142
THEY MIXED HONEY
WITH THE BLOOD AND
IT TURNED INTO MEAD
THE MEAD OF POETRY
O
din was primarily a god
of kingship, war, and
wisdom, but he was also
the god of poetry. All human poets
owe their inspiration to Odin’s
theft of the Mead of Poetry from
the giant Suttung. In the story of
this theft, Odin fulfilled the role of
a “culture hero,” a mythological
figure who brings a valuable gift
to humankind.
Like many other treasures,
the Mead of Poetry, which is a
metaphor for poetic inspiration,
was created by dwarves. The wise
being Kvasir innocently accepted
the hospitality of the dwarves
Fjalar and Galar, only to be
murdered by them. The dwarves
poured Kvasir’s blood into three
vessels and mixed the blood with
honey, turning it into a mead that
made anyone who drank it either a
poet or a scholar. They told the
gods that Kvasir had suffocated in
his own intelligence because he
could not find anyone learned
enough to talk to.The dwarves lost the Mead of
Poetry after killing the giant Gilling
and his wife. Gilling’s son, Suttung,
seized the dwarves, took them to a
rocky island, and threatened to
leave them to drown as the tide
came in. The dwarves then gave
Suttung the mead as compensation
for the death of his parents. Suttung
hid it in a mountain with his
daughter Gunnlod guarding it.Stealing the mead
Odin, a master of disguise as well
as a shape-shifter, wanted to steal
the mead for himself. Disguised as
a handsome laborer namedIN BRIEF
THEME
Origins of poetrySOURCE
Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson,
ca. 1220 ce.SETTING
Jötunheim, the homeland
of the giants.CHARACTERS
Odin The leader of the gods,
who turned into a handsome
man named Bolverk.Kvasir A male being of
extraordinary wisdom.Gilling A frost giant.Fjalar and Galar Dwarves,
murderers of Kvasir and
Gilling.Suttung Gi l l ing’s son.Gunnlod Suttung’s daughter,
who was seduced by Odin.Baugi Suttung’s brother, who
helped Odin reach the mead.Baugi drilled into a mountain to
reach the Mead of Poetry with an auger
named Rati. Baugi did not truly want
Odin to obtain the mead, and tried but
failed to kill the god with the auger.US_142-143_Mead_of_poetry.indd 142 01/12/17 4:22 pm
NORTHERN EUROPE 143
See also: Pandora’s box 40–41 ■ The many affairs of Zeus 42–47 ■ Odin and the world tree 134–39 ■
Nanga Baiga 212–13Bolverk, he hired himself out to
Suttung’s brother Baugi and agreed
to do the work of nine men for a
summer in return for a single drink
of Suttung’s mead. When winter
came, Baugi asked his brother to
give Odin a drink of the mead.
Suttung refused, so Baugi agreed toOdin sits embracing Gunnlod and
holding a drinking horn in this
19th-century illustration by German
artist Johannes Gehrts. The Mead of
Poetry is in vessels around them.help Odin by drilling a hole in the
mountain, allowing him to enter in
the form of a snake.Odin’s escape
Turning himself back into Bolverk,
Odin seduced the lonely Gunnlod.
After he had spent three nightsNorse poetry
There are two surviving genres
of Norse poetry—skaldic verse
and eddic verse. Both styles
made considerable use of poetic
similes called kennings—for
example, calling a ship a “sea-
stallion.” Each genre relied on
alliteration, rather than rhyme,
for rhythm, but eddic verse used
simpler meters.
Skaldic verse was composed
by court poets called skalds,
whose main duty was to praise
their aristocratic patrons’courage, wisdom, wealth, and
generosity. Not surprisingly, war
was the main subject of skaldic
verse: it was full of violent
imagery and has been compared
by some scholars to modern day
gangsta rap. Most skalds were
warriors, expected to compose
verse in the heat of battle to
encourage warriors to fight
bravely. Eddic verse, on the
other hand, was always about
religious or legendary subjects.
While the authors of most
skaldic poems are known, eddic
verse was always anonymous.with her, Gunnlod gratefully
allowed Odin three drinks of the
mead. He took the first vessel
and emptied it in one gulp. After
doing the same with the remaining
two vessels of mead, Odin made
his escape by turning himself into
an eagle and flying away, leaving
behind a heartbroken Gunnlod.
Discovering the theft, Suttung
too took the shape of an eagle and
set off in hot pursuit. When Odin
flew over Asgard, he spat the mead
out into containers the gods had
placed in the courtyard. But he
was so closely pursued by Suttung
that he accidentally spat some
of the mead from his backside.
This less pure mead fell to the
ground and was free to take for
anyone who could make a simple
rhyme. The rest of the mead,
Odin kept for the gods and to
inspire those who were skilled
at making verse. ■Odin gave Suttung’s
mead to the Aesir and
to those people who
are skilled at
composing poetry.
Prose EddaUS_142-143_Mead_of_poetry.indd 143 01/12/17 4:22 pm