Allow me to bribe you a bit further into translating my verses, with
this material I found on e-mule this morning.

The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
Conrad Hjalmar Nordby

Table of Contents
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English
Literature............................................................
...........1
Conrad Hjalmar
Nordby................................................................
.........................................................1
PREFATORY
NOTE..................................................................
...........................................................1
INTRODUCTORY..........................................................
......................................................................
.3
I. THE BODY OF OLD NORSE
LITERATURE............................................................
.......................4
II. THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF
LATIN.................................................................
...........................5
III. FROM THE SOURCES
THEMSELVES............................................................
...........................15
IV. BY THE HAND OF THE
MASTER................................................................
..............................23
V. IN THE LATTER
DAYS..................................................................
...............................................48
RECENT
TRANSLATIONS..........................................................
.......................................................50
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
i

The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English
Literature
Conrad Hjalmar Nordby
This page formatted 2004 Blackmask Online.
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PREFATORY NOTE. ·
INTRODUCTORY. ·
I. THE BODY OF OLD NORSE LITERATURE. ·
II. THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF LATIN. ·
III. FROM THE SOURCES THEMSELVES. ·
IV. BY THE HAND OF THE MASTER. ·
V. IN THE LATTER DAYS. ·
RECENT TRANSLATIONS. ·
E-text prepared by David Starner and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team
THE INFLUENCE OF OLD NORSE LITERATURE UPON ENGLISH LITERATURE
by
CONRAD HJALMAR NORDBY
1901
Deyr fe
deyja fraendr,
deyr sialfr it sama;
en orethstirr
deyr aldrigi
hveim er ser goethan getr.
Havamal, 75.
Cattle die,
kindred die,
we ourselves also die;
but the fair fame
never dies
of him who has earned it.
Thorpe's Edda.
PREFATORY NOTE.
The present publication is the only literary work left by its author.
Unfortunately it lacks a few pages which,
as his manuscript shows, he intended to add, and it also failed to
receive his final revision. His friends have
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature 1

nevertheless deemed it expedient to publish the result of his studies
conducted with so much ardor, in order
that some memorial of his life and work should remain for the wider
public. To those acquainted with him, no
written words can represent the charm of his personality or give
anything approaching an adequate impression
of his ability and strength of character.
Conrad Hjalmar Nordby was born September 20, 1867, at Christiania,
Norway. At the age of four he was
brought to New York, where he was educated in the public schools. He
was graduated from the College of the
City of New York in 1886. From December of that year to June, 1893,
he taught in Grammar School No. 55,
and in September, 1893, he was called to his Alma Mater as Tutor in
English. He was promoted to the rank of
Instructor in 1897, a position which he held at the time of his
death. He died in St. Luke's Hospital, October
28, 1900. In October, 1894, he began his studies in the School of
Philosophy of Columbia University, taking
courses in Philosophy and Education under Professor Nicholas Murray
Butler, and in Germanic Literatures
and Germanic Philology under Professors Boyesen, William H. Carpenter
and Calvin Thomas. It was under
the guidance of Professor Carpenter that the present work was
conceived and executed.
Such a brief outline of Mr. Nordby's career can, however, give but an
imperfect view of his activities, while it
gives none at all of his influence. He was a teacher who impressed
his personality, not only upon his students,
but upon all who knew him. In his character were united force and
refinement, firmness and geniality. In his
earnest work with his pupils, in his lectures to the teachers of the
New York Public Schools and to other
audiences, in his personal influence upon all with whom he came in
contact, he spread the taste for beauty,
both of poetry and of life. When his body was carried to the grave,
the grief was not confined to a few
intimate friends; all who had known him felt that something noble and
beautiful had vanished from their lives.
In this regard his career was, indeed, rich in achievement, but when
we consider what, with his large
equipment, he might have done in the world of scholarship, the
promise, so untimely blighted, seems even
richer. From early youth he had been a true lover of books. To him
they were not dead things; they palpitated
with the life blood of master spirits. The enthusiasm for William
Morris displayed in the present essay is
typical of his feeling for all that he considered best in literature.
Such an enthusiasm, communicated to those
about him, rendered him a vital force in every company where works of
creative genius could be a theme of
conversation.
A love of nature and of art accompanied and reinforced this love of
literature; and all combined to produce the
effect of wholesome purity and elevation which continually emanated
from him. His influence, in fact, was
largely of that pervasive sort which depends, not on any special word
uttered, and above all, not on any
preachment, but upon the entire character and life of the man. It was
for this reason that his modesty never
concealed his strength. He shrunk above all things from pushing
himself forward and demanding public
notice, and yet few ever met him without feeling the force of
character that lay behind his gentle and almost
retiring demeanor. It was easy to recognize that here was a man, self-
centered and whole.
In a discourse pronounced at a memorial meeting, the Rev. John
Coleman Adams justly said: "If I wished to
set before my boy a type of what is best and most lovable in the
American youth, I think I could find no more
admirable character than that of Conrad Hjalmar Nordby. A young man
of the people, with all their
unexhausted force, vitality and enthusiasm; a man of simple aims and
honest ways; as chivalrous and
high-minded as any knight of old; as pure in life as a woman; at once
gentle and brave, strong and sweet, just
and loving; upright, but no Pharisee; earnest, but never
sanctimonious; who took his work as a pleasure, and
his pleasure as an innocent joy; a friend to be coveted; a disciple
such as the Saviour must have loved; a true
son of God, who dwelt in the Father's house. Of such youth our land
may well be proud; and no man need
speak despairingly of a nation whose life and institutions can ripen
such a fruit."
L.F.M.
COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK,
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature 2

