''Grettisfærsla'' (
'The Handing on of Grettir') is an
Old Icelandic
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...
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 separat ...
''. 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