Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II: The Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane IV
“Who is the king | who captains the fleet,And to the land | the warriors leads?”
“Never shall Sigrun | from Sevafjoll,Hothbrodd king, | be held in thine arms;Granmar’s sons | full cold have grown,And the giant-steeds gray | on corpses gorge.”
“Maid, not fair | is all thy fortune,The Norns I blame | that this should be;This morn there fell | at FrekasteinBragi and Hogni | beneath my hand.
“At Hlebjorg fell | the sons of Hrollaug,Starkath the king | at Styrkleifar;Fighters more noble | saw I never,The body fought when | the head had fallen.
“On the ground full low | the slain are lying,Most are there | of the men of thy race;Nought hast thou won, | for thy fate it wasBrave men to bring | to the battle-field.”
“To life would I call | them who slaughtered lie,If safe on thy breast I might be.”
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II: The Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane IV is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetic Edda, Project Gutenberg ebook #73533, the Henry Adams Bellows translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Anonymous, Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II: The Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane IV, in The Poetic Edda (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #73533, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poetic-edda/helgakvitha-hundingsbana-ii-the-second-lay-of-helgi-hundings-4.html, id L15733.
Form and metre
Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II: The Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane IV is 20 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 6 AA lieA · beA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| “Who is the king | who captains the fleet, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| And to the land | the warriors leads?” | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| “Never shall Sigrun | from Sevafjoll, | 9 | /˘······· |
| Hothbrodd king, | be held in thine arms; | 8 | ········ |
| Granmar’s sons | full cold have grown, | 7 | ······· |
| And the giant-steeds gray | on corpses gorge.” | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| “Maid, not fair | is all thy fortune, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| The Norns I blame | that this should be; | 8 | ········ |
| This morn there fell | at Frekastein | 8 | ········ |
| Bragi and Hogni | beneath my hand. | 9 | ········· |
| “At Hlebjorg fell | the sons of Hrollaug, | 9 | ········· |
| Starkath the king | at Styrkleifar; | 8 | ········ |
| Fighters more noble | saw I never, | 9 | /˘·/˘··/˘ |
| The body fought when | the head had fallen. | 10 | ·/˘·····/˘ |
| “On the ground full low | the slain are lying, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Most are there | of the men of thy race; | 9 | ········· |
| Nought hast thou won, | for thy fate it was | 9 | ········· |
| Brave men to bring | to the battle-field.” | 9 | ······/˘· |
| “To life would I call | them who slaughtered lie, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| If safe on thy breast I might be.” | 8 | ········ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.