May 15, 1901.
INTRODUCTORY.
It should not be hard for the general reader to understand that the
influence which is the theme of this
dissertation is real and explicable. If he will but call the roll of
his favorite heroes, he will find Sigurd there. In
his gallery of wondrous women, he certainly cherishes Brynhild. These
poetic creations belong to the
English-speaking race, because they belong to the world. And if one
will but recall the close kinship of the
Icelandic and the Anglo-Saxon languages, he will not find it strange
that the spirit of the old Norse sagas
lives again in our English song and story.
The survey that this essay takes begins with Thomas Gray (1716-1771),
and comes down to the present day.
It finds the fullest measure of the old Norse poetic spirit in
William Morris (1834-1896), and an increasing
interest and delight in it as we come toward our own time. The
enterprise of learned societies and enlightened
book publishers has spread a knowledge of Icelandic literature among
the reading classes of the present day;
but the taste for it is not to be accounted for in the same way. That
is of nobler birth than of erudition or
commercial pride. Is it not another expression of that changed
feeling for the things that pertain to the
common people, which distinguishes our century from the last? The
historian no longer limits his study to
camp and court; the poet deigns to leave the drawing-room and library
for humbler scenes. Folk-lore is now
dignified into a science. The touch of nature has made the whole
world kin, and our highly civilized century is
moved by the records of the passions of the earlier society.
This change in taste was long in coming, and the emotional phase of
it has preceded the intellectual. It is
interesting to note that Gray and Morris both failed to carry their
public with them all the way. Gray, the most
cultured man of his time, produced art forms totally different from
those in vogue, and Walpole[1] said of
these forms: "Gray has added to his poems three ancient odes from
Norway and Wales ... they are not
interesting, and do not, like his other poems, touch any passion....
Who can care through what horrors a Runic
savage arrived at all the joys and glories they could conceive—the
supreme felicity of boozing ale out of the
skull of an enemy in Odin's Hall?"
Morris, the most versatile man of his time, found plenty of praise
for his art work, until he preached social
reform to Englishmen. Thereafter the art of William Morris was not so
highly esteemed, and the best poet in
England failed to attain the laurel on the death of Tennyson.
Of this change of taste more will be said as this essay is developed.
These introductory words must not be left,
however, without an explanation of the word "Influence," as it is
used in the subject-title. This paper will not
undertake to prove that the course of English literature was diverted
into new channels by the introduction of
Old Norse elements, or that its nature was materially changed
thereby. We find an expression and a
justification of our present purpose in Richard Price's Preface to
the 1824 edition of Warton's "History of
English Poetry" (p. 15): "It was of importance to notice the
successive acquisitions, in the shape of translation
or imitation, from the more polished productions of Greece and Rome;
and to mark the dawn of that aera,
which, by directing the human mind to the study of classical
antiquity, was to give a new impetus to science
and literature, and by the changes it introduced to effect a total
revolution in the laws which had previously
governed them." Were Warton writing his history to-day, he would have
to account for later eras as well as
for the Elizabethan, and the method would be the same. How far the
Old Norse literature has helped to form
these later eras it is not easy to say, but the contributions may be
counted up, and their literary value noted.
These are the commission of the present essay. When the record is
finished, we shall be in possession of
information that may account for certain considerable writers of our
day, and certain tendencies of thought.
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
INTRODUCTORY. 3

I. THE BODY OF OLD NORSE LITERATURE.
First, let us understand what the Old Norse literature was that has
been sending out this constantly increasing
influence into the world of poetry.
It was in the last four decades of the ninth century of our era that
Norsemen began to leave their own country
and set up new homes in Iceland. The sixty years ending with 930 A.D.
were devoted to taking up the land,
and the hundred years that ensued after that date were devoted to
quarreling about that land. These quarrels
were the origin of the Icelandic family sagas. The year 1000 brought
Christianity to the island, and the period
from 1030 to 1120 were years of peace in which stories of the former
time passed from mouth to mouth. The
next century saw these stories take written form, and the period from
1220 to 1260 was the golden age of this
literature. In 1264, Iceland passed under the rule of Norway, and a
decline of literature began, extending until
1400, the end of literary production in Iceland. In the main, the
authors of Iceland are unknown[2].
There are several well-marked periods, therefore, in Icelandic
literary production. The earliest was devoted to
poetry, Icelandic being no different from most other languages in the
precedence of that form. Before the
settlement of Iceland, the Norse lands were acquainted with songs
about gods and champions, written in a
simple verse form. The first settlers wrote down some of these, and
forgot others. In the Codex Regius,
preserved in the Royal Library in Copenhagen, we have a collection of
these songs. This material was
published in the seventeenth century as the Saemundar Edda, and came
to be known as the Elder or Poetic
Edda. Both titles are misnomers, for Saemund had nothing to do with
the making of the book, and Edda is a
name belonging to a book of later date and different purpose.
This work—not a product of the soil as folk-songs are—is the fountain
head of Old Norse mythology, and of
Old Norse heroic legends. Voeluspa and Havamal are in this
collection, and other songs that tell of Odin and
Baldur and Loki. The Helgi poems and the Voelsung poems in their
earliest forms are also here.
A second class of poetry in this ancient literature is that
called "Skaldic." Some of this deals with mythical
material, and some with historical material. A few of the skalds are
known to us by name, because their lives
were written down in later sagas. Egill Skallagrimsson, known to all
readers of English and Scotch antiquities,
Eyvind Skaldaspillir and Sigvat are of this group.
Poetic material that is very rich is found in Snorri Sturluson's work
on Old Norse poetics, entitled The Edda,
and often referred to as the Younger or Prose Edda.
More valuable than the poetry is the prose of this literature,
especially the Sagas. The saga is a prose epic,
characteristic of the Norse countries. It records the life of a hero,
told according to fixed rules. As we have
said, the sagas were based upon careers run in Iceland's stormy time.
They are both mythical and historical. In
the mythical group are, among others, the Voelsunga Saga, the
Hervarar Saga, Frieththjofs Saga and Ragnar
Loethbroks Saga. In the historical group, the flowering time of which
was 1200-1270, we find, for example,
Egils Saga, Eyrbyggja Saga, Laxdaela Saga, Grettis Saga, Njals Saga.
A branch of the historic sagas is the
Kings' Sagas, in which we find Heimskringla, the Saga of Olaf
Tryggvason, the Flatey Book, and others.
This sketch does not pretend to indicate the quantity of Old Norse
literature. An idea of that is obtained by
considering the fact that eleven columns of the ninth edition of the
Encyclopaedia Britannica are devoted to
recording the works of that body of writings.
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
I. THE BODY OF OLD NORSE LITERATURE. 4

II. THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF LATIN.
THOMAS GRAY (1716-1771).
In the eighteenth century, Old Norse literature was the lore of
antiquarians. That it is not so to-day among
English readers is due to a line of writers, first of whom was Thomas
Gray. In the thin volume of his poetry,
two pieces bear the sub-title: "An Ode. From the Norse Tongue." These
are "The Fatal Sisters," and "The
Descent of Odin," both written in 1761, though not published until
1768. These poems are among the latest
that Gray gave to the world, and are interesting aside from our
present purpose because they mark the limit of
Gray's progress toward Romanticism.
We are not accustomed to think of Gray as a Romantic poet, although
we know well that the movement away
from the so-called Classicism was begun long before he died. The
Romantic element in his poetry is not
obvious; only the close observer detects it, and then only in a few
of the poems. The Pindaric odes exhibit a
treatment that is Romantic, and the Norse and Welsh adaptations are
on subjects that are Romantic. But we
must go to his letters to find proof positive of his sympathy with
the breaking away from Classicism. Here are
records of a love of outdoors that reveled in mountain-climbing and
the buffeting of storms. Here are
appreciations of Shakespeare and of Milton, the like of which were
not often proclaimed in his generation.
Here is ecstatic admiration of ballads and of the Ossian imitations,
all so unfashionable in the literary culture
of the day. While dates disprove Lowell's statement in his essay on
Gray that "those anti-classical yearnings
of Gray began after he had ceased producing," it is certain that very
little of his poetic work expressed these
yearnings. "Elegance, sweetness, pathos, or even majesty he could
achieve, but never that force which
vibrates in every verse of larger moulded men." Change Lowell's
word "could" to "did," and this sentence
will serve our purpose here.
Our interest in Gray's Romanticism must confine itself to the two
odes from the Old Norse. It is to be noted
that the first transplanting to English poetry of Old Norse song came
about through the scholar's agency, not
the poet's. It was Gray, the scholar, that made "The Descent of Odin"
and "The Fatal Sisters." They were
intended to serve as specimens of a forgotten literature in a history
of English poetry. In the "Advertisement"
to "The Fatal Sisters" he tells how he came to give up the plan: "The
Author has long since drop'd his design,
especially after he heard, that it was already in the hands of a
Person well qualified to do it justice, both by his
taste, and his researches into antiquity." Thomas Warton's History of
English Poetry was the execution of this
design, but in that book no place was found for these poems.
In his absurd Life of Gray, Dr. Johnson said: "His translations of
Northern and Welsh Poetry deserve praise:
the imagery is preserved, perhaps often improved, but the language is
unlike the language of other poets."
There are more correct statements in this sentence, perhaps, than in
any other in the essay, but this is because
ignorance sometimes hits the truth. It is not likely that the poems
would have been understood without the
preface and the explanatory notes, and these, in a measure, made the
reader interested in the literature from
which they were drawn. Gray called the pieces "dreadful songs," and
so in very truth they are. Strength is the
dominant note, rude, barbaric strength, and only the art of Gray
saved it from condemnation. To-day, with so
many imitations from Old Norse to draw upon, we cannot point to a
single poem which preserves spirit and
form as well as those of Gray. Take the stanza:
Horror covers all the heath,
Clouds of carnage blot the sun,
Sisters, weave the web of death;
Sisters, cease, the work is done.
The strophe is perfect in every detail. Short lines, each ending a
sentence; alliteration; words that echo the
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
II. THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF LATIN. 5

sense, and just four strokes to paint a picture which has an
atmosphere that whisks you into its own world
incontinently. It is no wonder that writers of later days who have
tried similar imitations ascribe to Thomas
Gray the mastership.
That this poet of the eighteenth century, who "equally despised what
was Greek and what was Gothic," should
have entered so fully into the spirit and letter of Old Norse poetry
is little short of marvelous. If Professor G.L.
Kittredge had not gone so minutely into the question of Gray's
knowledge of Old Norse,[3] we might be
pardoned for still believing with Gosse[4] that the poet learned
Icelandic in his later life. Even after reading
Professor Kittredge's essay, we cannot understand how Gray could
catch the metrical lilt of the Old Norse
with only a Latin version to transliterate the parallel Icelandic. We
suspect that Gray's knowledge was fuller
than Professor Kittredge will allow, although we must admit that
superficial knowledge may coexist with a
fine interpretative spirit. Matthew Arnold's knowledge of Celtic
literature was meagre, yet he wrote
memorably and beautifully on that subject, as Celts themselves will
acknowledge.[5]
THE SOURCES OF GRAY'S KNOWLEDGE.
It has already been said that only antiquarians had knowledge of
things Icelandic in Gray's time. Most of this
knowledge was in Latin, of course, in ponderous tomes with wonderful,
long titles; and the list of them is
awe-inspiring. In all likelihood Gray did not use them all, but he
met references to them in the books he did
consult. Professor Kittredge mentions them in the paper already
quoted, but they are here arranged in the
order of publication, and the list is lengthened to include some
books that were inspired by the interest in
Gray's experiments.
=1636= and =1651=. Wormius. Seu Danica literatura antiquissima, vulgo
Gothica dicta, luci reddita opera
Olai Wormii. Cui accessit de prisca Danorum Poesi Dissertatio.
Hafniae. 1636. Edit. II. 1651.
The essay on poetry contains interlinear Latin translations of the
Epicedium of Ragnar Loethbrok, and of the
Drapa of Egill Skallagrimsson. Bound with the second edition of 1651,
and bearing the date 1650, is:
Specimen Lexici runici, obscuriorum quarundam vocum, quae in priscis
occurrunt historiis et poetis Danicis
enodationem exhibens. Collectum a Magno Olavio pastore
Laufasiensi, ... nunc in ordinem redactum, auctum
et locupletatum ab Olao Wormio. Hafniae.
This glossary adduces illustrations from the great poems of Icelandic
literature. Thus early the names and
forms of the ancient literature were known.
=1665.= Resenius. Edda Islandorum an. Chr. MCCXV islandice conscripta
per Snorronem Sturlae Islandiae.
Nomophylacem nunc primum islandice, danice et latine ... Petri
Johannis Resenii ... Havniae. 1665.
A second part contains a disquisition on the philosophy of the
Voeluspa and the Havamal.
=1670.= Sheringham. De Anglorum Gentis Origine Disceptatio. Qua eorum
migrationes, variae sedes, et ex
parte res gestae, a confusione Linguarum, et dispersione Gentium,
usque ad adventum eorum in Britanniam
investigantur; quaedam de veterum Anglorum religione, Deorum cultu,
eorumque opinionibus de statu
animae post hanc vitam, explicantur. Authore Roberto Sheringhamo.
Cantabrigiae. 1670.
Chapter XII contains an account of Odin extracted from the Edda,
Snorri Sturluson and others.
=1679-92.= Temple. Two essays: "Of Heroic Virtue," "Of Poetry,"
contained in The Works of Sir William
Temple. London. 1757. Vol. 3, pp. 304-429.
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
II. THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF LATIN. 6

=1689.= Bartholinus. Thomae Bartholini Antiquitatum Danicarum de
causis contemptae a Danis adhuc
gentilibus mortis libri III ex vetustis codicibus et monumentis
hactenus ineditis congestae. Hafniae. 1689.
The pages of this book are filled, with extracts from Old Norse sagas
and poetry which are translated into
Latin. No student of the book could fail to get a considerable
knowledge of the spirit and the form of the
ancient literature.
=1691.= Verelius. Index linguae veteris Scytho-Scandicae sive
Gothicae ex vetusti aevi monumentis ... ed
Rudbeck. Upsalae. 1691.
=1697=. Torfaeus. Orcades, seu rerum Orcadensium historiae. Havniae.
1697.
=1697=. Perinskjoeld. Heimskringla, eller Snorre Sturlusons
Nordlaendske Konunga Sagor. Stockholmiae.
1697.
Contains Latin and Swedish translation.
=1705=. Hickes. Linguarum Vett. Septentrionalium thesaurus grammatico
criticus et archaeologicus.
Oxoniae. 1703-5.
This work is discussed later.
=1716=. Dryden. Miscellany Poems. Containing Variety of New
Translations of the Ancient Poets....
Published by Mr. Dryden. London. 1716.
=1720=. Keysler. Antiquitates selectae septentrionales et Celticae
quibus plurima loca conciliorum et
capitularium explanantur, dogmata theologiae ethnicae Celtarum
gentiumque septentrionalium cum moribus
et institutis maiorum nostrorum circa idola, aras, oracula, templa,
lucos, sacerdotes, regum electiones,
comitia et monumenta sepulchralia una cum reliquiis gentilismi in
coetibus christianorum ex monumentis
potissimum hactenus ineditis fuse perquiruntur. Autore Joh. Georgio
Keysler. Hannoverae. 1720.
=1755=. Mallet. Introduction a l'Histoire de Dannemarc ou l'on traite
de la Religion, des Lois, des Moeurs, et
des Usages des Anciens Danois. Par M. Mallet. Copenhague. 1755.
Discussed later.
=1756=. Mallet. Monumens de la Mythologie et la Poesie des Celtes et
particulierement des anciens
Scandinaves ... Par M. Mallet. Copenhague. 1756.
=1763=. Percy. Five Pieces of Runic Poetry translated from the
Islandic Language. London. 1763.
This book is described on a later page.
=1763=. Blair. A Critical Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian, the
Son of Fingal. [By Hugh Blair.] London.
1763.
=1770=. Percy. Northern Antiquities: or a description of the Manners,
Customs, Religion and Laws of the
ancient Danes, and other Northern Nations; including these of our own
Saxon Ancestors. With a translation
of the Edda or System of Runic Mythology, and other Pieces from the
Ancient Icelandic Tongue. Translated
from M. Mallet's Introduction a l'Histoire de Dannemarc. London.
1770.
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
II. THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF LATIN. 7

