effect of the play.
To be sure. The l.ocked Chest does not equal Masefield’s best plays.
Nevertheless, the subject matter is well handled. The play holds the attention of
the readcr, the story is simply told, free from digressions, with an undercurrent
of gcnuine feeling. The poet has, in short, succeeded in retaining the naturalness
of the saga style. The characterization of the principal persons, Thord and
Vigdis, is conviltctng and in keeping with the saga background. As revealed in the
saga, Thord was anything but a hero, and he has not grown in heroic stature in
Masefield’s handling. The saga describes Vigdis as a far more strong-minded
pcrson than her husband. Assuredly, she is not a less impressive figure in the play
wherc at crucial moments she dominates the action.
When Mascfield wrote The l.ocked Chest, only two translations of
l.axdæla Saga had appeared in English, one by Mrs. Muriel A.C. Press, The
Temple Classics (London, |899; 2nd ed., London, 1906), the other by Robert
Proctor (London, 1903). While I do not know which of these two translations
Masefield used as a basis for his play, I surmise that it may have been the first
cdition of Mrs. Press’s translation, which, incidentally, is far better than
Proctor’s translation although both leave much to be dcsired.
(Continued On Page 5)
lcelandic
Canadian Club
On the 16th of September
the Icelandic Canadian Club
of Montreal held their belat-
ad 17th of June celebrations
in the beautiful Charlotten-
burg Park in Ontario. Desp-
ite a strong wind and 55 de-
gree temperatures 46 people
arrived for the picnic which
was a great success. —«The
Club was especially pleased
to meet two new members
from Iceland, Dr. Hordur
Bergsteinsson and his wife
Elin Bachmann with their
two children and two un-
expected guests from Iceland
Olafur Finnsson and Bryndis
V aldimarsdóttir.
Aftir the picnic childrens
games were played, prizes
being kindly donated by Air
France, and a hysterical
game of baskeball was play-
ed, which the Icelanders
from Iceland found very
amusing but completely
baffling.
After some singing, both
in Icelandic and English the
day drew to a close, every-
one agreeing that a perfect
Iceiandic Summer Day had
been had by all.
STYRKTARSJÓÐUR
LÖGBERGS-
HEIMSKRIN GLU
Captain W. J. Lindal,
c/o Col. Belcher Hospital,
Calgary, Alta. $20.00
Mrs. Margret De Boer,
1211—lst North Bismarck,
North Dakota $2.00
Mr. H. K. Halldorsson,
Rte. 2— Box 58,
Edinborg, North
Dakota $15.00
Mrs. John H. Johnson,
R. F. D. 2,
Box 34, Edinburg,
North Dákota $8,00
Mr. Hjortur Josephson,
Rathwell, Man..... $4.00
Th. G. Sigvaldason,
Box 191,
Arborg Man. $10.00
Miss Andrea K. Sigurjónsson
59 Isabella St., Apt. 707,
Toronto 5, Ontario $50.00
Mr. og Mrs. Benjaimín G.
Sharpe, Rosewood Village,
1620 W. Hwy 36, Apt.^ 104,
Roseville, Minnesota $5.00
Miss Ida D. Swainson,
18—303 Furby St.,
Winnipeg, Man $10.00
Mrs. Laiura W. Laxdal,
4A—616 Strathcona St.,
Winnipeg Man. $4.00
Mrs. Sarah J. Hanson,
2400 St., Clair St.,
Bellingham, Wash. $5.00
Meðtekið með þakklæti,
K. W. Johannson, Treas.,
910 Palmerston Ave.,
Winnipeg, Man.