Thomas Gray was one of the most influential and popular poets of the eighteenth century. He first achieved success in 1751 with the publication of “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”. Gray is connected with the poetry of sensibility and seen as a precursor for many of the developments that would lead to the flowering of Romanticism. Gray was also a scholar, who took an interest in both Old Norse and Celtic traditions. However, the two Icelandic poems included here were translated into English via Latin versions. Gray composed his translations in 1761, but they would await publication until the bookseller Robert Dodsley included them in the 1768 edition of Gray’s Poems.

In a short “Advertisement” prefacing the poems, Gray explains that the odes were intended to illustrate Norse verse as an early influence on English poetry:

The history of English poetry was planned with the minor poet William Mason (the “Friend” referred to above), but it was never completed. The “Person” mentioned in the last line is the poet and antiquary Thomas Warton (1728–1790), to whom Gray sent his notes, after he decided to abandon the project. Warton published his History of English Poetry in three volumes between 1774 and 1781. In the preface to the first volume, Warton refers to Gray’s aborted plans.

The scholarly value of the odes, as representative of the Norse “style” influencing the development of English verse, is vitiated by the fact that both pieces are imaginative recreations rather than translations (“The Fatal Sisters” more so than “The Descent of Odin”). Evidently, Gray’s re-imagining of these poems suited eighteenth-century preoccupation with the Gothic and superstitious, and they became enormously popular. The odes were often reprinted, cited, imitated and even parodied.

The Norse original of The Fatal Sisters. An Ode is found in chapter 157 of Njáls saga (13th century). The poem relates to the Battle of Clontarff, near Dublin in 1014. It centres on the image of the Valkyries, who are singing about the outcome of this battle. The song is recorded by a passer- by.

The original is known as Darraðarljóð (“Lay of Darts”). Through metaphoric association, the Valkyries’ weaving and cutting of human lives on the loom of fate is compared to the web of arrows in the air over the battlefield. The type of loom referred to in the poem used a movable rod connected with loops to the back threads; this rod is called skapt, which is the word also used for the pole of a spear or other weapon (as in ON spjótskapt, “spear-shaft”). In fact, the poem is a major documentary source for information about weaving in Scandinavia. See Jenny Jochens, Women in Old Norse Society (Ithaca, NY: London: Cornell University Press 1995), 136–7. The poem describes a standing loom consisting of two posts on top of which rests a crossbeam. Threads were weighted at the bottom with stones or other heavy objects. But Gray is primarily interested in its imaginative effects and the horrific image of female deities weaving a cloth from human intestines on a loom weighted by human heads.

An undated entry in Gray’s Commonplace Book, entitled “Gothic”, refers to the poem as “The Song of the Weird Sisters, or Valkyries”.See William Powell Jones, Thomas Gray. Scholar [1937] (repr. New York: Russell & Russell, 1964), 103. Shakespeare critics of the eighteenth century asserted that the “weird Sisters” in Macbeth were based on Scottish folklore; in turn this was a corrupt remnant of Old Norse religion (parts of lowland Scotland had been occupied by Vikings).Shakespeare’s early eighteenth-century editor Lewis Theobald had identified Shakespeare’s Weird Sisters with “the Fates of the northern nations; the three hand maids of Odin” in his edition of 1726. This assertion was repeated by William Warburton in his edition of Shakespeare’s works (1747). Shakespeare’s “weird sisters” play an important role in deciding the fortunes of the agents in the play. Furthermore, the English weird is cognate of the Old Norse urðr (“fate”). Although Gray does not mention it, the purported link between the Norse “fatal sisters” and Shakespeare’s witches was certainly a reason for including this poem as an example of early influence on the development of English literary history.

Gray’s version is a rather free paraphrase of the original. Some lines bear no relationship to the Latin text, from which he worked. The first atmospheric stanza, for example, has no equivalent in the source. At other times, Gray can be seen to intensify the descriptions of the original. To mention just one example, the line: “Gored with many a gaping wound” (l. 42) adds colour to the simple description of being shot to death by arrows, where the Latin source simply has sagittis occubuit comes (“from arrows the Earl is dead”). Furthermore, Gray liberally interpolates adjectives such as “griesly”, “gasping”, and “trembling” throughout. For comparison, Gray’s Latin source text and the Icelandic original can be seen here.The poem was first translated in Thomas Bartholin’s Antiquitatum Danicarum De Causis Contemptae A Danis Adhuc Gentilibus Mortis (Copenhagen, 1689), 617–24. It was later reproduced in Thormodus Torfæus’s Orcades Seu Rerum Orcadensium Historiae (Copenhagen, 1697), 36–8. Bartholin’s Latin text reads: Late diffunditur Ante stragem futuram Sagittarum nubes: Depluit sanguis: Iam hastis applicatur Cineracea Tela virorum Quam amicae texunt Rubro subtegmine [i.q. subtemine. Randveri mortis. Texitur haec Tela Intestinis humanis, Staminique stricte alligantur Capita humana, Sunt sanguine roratae Hastae pro Insilibus Textoria Instrumenta ferrea Ac Sagittae pro Radiis: Densabimus Gladiis Hanc Victoriae Telam. Prodeunt ad texendum Hilda Et Hiorthrimula, Sargrida et Swipula Cum strictis Gladiis; Hastile frangetur, Scutum diffindetur, Ensisque Clypeo illidetur. Texamus, texamus Telam Darradar! Hunc (Gladium) Rex Juvenis Prius possidebat. Prodeamus, Et Cohortes entremus Ubi nostri Amici Armis dimicant! Texamus, texamus Telam Darradi; Et Regi deinde Deinde adhaereamus! Ibi videbant Sanguine rorata scuta Gunna et Gondula Quae Regem tutabantur. Texamus, texamus Telam Darradi! Ubi Arma concrepant Bellacium Virorum Non sinamus eum Vita privari: Habent Valkyriae Csedis potestatem. Illi Populi terras regent Qui deserta Promontoria Antea incolebant. Dico potenti Regi Mortem imminere Jam Sagittis occubuit Comes: Et Hibernis Dolor accidet, Qui nunquam Apud Viros delebitur. Jam Tela texta est. Campus vero (Sanguine) roratus: Terras percurret Conflictus Militum. Nunc horrendum est Circumspicere Cum Sanguinea Nubes Per Aera volitet: Tingetur Aer Sanguine Virorum, Antequam Vaticinia nostra Omnia corruent. Bene canimus De Rege juvene, Victoriae carmina multa: Bene sit nobis canentibus! Discat autem ille Qui auscultat Bellica Carmina multa Et Viris referat. Equitemus in Equis Quoniam efferimus gladios strictos Ex hoc loco.

