''Skáld-Helga rímur'' ('the ''rímur'' of Poet-Helgi', also ''Skáldhelga rímur'' or ''Skáldhelgarímur'') is an Icelandic ''

rímur In Icelandic literature, a ''ríma'' (, literally "a rhyme", pl. ''rímur'', ) is an epic poetry, epic poem written in any of the so-called ''rímnahættir'' (, "rímur meters"). They are rhymed, they alliterative verse, alliterate and consist of ...

''-poem from the 1400s. The poem comprises seven ''rímur'', based on a now lost ''

Íslendingasaga The sagas of Icelanders (, ), also known as family sagas, are a subgenre, or text group, of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives primarily based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early elev ...

'', '' Skáld-Helga saga'', set around the first half of the eleventh century. Each ''ríma'' begins with a ''

mansöngr A ''mansǫngr'' (literally 'maiden-song'; plural ''mansǫngvar''; modern Icelandic ''mansöngur'', plural ''mansöngvar'') is a form of Norse poetry. In scholarly usage the term has often been applied to medieval skaldic love-poetry; and it is used ...

''. The main character is the poet Helgi Þórðarson, portrayed as a retained of Erik Håkonsson and

Olaf the Holy Saint Olaf ( – 29 July 1030), also called Olaf the Holy, Olaf II, Olaf Haraldsson, and Olaf the Stout or "Large", was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the t ...

. Later, he travels to Rome and meets the Pope, before proceeding to Greenland, where he ends his days as a law-man at

Brattahlíð Brattahlíð (), often anglicised as Brattahlid, was Erik the Red's estate in the Eastern Settlement Viking colony he established in south-western Greenland toward the end of the 10th century. The present settlement of Qassiarsuk, approximatel ...

. The main theme of the ''rímur'' is the passionate love between Helgi and his betrothed, Þórkatla, from whom he is separated by fate and by human wickedness. The staves, which are based on variants of the metre ''

ferskeytt ''Ferskeytt'' (literally 'four-cornered') is an Icelandic stanzaic poetic form. It is a kind of quatrain, and probably first attested in fourteenth-century ''rímur'' such as ''Ólafs ríma Haraldssonar''. It remains one of the dominant metrical f ...

'', are often very sentimental. From the fourth ''ríma'' onwards, when Helgi goes to Greenland, there are also lurid supernatural elements: Helgi's boat is boarded by a walking corpse, while Greenland proves a den of robbers ruled by a witch. The composer of the ''rímur'' is unknown, but probably a priest or monk, since Helgi is portrayed as quite religious.Finnur Jónsson (1902), ''Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie'', part 3, København, pp. 41-42. Although the original saga is now lost, later prose version of the ''rímur'' do exist under the name ''Skáld-Helga saga''. The oldest manuscript of the ''rímur'' is Staðarhólsbók (Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, AM 604, 4to).

Editions

* ''Skáld-Helga rímur'' in Finnur Jónssons ''Rímnasafn: Samling af de ældste islandske rimer'', part 1, København 1905.

Translations

Finnur Magnússon Finnur Magnússon, sometimes referred to by the Danish version of his name under which he published, Finno Magnusun, Finn Magnussen or Magnusen, (27 August 1781 – 24 December 1847) was an Icelandic scholar and archaeologist who worked in Den ...

and

Carl Christian Rafn Carl Christian Rafn (January 16, 1795 – October 20, 1864) was a Danish historian, translator and antiquarian. His scholarship to a large extent focused on translation of Old Norse literature and related Northern European ancient history. He w ...

Skjald-Helge, Grönlands laugmand (Skáldhelgarímur)
', in ''Grønlands historiske Mindesmærker'', I, København 1838.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skáld-Helga rímur Icelandic literature Music of Iceland Rímur