=1774=. Warton. The History of English Poetry. By Thomas Warton.
London. 1774-81.
In this book the prefatory essay entitled "On the Origin of Romantic
Fiction in Europe" is significant. It is
treated at length later on.
SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE (1628-1699).
From the above list it appears that the earliest mention in the
English language of Icelandic literature was Sir
William Temple's. The two essays noted above have many references to
Northern customs and songs.
Macaulay's praise of Temple's style is well deserved, and the
slighting remarks about the matter do not apply
to the passages in evidence here. Temple's acknowledgments to Wormius
indicate the source of his
information, and it is a commentary upon the exactness of the
antiquarian's knowledge that so many of the
statements in Temple's essays are perfectly good to-day. Of course
the terms "Runic" and "Gothic" were
misused, but so were they a century later. Odin is "the first and
great hero of the western Scythians; he led a
mighty swarm of the Getes, under the name of Goths, from the Asiatic
Scythia into the farthest northwest
parts of Europe; he seated and spread his kingdom round the whole
Baltic sea, and over all the islands in it,
and extended it westward to the ocean and southward to the Elve."[6]
Temple places Odin's expedition at two
thousand years before his own time, but he gets many other facts
right. Take this summing up of the old Norse
belief as an example:
"An opinion was fixed and general among them, that death was but the
entrance into another life; that all men
who lived lazy and inactive lives, and died natural deaths, by
sickness, or by age, went into vast caves under
ground, all dark and miry, full of noisom creatures, usual in such
places, and there forever grovelled in endless
stench and misery. On the contrary, all who gave themselves to
warlike actions and enterprises, to the
conquests of their neighbors, and slaughters of enemies, and died in
battle, or of violent deaths upon bold
adventures or resolutions, they went immediately to the vast hall or
palace of Odin, their god of war, who
eternally kept open house for all such guests, where they were
entertained at infinite tables, in perpetual feasts
and mirth, carousing every man in bowls made of the skulls of their
enemies they had slain, according to
which numbers, every one in these mansions of pleasure was the most
honoured and the best entertained."[7]
Thus before Gray was born, Temple had written intelligently in
English of the salient features of the Old
Norse mythology. Later in the same essay, he recognized that some of
the civil and political procedures of his
country were traceable to the Northmen, and, what is more to our
immediate purpose, he recognized the poetic
value of Old Norse song. On p. 358 occurs this paragraph:
"I am deceived, if in this sonnet (two stanzas of 'Regner Lodbrog'),
and a following ode of Scallogrim there be
not a vein truly poetical, and in its kind Pindaric, taking it with
the allowance of the different climates,
fashions, opinions, and languages of such distant countries."
Temple certainly had no knowledge of Old Norse, and yet, in 1679, he
could write so of a poem which he had
to read through the Latin. Sir William had a wide knowledge and a
fine appreciation of literature, and an
enthusiasm for its dissemination. He takes evident delight in telling
the fact that princes and kings of the olden
time did high honor to bards. He regrets that classic culture was
snuffed out by a barbarous people, but he
rejoices that a new kind came to take its place. "Some of it wanted
not the true spirit of poetry in some degree,
or that natural inspiration which has been said to arise from some
spark of poetical fire wherewith particular
men are born; and such as it was, it served the turn, not only to
please, but even to charm, the ignorant and
barbarous vulgar, where it was in use."[8]
It is proverbial that music hath charms to soothe the savage breast.
That savage music charms cultivated
minds is not proverbial, but it is nevertheless true. Here is Sir
William Temple, scion of a cultured race,
bearing witness to the fact, and here is Gray, a life-long dweller in
a staid English university, endorsing it a
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
II. THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF LATIN. 8

half century later. As has been intimated, this was unusual in the
time in which they lived, when, in Lowell's
phrase, the "blight of propriety" was on all poetry. But it was only
the rude and savage in an unfamiliar
literature that could give pause in the age of Pope. The milder
aspects of Old Norse song and saga must await
the stronger century to give them favor. "Behold, there was a swarm
of bees and honey in the carcass of the
lion."
GEORGE HICKES (1642-1715).
The next book in the list that contains an English contribution to
the knowledge of our subject is the
Thesaurus of George Hickes. On p. 193 of Part I, there is a prose
translation of "The Awakening of
Angantyr," from the Harvarar Saga. Acknowledgment is given to
Verelius for the text of the poem, but
Hickes seems to have chosen this poem as the gem of the Saga. The
translation is another proof of an
antiquarian's taste and judgment, and the reader does not wonder that
it soon found a wider audience through
another publication. It was reprinted in the books of 1716 and 1770
in the above list. An extract or two will
show that the vigor of the old poem has not been altogether lost in
the translation:
Hervor.—Awake Angantyr, Hervor the only daughter of thee and Suafu
doth awaken thee. Give me out of the
tombe, the hardned[9] sword, which the dwarfs made for Suafurlama.
Hervardur, Hiorvardur, Hrani, and
Angantyr, with helmet, and coat of mail, and a sharp sword, with
sheild and accoutrements, and bloody spear,
I wake you all, under the roots of trees. Are the sons of Andgrym,
who delighted in mischief, now become
dust and ashes, can none of Eyvors sons now speak with me out of the
habitations of the dead! Harvardur,
Hiorvardur! so may you all be within your ribs, as a thing that is
hanged up to putrifie among insects, unlesse
you deliver me the sword which the dwarfs made ... and the glorious
belt.
Angantyr.—Daughter Hervor, full of spells to raise the dead, why dost
thou call so? wilt thou run on to thy
own mischief? thou art mad, and out of thy senses, who art desperatly
resolved to waken dead men. I was not
buried either by father or other freinds. Two which lived after me
got Tirfing, one of whome is now possessor
thereof.
Hervor.—Thou dost not tell the truth: so let Odin hide thee in the
tombe, as thou hast Tirfing by thee. Art thou
unwilling, Angantyr, to give an inheritance to thy only child?...
Angantyr.—Fals woman, thou dost not understand, that thou speakest
foolishly of that, in which thou dost
rejoice, for Tirfing shall, if thou wilt beleive me, maid, destroy
all thy offspring.
Hervor.—I must go to my seamen, here I have no mind to stay longer.
Little do I care, O Royall friend, what
my sons hereafter quarrell about.
Angantyr.—Take and keep Hialmars bane, which thou shalt long have and
enjoy, touch but the edges of it,
there is poyson in both of them, it is a most cruell devourer of men.
Hervor.—I shall keep, and take in hand, the sharp sword which thou
hast let me have: I do not fear, O slain
father! what my sons hereafter may quarrell about.... Dwell all of
you safe in the tombe, I must be gon, and
hasten hence, for I seem to be, in the midst of a place where fire
burns round about me.
One can well understand, who handles the ponderous Thesaurus, why the
first English lovers of Old Norse
were antiquarians. "The Awakening of Angantyr" is literally buried in
this work, and only the student of
Anglo-Saxon prosody would come upon it unassisted, since it is an
illustration in a chapter of the
Grammaticae Anglo-Saxonicae et Moeso-Gothicae. Students will remember
in this connection that it was a
work on poetics that saved for us the original Icelandic Edda. The
Icelandic skald had to know his nation's
mythology.
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
II. THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF LATIN. 9

