Darraðarljóð

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.[1] 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:

Now awful it is to be without,
as blood-red rack races overhead;
is the welkin gory with warriors' blood
as we valkyries war-songs chanted.[2]

The poem may have influenced the concept of the Three Witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth.[3]

Dörruð's vision is located in Caithness and the story is a "powerful mixture of Celtic and Old Norse imagery".[4]

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). As of 2019, it remains unperformed.[5]

Notes
  1. Hollander, Lee, ed. (1998). Njál's saga. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Ltd. ISBN 1853267856.
  2. Hollander (1980:68).
  3. Simek (2007:57).
  4. Crawford (1987) p. 213
  5. Ingólfsson 2019

References
  • Crawford, Barbara E. (1987) Scandinavian Scotland. Leicester University Press. ISBN 0-7185-1197-2
  • Hollander, Lee Milton (1980). Old Norse Poems: The Most Important Nonskaldic Verse Not Included in the Poetic Edda. [1936]. Forgotten Books. ISBN 1-60506-715-6
  • Ingólfsson, Árni Heimir (2019) Jón Leifs and the Musical Invention of Iceland. Indiana University Press ISBN 9780253044051
  • Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer ISBN 0-85991-513-1
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