''Grettisfærsla'' (
'The Handing on of Grettir') is an
Old Icelandic
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
poem, preserved in a fragmentary state only in the manuscript ''
Eggertsbók
Eggertsbók (Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, AM 556a-b 4to) is a fragmentary Icelandic manuscript, produced in the last quarter of the fifteenth century; its provenance is currently unknown. The manuscript now survives bound in two separate ...
''. The poem concerns a character called Grettir and is referred to in chapter 52 of ''
Grettis saga
''Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar'' (modern , reconstructed ), also known as ''Grettla'', ''Grettir's Saga'' or ''The Saga of Grettir the Strong'', is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It details the life of Grettir Ásmundarson, a bellicose Icelandic ou ...
''.
The poem is notable for its thematic focus on sex and the "indiscriminate sexuality" of its outlaw protagonist, expressed in direct, non-euphemistic language.
References
Further reading
* {{Cite book , last=Heslop , first=Kate , url=https://www.academia.edu/2453065 , title=Creating the medieval saga: versions, variability and editorial interpretations of Old Norse literature , publisher=University Press of Southern Denmark , year=2010 , editor-last=Quinn , editor-first=Judy , location=Odense , pages=213–36 , chapter=Grettir in Ísafjörður: Grettisfærsla and Grettis saga , editor-last2=Lethbridge , editor-first2=Emily , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220820130131/https://www.academia.edu/2453065/_Grettir_in_%C3%8Dsafj%C3%B6r%C3%B0ur_Grettisf%C3%A6rsla_and_Grettis_saga_ , archive-date=20 August 2022
Old Norse poetry