THOMAS PERCY (1729-1811).
The title of Chapter XXIII in Hickes' work indicates that even among
learned doctors mistaken notions
existed as to the relationship of the Teutonic languages. It took
more than a hundred years to set the error
right, but in the meanwhile the literature of Iceland was becoming
better known to English readers. To the
French scholar, Paul Henri Mallet (1730-1807), Europe owes the first
popular presentation of Northern
antiquities and literature. Appointed professor of belles-lettres in
the Copenhagen academy he found himself
with more time than students on his hands, because not many Danes at
that time understood French. His
leisure time was applied to the study of the antiquities of his
adopted country, the King's commission for a
history of Denmark making that necessary. As a preface to this work
he published, in 1755, an Introduction a
l'Histoire de Dannemarc ou l'on traite de la Religion, des Lois, des
Moeurs et des Usages des Anciens
Danois, and, in 1756, the work in the list on a previous page. In
this second book was the first translation into
a modern tongue of the Edda, and this volume, in consequence,
attracted much attention. The great English
antiquarian, Thomas Percy, afterward Bishop of Dromore, was early
drawn to this work, and with the aid of
friends he accomplished a translation of it, which was published in
1770.
Mallet's work was very bad in its account of the racial affinities of
the nations commonly referred to as the
barbarians that overturned the Roman empire and culture. Percy, who
had failed to edit the ballad MSS. so as
to please Ritson, was wise enough to see Mallet's error, and to
insist that Celtic and Gothic antiquities must
not be confounded. Mallet's translation of the Edda was imperfect,
too, because he had followed the Latin
version of Resenius, which was notoriously poor. Percy's Edda was no
better, because it was only an English
version of Mallet. But we are not concerned with these critical
considerations here; and so it will be enough to
record the fact that with the publication of Percy's Northern
Antiquities—the English name of Mallet's
work—in 1770, knowledge of Icelandic literature passed from the
exclusive control of learned antiquarians.
More and more, as time went on, men went to the Icelandic originals,
and translations of poems and sagas
came from the press in increasing numbers. In the course of time came
original works that were inspired by
Old Norse stories and Old Norse conceptions.
We have already noted that Gray's poems on Icelandic themes, though
written in 1761, were not published
until 1768. Another delayed work on similar themes was Percy's Five
Pieces of Runic Poetry, which, the
author tells us, was prepared for the press in 1761, but, through an
accident, was not published until 1763. The
preface has this interesting sentence: "It would be as vain to deny,
as it is perhaps impolitic to mention, that
this attempt is owing to the success of the Erse fragments." The book
has an appendix containing the Icelandic
originals of the poems translated, and that portion of the book shows
that a scholar's hand and interest made
the volume. So, too, does the close of the preface: "That the study
of ancient northern literature hath its
important uses has been often evinced by able writers: and that it is
not dry or unamusive this little work it is
hoped will demonstrate. Its aim at least is to shew, that if those
kind of studies are not always employed on
works of taste or classic elegance, they serve at least to unlock the
treasures of native genius; they present us
with frequent sallies of bold imagination, and constantly afford
matter for philosophical reflection by showing
the workings of the human mind in its almost original state of
nature."
That original state was certainly one of original sin, if these poems
are to be believed. Every page in this
volume is drenched with blood, and from this book, as from Gray's
poems and the other Old Norse imitations
of the time, a picture of fierceness and fearfulness was the only one
possible. Percy intimates in his preface
that Icelandic poetry has other tales to tell besides
the "Incantation of Hervor," the "Dying Ode of Regner
Lodbrog," the "Ransome of Egill the Scald," and the "Funeral Song of
Hacon," which are here set down; he
offers the "Complaint of Harold" as a slight indication that the old
poets left "behind them many pieces on the
gentler subjects of love or friendship." But the time had not come
for the presentation of those pieces.
All of these translations were from the Latin versions extant in
Percy's time. This volume copied Hickes's
translation of "Hervor's Incantation" modified in a few particulars,
and like that one, the other translations in
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
II. THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF LATIN. 10

