"Fyr is First, it burns, it thirsts;
it feasts on flesh and fallen foes.
Urth is dirt, the Second house
we dig the dead, decayed to dust.
Thorn is Third, it cuts, it carves;
a cold and cruel crown for kings.
Ald is age it wastes, it wanes;
want walks Forth; when time wreaks wreck.
Rech is smoke, the smog that smothers
the Fifth sense, smell. It chokes, it chars.
Claw is Sixth, it snicks, it snatches;
when sharp, it shivs, and dull, it catches."
This is the yfelgopes' rune poem from The Realms Thereunder. As someone once keen on Anglo-Saxon/Norse lore from my days as a Norse Pagan, I found it delightful. I even wondered if the yfelgopes were descended from Ymir the primordial giant of Germanic mythology.
Rune poems are a part of Germanic (Anglo-Saxon/Nordic/German) culture. Runes were an alphabet designed, the legend said, by the god Woden, who sacrificed himself to himself in order to gain the alphabetic wisdom. Runes are composed of straight lines, to make them easier to carve into wood. Each letter has a meaning, and the meanings were used both by ancient Norse Pagans and modern Pagan reconstructionists for both rune divination and rune magic.
I note that this rune poem uses a lot of alliteration--- words beginning with the same letter. Alliteration is a characteristic of early Germanic poetry which is often lost in translation. The Lee Hollander translation of the Poetic Edda makes much use of alliteration and gives one a flavor of the Old Norse originals, and for that reason is very popular among Norse Pagans/Odinists/Asatruar.
Here are the verses of the Anglo-Saxon rune poem that compare with the stanzas above:
Wealth is a comfort to all men;
yet must every man bestow it freely,
if he wish to gain honour in the sight of the Lord.
The aurochs is proud and has great horns;
it is a very savage beast and fights with its horns;
a great ranger of the moors, it is a creature of mettle.
The thorn is exceedingly sharp,
an evil thing for any knight to touch,
uncommonly severe on all who sit among them.
The mouth is the source of all language,
a pillar of wisdom and a comfort to wise men,
a blessing and a joy to every knight.
Riding seems easy to every warrior while he is indoors
and very courageous to him who traverses the high-roads
on the back of a stout horse.
The torch is known to every living man by its pale, bright flame;
it always burns where princes sit within.
The problem with this particular translation is that it gives ordinary English words--- wealth, aurochs, thorn, mouth--- for the Anglo-Saxon rune names, which is not common in the translations I'm used to (which I could not find).
But you can see that the yfelgopes' runes are not the same as the Anglo-Saxon ones--- the second rune is 'Urth' meaning earth/dirt, not aurochs, which is a kind of wild ox which is now extinct. Lawhead is tilting the yfelgopes' lore in the direction of being scary, while the ancient rune poems were aimed at nobles/upper class persons, who didn't think of themselves as scary although, in actual fact, they were.
Because of the excitement and coolness of the Anglo-Saxon elements such as the rune poem, the question arises: Is 'The Realms Thereunder' a suitable read for the Norse Pagan reader? Since there is a limited supply of fiction by actual Norse Pagan authors such as Diana Paxson, my answer is a yes. It has those Anglo-Saxon elements, it's well written, it has a good moral tone--- a matter of interest to our ancient Pagan ancestors.... I would say, yes, it's very suitable. Far more suitable than slightly Pagan-friendly works by atheist/agnostic authors who are only nice to Pagans now because they want to use Pagans as a tool in their fight against Christianity.
As a work by a Christian author, it probably raises the same concerns among Norse Pagans that a work by a Norse Pagan would among Christians. But I believe the Christian content of 'The Realms Thereunder' is low-key enough that the Pagan reader need not be offended. And it's a great book to share with Christian friends/relatives who share your interest in Germanic mythology.
By the same token, Christian readers might want to share the book with Norse Pagan, other Pagan, or Wiccan friends. NOT because it will make them 'get saved'. But because it's a good read that may appeal to their interests.
Book link - http://www.amazon.com/Realms-
Author’s Web site - http://www.rosslawhead.com/
Visiting other tour members' blogs is an ESSENTIAL part of the blog tour. To encourage this, I have hidden a variety of strange objects in the comments section of the blogs below. How many can you find?:
Gillian Adams
Red Bissell
Keanan Brand
Beckie Burnham
Melissa Carswell
Jeff Chapman
CSFF Blog Tour
Theresa Dunlap
Emmalyn Edwards
April Erwin
Victor Gentile
Tori Greene
Nikole Hahn
Ryan Heart
Bruce Hennigan
Timothy Hicks
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Rebekah Loper
Marzabeth
Shannon McDermott
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirriam Neal
Eve Nielsen
Nissa
John W. Otte
Donita K. Paul
Joan Nienhuis
Crista Richey
Sarah Sawyer
Chawna Schroeder
Kathleen Smith
Donna Swanson
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Shane Werlinger
Nicole White
Rachel Wyant
Thomas Clayton Booher
Janeen Ippolito
Oooohh, I didn't think to count how many. I'm going to venture a guess -- I'll say you hid 8 little creatures along the tour path. It was fun following your comments and seeing all the armadillos and such. ;-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting look at the poem. Sarah Sawyer did her post today on the poems in the book. I thought of you, Nissa, with your poetry contest. You should definitely mention it at Sarah's site.
Becky
“Runes, runes, runes... Runes. An inverted Algiz rune. The caption next to it said “Chernobog.” The Black God. Right. Of course, it wouldn’t be Chernobog, God of Morning Dew on the Rose Petals, but a woman could always hope.”
ReplyDelete― Ilona Andrews, Magic Slays
;)
Runes are neat.