Darraðarljóð

1

Darraðarljóð is a skaldic poem in Old Norse found in chapter 157 of Njáls saga. It consists of 11 stanzas recounting the vision of a man named Dörruð, in which twelve valkyries weave and choose who is to be slain at the Battle of Clontarf (fought outside Dublin in 1014). Their loom uses human entrails as warp and woof, swords as treadles, an arrow as the batten and men's heads as weights. Of the twelve valkyries weaving, six of their names are given: Hildr, Hjörþrimul, Sanngriðr, Svipul, Guðr, and Göndul. Stanza 9 of the song has been translated: The poem may have influenced the concept of the Three Witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth. Dörruð's vision is located in Caithness and the story is a "powerful mixture of Celtic and Old Norse imagery".

In popular culture

"The Fatal Sisters: An Ode" (published 1768) by Thomas Gray is a paraphrase of Darraðarljóð. Einar Selvik and Trevor Morris used stanzas from Darraðarljóð in the opening battle in season 2 of Vikings. Darraðarljóð was set to music in a 1964 composition for mixed chorus and orchestra by the Icelandic composer Jón Leifs (Op.60). , it remains unperformed.

This article is derived from Wikipedia and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. View the original article.

Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
Bliptext is not affiliated with or endorsed by Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation.

Edit article