this volume were in prose. The work is done as well as possible, and
it remained for later scholars to point out
errors in translation. The negative contractions in Icelandic were as
yet unfamiliar, and so, as Walter Scott
pointed out (in Edin. Rev., Oct., 1806), Percy made Regner Lodbrog
say, "The pleasure of that day (of battle,
p. 34 in this Five Pieces) was like having a fair virgin placed
beside one in the bed," and "The pleasure of that
day was like kissing a young widow at the highest seat of the table,"
when the poet really made the contrary
statement.
Of course, the value of this book depends upon the view that is taken
of it. Intrinsically, as literature, it is
well-nigh valueless. It indicates to us, however, a constantly
growing interest in the literature it reveals, and it
undoubtedly directed the attention of the poets of the succeeding
generation to a field rich in romantic
possibilities. That no great work was then created out of this
material was not due to neglect. As we shall see,
many puny poets strove to breathe life into these bones, but the
divine power was not in the poets. Some who
were not poets had yet the insight to feel the value of this ancient
literature, and they made known the facts
concerning it. It seems a mechanical and unpromising way to have
great poetry written, this calling out, "New
Lamps for Old." Yet it is on record that great poems have been
written at just such instigation.
THOMAS WARTON (1728-1790).
Historians[10] of Romanticism have marked Warton's History of English
Poetry as one of the forces that
made for the new idea in literature. This record of a past which,
though out of favor, was immeasurably
superior to the time of its historian, spread new views concerning
the poetic art among the rising generation,
and suggested new subjects as well as new treatments of old subjects.
We have mentioned the fact that Gray
handed over to Warton his notes for a contemplated history of poetry,
and that Warton found no place in his
work for Gray's adaptations from the Old Norse. Warton was not blind
to the beauties of Gray's poems, nor
did he fail to appreciate the merits of the literature which they
illustrated. His scheme relegated his remarks
concerning that poetry to the introductory dissertation, "Of the
Origin of Romantic Fiction in Europe." What
he had to say was in support of a theory which is not accepted to-
day, and of course his statements
concerning the origin of the Scandinavian people were as wrong as
those that we found in Mallet and Temple.
But with all his misinformation, Warton managed to get at many truths
about Icelandic poetry, and his
presentation of them was fresh and stimulating. Already the Old Norse
mythology was well known, even
down to Valhalla and the mistletoe. Old Norse poetry was well enough
known to call forth this remark:
"They (the 'Runic' odes) have a certain sublime and figurative cast
of diction, which is indeed one of their
predominant characteristics.... When obvious terms and phrases
evidently occurred, the Runic poets are fond
of departing from the common and established diction. They appear to
use circumlocution and comparisons
not as a matter of necessity, but of choice and skill: nor are these
metaphorical colourings so much the result
of want of words, as of warmth of fancy." The note gives these
examples: "Thus, a rainbow is called, the
bridge of the gods. Poetry, the mead of Odin. The earth, the vessel
that floats on ages. A ship, the horse of the
waves. A tongue, the sword of words. Night, the veil of cares."
A study of the notes to Warton's dissertation reveals the fact that
he had made use of the books already
mentioned in the list on a previous page, and of no others that are
significant. But such excellent use was
made of them, that it would seem as if nothing was left in them that
could be made valuable for spreading a
knowledge of and an enthusiasm for Icelandic literature. When it is
remembered that Warton's purpose was to
prove the Saracenic origin of romantic fiction in Europe, through the
Moors in Spain, and that Icelandic
literature was mentioned only to account for a certain un-Arabian
tinge in that romantic fiction, the wonder
grows that so full and fresh a presentation of Old Norse poetry
should have been made. He puts such passages
as these into his illustrative notes: "Tell my mother Suanhita in
Denmark, that she will not this summer comb
the hair of her son. I had promised her to return, but now my side
shall feel the edge of the sword." There is an
appreciation of the poetic here, that makes us feel that Warton was
not an unworthy wearer of the laurel. He
insists that the Saxon poetry was powerfully affected by "the old
scaldic fables and heroes," and gives in the
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
II. THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF LATIN. 11

text a translation of the "Battle of Brunenburgh" to prove his case.
He admires "the scaldic dialogue at the
tomb of Angantyr," but wrongly attributes a beautiful translation of
it to Gray. He quotes at length from "a
noble ode, called in the northern chronicles the Elogium of Hacon, by
the scald Eyvynd; who, for his superior
skill in poetry was called the Cross of Poets (Eyvindr
Skalldaspillir), and fought in the battle which he
celebrated."
He knows how Iceland touched England, as this passage will
show: "That the Icelandic bards were common
in England during the Danish invasions, there are numerous proofs.
Egill, a celebrated Icelandic poet, having
murthered the son and many of the friends of Eric Blodaxe, king of
Denmark or Norway, then residing in
Northumberland, and which he had just conquered, procured a pardon by
singing before the king, at the
command of his queen Gunhilde, an extemporaneous ode. Egill
compliments the king, who probably was his
patron, with the appellation of the English chief. 'I offer my
freight to the king. I owe a poem for my ransom. I
present to the ENGLISH CHIEF the mead of Odin.' Afterwards he calls
this Danish conqueror the commander
of the Scottish fleet. 'The commander of the Scottish fleet fattened
the ravenous birds. The sister of Nera
(Death) trampled on the foe: she trampled on the evening food of the
eagle.'"
So wide a knowledge and so keen an appreciation of Old Norse in a
Warton, whose interest was chiefly
elsewhere, argues for a spreading popularity of the ancient
literature. Thus far, only Gray has made living
English literature out of these old stories, and he only two short
poems. There were other attempts to achieve
poetic success with this foreign material, but a hundred exacting
years have covered them with oblivion.
DRAKE (1766-1836). MATHIAS (1754-1835).
In the second decade of the nineteenth century, Nathan Drake, M.D.,
made a strong effort to popularize Norse
mythology and literature. The fourth edition of his work entitled
Literary Hours (London, 1820) contains[11]
an appreciative article on the subject, the fullness of which is
indicated in these words from p. 309:
"The most striking and characteristic parts of the Scandinavian
mythology, together with no inconsiderable
portion of the manners and customs of our northern ancestors, have
now passed before the reader; their
theology, warfare, and poetry, their gallantry, religious rites, and
superstitions, have been separately, and, I
trust, distinctly reviewed."
The essay is written in an easy style that doubtless gained for it
many readers. All the available knowledge of
the subject was used, and a clearer view of it was presented than had
been obtainable in Percy's "Mallet." The
author was a thoughtful man, able to detect errors in Warton and
Percy, but his zeal in his enterprise led him
to praise versifiers inordinately that had used the "Gothic fables."
He quotes liberally from writers whose
books are not to be had in this country, and certainly the uninspired
verses merit the neglect that this fact
indicates. He calls Sayers' pen "masterly" that wrote these lines:
Coucher of the ponderous spear,
Thou shout'st amid the battle's stound—
The armed Sisters hear,
Viewless hurrying o'er the ground
They strike the destin'd chiefs and call them to the skies.
(P. 168.)
From Penrose he quotes such lines as these:
The feast begins, the skull goes round,
Laughter shouts—the shouts resound.
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
II. THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF LATIN. 12

