Introduction to Gríplur I
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in Iceland, many of the Sagas or portions of them were turned into rhyming verse known as Rímur. Sagas of almost every class were subjected to this treatment—Íslendinga Sögur, Fornaldar Sögur, Fornmanna Sögur and others. It is supposed that in the first place these rhymed versions (Rímur) were made for the purpose of recitation at social gatherings. There is ground for believing that the Rímur were sometimes recited, as an accompaniment of dances in Iceland1; but this is not believed to have been the purpose for which they were originally composed2.
According to both Jónsson3 and Mogk4, the Rímur and other forms of rhyming verse in early Norse poetry originated in the Mediaeval Latin Church Hymns introduced into Iceland in the thirteenth century. The similarity between the rhyming metres of the Latin and many (though not all) of the forms of verse used in the Rímur is very striking. Whether the influence of Latin hymns in Iceland was directly responsible for the change, however, as Jónsson and Mogk believe, or whether the Latin hymns only influenced Norse verse indirectly through the medium of French poetry, is problematical. Perhaps these compositions owe their origin to the fashion of turning all kinds of material, likely and unlikely, into rhyming verse—a fashion which originated in France, and from the latter part of the twelfth century onwards gradually made its way over most of the West and North of Europe. The rhyming chronicles of the fourteenth century in England may be mentioned as one instance of this fashion, and the rhyming paraphrases of the splendid prose of Iceland are an outcome of the same movement.
The Gríplur, some twenty stanzas of which are given below, represent this stage in the development of Icelandic literature. It may be observed that, like other Rímur, they are the work of educated people—a fact which makes the wretched quality of much of the verse all the more striking, especially when they are contrasted with the ballads, which are, at least in most cases, the work of the unlettered. Unattractive however as they appear to the modern mind, it has been thought advisable to include a short extract from them here because it seems possible that in some cases the Faroese ballads may have derived their material from Iceland through the intermediate stage of the Rímur rather than from the Saga direct.
Reference is made to the exploits of Hromund in other Rímur besides the Gríplur, notably in the Málsháttakvæði, the Skíða-Ríma5 (which is interesting as being based, in all probability, on an earlier poem than the Gríplur) and in the Klerka-Ríma6. And he and Thrain the Berserk still live in the popular songs of the North. He is the Ungen Ranild7 of the Danish ballad; and in the Norwegian ballad Ramund den Unge8, Ramund (Hromund) and Hölgi (Helgi) appear as rivals for the hand of Svanhvit (who, however, is not mentioned by name). Like some of the Faroese ballads on the Hervarar Saga, these later versions are far removed from the story as we know it from early Icelandic sources9. They are of interest only to those who care for folk song and ballad for their freshness and their naïve simplicity10.
Footnote 1: Cf. Finnur Jónsson, Oldnorske og Oldislandske Litteraturs Historie, Vol. iii, p. 35.
Footnote 2: Cf. F. Jónsson, op. cit., Vol. iii, p. 36; also Eugen Mogk, Geschichte der Norwegisch-Isländischen Literatur (Strasburg, 1904), p. 722.
Footnote 3: Op. cit., iii, p. 26 ff.
Footnote 4: Op. cit., p. 722 ff.
Footnote 5: Ed. by K. Maurer, Munich, 1869; F. Jónsson, Carmina Scaldica (Copenhagen, 1913).
Footnote 6: Codex A.M. 604 H.
Footnote 7: S. Grundtvig, Danmarks Gamle Folkeviser, Vol. i, p. 367 ff.
Footnote 8: M. B. Landstad, Norske Folkeviser (Christiania, 1853), p. 189 ff.
Footnote 9: Cf. Kölbing, Beiträge zur Vergleichenden Geschichte der Romantischen Poesie und Prosa des Mittelalters, pp. 185-187.
Footnote 10: For further ballads on the story of Hromund Greipsson, cf. Andrews, Studies in the Fornaldarsögur Northrlanda, in Modern Philology, 1911, 1912.]