Hárbarðsljóð
thumb|"Greybeard mocks Thor" (1908) by W. G. Collingwood. Hárbarðsljóð (Old Norse: 'The Lay of Hárbarðr') is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda, found in the Codex Regius and AM 748 I 4to manuscripts. It is a flyting poem with figures from Norse Paganism. Hárbarðsljóð was first written down in the late 13th century but may have had an older history as an oral poem.
Article
8 sectionsContents
- Synopsis
- Structure
- Theories
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
- English translations
- Old Norse editions
thumb|"Greybeard mocks Thor" (1908) by W. G. Collingwood. Hárbarðsljóð (Old Norse: 'The Lay of Hárbarðr') is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda, found in the Codex Regius and AM 748 I 4to manuscripts. It is a flyting poem with figures from Norse Paganism. Hárbarðsljóð was first written down in the late 13th century but may have had an older history as an oral poem.
==Synopsis== thumb|"Thor threatens Greybeard" (1908) by W. G. Collingwood. In this poem, the ferryman Harbard and the god Thor compete in a flyting or verbal contest with one other. The ferryman Hárbarðr (Greybeard) is rude and obnoxious towards Thor who is returning to Asgard after a journey in Jötunheimr, the land of the jötnar. Hárbarðr obstructs his way and refuses him passage across a swollen river. He begins by saying that Thor dresses poorly (in a beggars clothes, without pants) and that his mother is dead. In the course of the poem, Harbard boasts of his sexual prowess, his magical and tactical abilities, asking Thor about his. Thor responds, telling how he defeated Giants. Ultimately, after mocking him at length, Harbard curses Thor and tells him to walk around.