The gust of war subsides—E'en now
The grim chief curls his cheek, and smooths his rugged brow.
(P. 171.)
From Sterling comes this imitation of Gray:
Now the rage of combat burns,
Haughty chiefs on chiefs lie slain;
The battle glows and sinks by turns,
Death and carnage load the plain.
(P 172.)
From these extracts, it appears that the poets who imitated Gray
considered that only "dreadful songs," like
his, were to be found in Scandinavian poetry.
Downman, Herbert and Mathias are also adduced by Dr. Drake as
examples of poets who have gained much
by Old Norse borrowings, but these borrowings are invariably scenes
from a chamber of horrors. It occurs to
me that perhaps Dr. Drake had begun to tire of the spiritless echoes
of the classical schools, and that he fondly
hoped that such shrieks and groans as those he admired in this essay
would satisfy his cravings for better
things in poetry. But the critic had no adequate knowledge of the way
in which genius works. His one desire
in these studies of Scandinavian mythology was "to recommend it to
the votaries of the Muse, as a machinery
admirably constructed for their purpose" (p. 158). He hopes for "a
more extensive adoption of the
Scandinavian mythology, especially in our epic and lyric
compositions" (p. 311). We smile at the notion,
to-day, but that very conception of poetry as "machinery" is
characteristic of a whole century of our English
literature.
The Mathias mentioned by Drake is Thomas James Mathias, whose book,
Odes Chiefly from the Norse
Tongue (London, 1781), received the distinction of an American
reprint (New York, 1806). Bartholinus
furnishes the material and Gray the spirit for these pieces.
AMOS S. COTTLE(1768-1800). WILLIAM HERBERT (1778-1847).
In this period belong two works of translation that mark the approach
of the time when Old Norse prose and
poetry were to be read in the original. As literature they are of
little value, and they had but slight influence on
succeeding writers.
At Bristol, in 1797, was published Icelandic Poetry, or, The Edda of
Saemund translated into English Verse,
by A.S. Cottle of Magdalen College, Cambridge. This work has an
Introduction containing nothing worth
discussing here, and an "Epistle" to A.S. Cottle from Robert Southey.
The laureate, in good blank verse,
discourses on the Old Norse heroes whom he happens to know about.
They are the old favorites, Regner
Lodbrog and his sons; in Southey's poem the foeman's skull is, as
usual, the drinking cup. It was certainly
time for new actors and new properties to appear in English versions
of Scandinavian stories.
The translations are twelve in number, and evince an intelligent and
facile versifier. When all is said, these old
songs could contribute to the pleasure of very few. Only a student of
history, or a poet, or an antiquarian,
would dwell with loving interest on the lays of Vafthrudnis, Grimner,
Skirner and Hymer (as Cottle spells
them). Besides, they are difficult to read, and must be abundantly
annotated to make them comprehensible. In
such works as this of Cottle, a Scott might find wherewith to lend
color to a story or a poem, but the common
man would borrow Walpole's words, used in characterizing
Gray's "Odes": "They are not interesting, and do
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
II. THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF LATIN. 13

not ... touch any passion; our human feelings ... are not here
affected. Who can care through what horrors a
Runic savage arrived at all the joys and glories they could conceive—
the supreme felicity of boozing ale out
of the skull of an enemy in Odin's hall?"[12]
In 1804 a book was published bearing this title-page: Select
Icelandic Poetry, translated from the originals:
with notes. The preface was signed by the author, William Herbert.
The pieces are from Saemund,
Bartholinus, Verelius, and Perinskjoeld's edition of Heimskringla,
and were all translated with the assistance
of the Latin versions. The notes are explanatory of the allusions and
the hiatuses in the poems. Reference is
made to MSS. of the Norse pieces existing in museums and libraries,
which the author had consulted. Thus we
see scholarship beginning to extend investigations. As for the verses
themselves not much need be said. They
are not so good as Cottle's, although they received a notice from
Scott in the Edinburgh Review. The thing to
notice about the work is that it pretends to come direct from Old
Norse, not, as most of the work dealt with so
far, via Latin.
Icelandic poetry is more difficult to read than Icelandic prose, and
so it seems strange that the former should
have been attacked first by English scholars. Yet so it was, and
until 1844 our English literature had no other
inspiration in old Norse writings than the rude and rugged songs that
first lent their lilt to Gray. The human
North is in the sagas, and when they were revealed to our people,
Icelandic literature began to mean
something more than Valhalla and the mead-bouts there. The scene was
changed to earth, and the gods gave
place to nobler actors, men and women. The action was lifted to the
eminence of a world-drama. But before
the change came Sir Walter Scott, and it is fitting that the first
period of Norse influence in English literature
should close, as it began, with a great master.
SIR WALTER SCOTT (1771-1832).
In 1792, Walter Scott was twenty-one years old, and one of his note-
books of that year contains this entry:
"Vegtam's Kvitha or The Descent of Odin, with the Latin of Thomas
Bartholine, and the English poetical
version of Mr. Gray; with some account of the Death of Balder, both
as related in the Edda, and as handed
down to us by the Northern historians—Auctore Gualtero Scott."
According to Lockhart,[13] the Icelandic,
Latin and English versions were here transcribed, and the historical
account that followed—seven closely
written quarto pages—was read before a debating society.
It was to be expected that one so enthusiastic about antiquities as
Scott would early discover the treasury of
Norse history and song. At twenty-one, as we see, he is transcribing
a song in a language he knew nothing
about, as well as in translations. Fourteen years later, he has
learned enough about the subject to write a
review of Herbert's Poems and Translations.[14]
In 1813, he writes an account of the Eyrbyggja Saga for Illustrations
of Northern Antiquities (edited by
Robert Jameson, Edinburgh, 1814).
There are two of Scott's contributions to literature that possess
more than a mere tinge of Old Norse
knowledge, namely, the long poem "Harold, the Dauntless" (published
in 1817), and the long story "The
Pirate" (published in 1821). The poem is weak, but it illustrates
Scott's theory of the usefulness of poetical
antiquities to the modern poet. In another connection Scott said: "In
the rude song of the Scald, we regard less
the strained imagery and extravagance of epithet, than the wild
impressions which it conveys of the dauntless
resolution, savage superstition, rude festivity and ceaseless
depredations of the ancient Scandinavians."[15]
The poet did his work in accordance with this theory, and so
in "Harold, the Dauntless," we note no flavor of
the older poetry in phrase or in method. Harold is fierce enough and
grim enough to measure up to the old
ideal of a Norse hero.
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
II. THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF LATIN. 14

"I was rocked in a buckler and fed from a blade," is his boast before
his newly christened father, and in his
apostrophe to his grandsire Eric, the popular notion of early Norse
antiquarianism is again exhibited:
In wild Valhalla hast thou quaffed
From foeman's skull metheglin draught?
Scott's scholarship in Old Norse was largely derived from the Latin
tomes, and such conceptions as those
quoted are therefore common in his poem. That the poet realized the
inadequacy of such knowledge, the
review of Herbert's poetry, published in the Edinburgh Review for
October, 1806, shows. In this article he has
a vision of what shall be when men shall be able "to trace the Runic
rhyme" itself.
"The Pirate," exhibited the Wizard's skill in weaving the old and the
new together, the old being the traditions
of the Shetlands, full of the ancestral beliefs in Old Norse things,
the new being the life in those islands in a
recent century. This is a stirring story, that comes into our
consideration because of its Scandinavian
antiquities. Again we find the Latin treasuries of Bartholinus,
Torfaeus, Perinskjoeld and Olaus Magnus in
evidence, though here, too, mention is made of "Haco," and Tryggvason
and "Harfager." With a background
of island scenery, with which Scott became familiar during a light-
house inspector's voyage made in 1814,
this story is a picture full of vivid colors and characters. In Norna
of the Fitful Head, he has created a
mysterious personage in whose mouth "Runic rhymes" are the only
proper speech. She stills the tempest with
them, and "The Song of the Tempest" is a strong apostrophe, though it
is neither Runic nor rhymed. She
preludes her life-story with verses that are rhymed but not Runic,
and she sings incantations in the same wise.
This Reimkennar is an echo of the Voeluspa, and is the only kind of
Norse woman that the time of Scott could
imagine. Claud Halcro, the poet, is fond of rhyming the only kind of
Norseman known to his time, and in his
"Song of Harold Harfager" we hear the echoes of Gray's odes. Scott's
reading was wide in all ancient lore, and
he never missed a chance to introduce an odd custom if it would make
an interesting scene in his story. So
here we have the "Sword Dance" (celebrated by Olaus Magnus, though I
have never read of it in Old Norse),
the "Questioning of the Sibyl" (like that in Gray's "Descent of
Odin"), the "Capture and Sharing of the
Whale," and the "Promise of Odin." In most of the natives there are
turns of speech that recall the Norse
ancestry of the Shetlanders.
In Scott, then, we see the lengthening out of the influence of the
antiquarians who wrote of a dead past in a
dead language. The time was at hand when that past was to live again,
painted in the living words of living
men.
III. FROM THE SOURCES THEMSELVES.
In the preceding section we noted the achievements of English
scholarship and genius working under great
disadvantages. Gray and Scott may have had a smattering of Icelandic,
but Latin translations were necessary
to reveal the meaning of what few Old Norse texts were available to
them. This paucity of material, more than
the ignorance of the language, was responsible for the slow progress
in popularizing the remarkable literature
of the North. Scaldic and Eddie poems comprised all that was known to
English readers of that literature, and
in them the superhuman rather than the human elements were
predominant.
We have come now to a time when the field of our view broadens to
include not only more and different
material, but more and different men. The sagas were annexed to the
old songs, and the body of literature to
attract attention was thus increased a thousand fold. The
antiquarians were supplanted by scholars who,
although passionately devoted to the study of the past, were still
vitally interested in the affairs of the time in
which they lived. The second and greatest stage of the development of
Old Norse influence in England has a
mark of distinction that belongs to few literary epochs. The men who
made it lived lives that were as heroic in
devotion to duty and principle as many of those written down in the
sagas themselves. I have sometimes
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
III. FROM THE SOURCES THEMSELVES. 15

wondered whether it is merely accidental that English saga scholars
were so often men of high soul and strong
action. Certain it is that Richard Cleasby, and Samuel Laing, and
George Webbe Dasent, and Robert Lowe are
types of men that the Icelanders would have celebrated, as
having "left a tale to tell" in their full and active
lives. And no less certain is it that Thomas Carlyle, and Matthew
Arnold, and William Morris, and Charles
Kingsley, and Gerald Massey labored for a better manhood that should
rise to the stature and reflect the
virtues of the heroes of the Northland.
RICHARD CLEASBY (1797-1847).
In the forties of the nineteenth century several minds began to work,
independently of one another, in this
wider field of Icelandic literature. Richard Cleasby (1797-1847), an
English merchant's son with scholarly
instincts, began the study of the sagas, but made slight progress
because of what he called an "unaccountable
and most scandalous blank," the want of a dictionary. This was in
1840, and for the next seven years he
labored to fill up that blank. The record[16] of those years is a
wonderful witness to the heroism and spirit of
the scholar, and justifies Sir George Dasent's characterization of
Cleasby as "one of the most indefatigable
students that ever lived." The work thus begun was not completed
until many years afterward (it is dated
1874), and, by untoward circumstances, very little of it is Richard
Cleasby's. But generous scholarship
acknowledged its debt to the man who gave his strength and his wealth
to the work, by placing his name on
the title-page. No less shall we fail to honor his memory by
mentioning his labors here. Although the
dictionary was not completed in the decade of its inception, the
study that it was designed to promote took
hold on a number of men and the results were remarkable for both
literature and scholarship.
THOMAS CARLYLE (1795-1881).
First in order of time was the work of Thomas Carlyle. It will not
seem strange to the student of English
literature to find that this writer came under the influence of the
old skalds and sagaman and spoke
appreciative words concerning them. His German studies had to take
cognizance of the Old Norse treasuries
of poetry, and he became a diligent reader of Icelandic literature in
what translations he could get at, German
and English. The strongest utterance on the subject that he left
behind him is in "Lecture I" of the series "On
Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History," dated May, 1840.
This is a treatment of Scandinavian
mythology, rugged and thorough, like all of this man's work. Carlyle
evinces a scholar's instinct in more than
one place, as, for instance, when he doubts the grandmother etymology
of Edda, an etymology repeated until
a much later day by scholars of a less sure sense.[17] But this
lecture "On Heroes" is also a glorification of the
literature with which we are dealing, and in this regard it is worthy
of special note here.
In the first place, Carlyle with true critical instinct caught the
essence of it; to him it seemed to have "a rude
childlike way of recognizing the divineness of Nature, the divineness
of Man." For him Scandinavian
mythology was superior in sincerity to the Grecian, though it lacked
the grace of the latter. "Sincerity, I think,
is better than grace. I feel that these old Northmen were looking
into Nature with open eye and soul: most
earnest, honest; childlike, and yet manlike; with a great-hearted
simplicity and depth and freshness, in a true,
loving, admiring, unfearing way. A right valiant, true old race of
men." This is a truer appreciation than Gray
and Walpole had, eighty years before. In the second place, Carlyle
was not misled into thinking that valor in
war was the only characteristic of the rude Norseman, and skill in
drinking his only household virtue.
"Beautiful traits of pity, too, and honest pity." Then he tells of
Baldur and Nanna, in his rugged prose account
anticipating Matthew Arnold. Other qualities of the literature appeal
to him. "I like much their robust
simplicity; their veracity, directness of conception. Thor 'draws
down his brows' in a veritable Norse rage;
'grasps his hammer till the knuckles grow white." Again; "A great
broad Brobdignag grin of true humor is this
Skrymir; mirth resting on earnestness and sadness, as the rainbow on
the black tempest: only a right valiant
heart is capable of that." Still again: "This law of mutation, which
also is a law written in man's inmost
thought, has been deciphered by these old earnest Thinkers in their
rude style."
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature
III. FROM THE SOURCES THEMSELVES. 16

Thomas Carlyle, seeking to explain the worship of a pagan divinity,
chose Odin as the noblest example of
such a hero. The picture of Odin he drew from the prose Edda, mainly,
and his purpose required that he paint
the picture in the most attractive colors. So it happened that our
English literature got its first complete view
of Old Norse ethics and art. The memory of Gray's "dreadful songs"
had ruled for almost a century, and
ordinary readers might be pardoned for thinking that Old Norse
literature, like Old Norse history, was written
in blood. We have seen that Gray's imitators perpetuated the old
idea, and that even Scott sanctioned it, and
now we see England's emancipation from it. The grouty old Scotchman
of Craigenputtoch knew no more
Icelandic than most of his fellow countrymen (be it noted that he
said: "From the Humber upwards, all over
Scotland, the speech of the common people is still in a si<br/><br/>(Message over 64 KB, truncated)