The original Icelandic text is here transcribed (from Íslendínga sögur, vol. 4. Njála [Copenhagen: S. L. Möllers bogtrykkeri, 1875], 899–900].

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(From the Norse-Tongue,)

IN THE ORCADES of THORMODUS TORFÆUS; HAFNIÆ, 1697, Folio: and also in BARTHOLINUS.

VITT ER ORPIT FYRIR VALFALLI, &c.The full sentence reads: Vitt er orpit fyr valfalli/ rifs rei[th]i-ský. It is difficult to do justice to this in English translation: “Wide stretched is the pendant cloud (reiði-, passive, “held suspended”) on the crossbeam (rifr), blood rains down”. The “cloud” is the image used about the threads suspended on the loom’s crossbeams.

In the Eleventh Century Sigurd, Earl of the Orkney-Islands, went with a fleet of ships and a considerable body of troops into Ireland, to the assistance of Sictrygg with the silken beard, who was then making war on his father-in-law Brian, King of Dublin; the Earl and all his forces were cut to pieces, and Sictryg was in danger of a total defeat; but the enemy had a greater loss by the death of Brian, their King, who fell in the action. The Battle of Clontarf took place on April 23, 1014, when the forces of Brian Boru, High King of the Irish met with the armies led by the King of Leinster, Máel Mórda mac Murchada, joined by Viking mercenaries. Brian’s forces marched into Leinster to quench the rebellion. Máel Mórda sent his cousin Sigtrygg Silkbeard, the Viking king of Dublin, to find help overseas. Sigtrygg enlisted the support of the Earl of Orkney, Sigurd Lodvesson, as well as the leader of the Isle of Man, Brodir. In the battle, Brian’s forces were victorious, but Brian himself was killed by Norsemen who were fleeing the battle but stumbled upon his tent. On Christmas-day, (the day of the battle,) Torfæus makes it clear that the battle occurred on Good Friday (eodem die passionis dominicae), i.e. April 23, 1014. a native of Caithness in Scotland saw at a distance a number of persons on horseback riding full speed towards a hill, and seeming to enter into it. Curiosity led him to follow them, till looking through an opening in the rocks The cave is Gray’s invention; the original refers to dyngja, which simply means a bower, or a place where women’s work is done. he saw twelve gigantic figures resembling women: they were all employed about a loom; and as they wove they sung the following dreadful song: which, when they had finished, they tore the web into twelve pieces, and (each taking her portion) galloped six to the north and as many to the south.

Note: The Valkyriur were female divinities, servants of Odin (or Woden ) in the Gothic mythology. Their name signifies Choosers of the Slain. They were mounted on swift horses, with drawn swords in their hands; and in the throng selected such as were destined to slaughter, and conducted them to Valkalla,This is a typo for Valhalla (“hall of the slain”). The OED records this as the first occurrence of the word in English, so the publisher or printer may have misspelled an unfamiliar term. the hall of Odin, or paradise of the Brave; where they attended the banquet, and served the departed Heroes with horns of mead and ale.

The second of Gray’s Norse odes is based on the poem known as Baldrs draumar (“Balder’s Dreams”), which is also called Vegtamskviða (“The Lay of the Wayfarer”) in some of the late manuscripts where it is preserved. The original is included in the Eddica minora, poems relating to Poetic Edda, but not in the Codex Regius, which contained the canon of the tradition. Gray’s source for the poem was chapter two of Bartholin’s text (p. 632).

The background of the story is not fully explained in the poem, but readers could read about its tragic circumstances in Paul-Henri Mallet’s work. To summarize briefly, Balder, the son of Odin and Frigg, is told in his dreams that he will soon die. The other gods therefore send Frigg to exact an oath from all gods, living beings, plants and stone, not to do Balder harm. However, she forgets the mistletoe. The trickster Loki takes advantage of this oversight and makes an arrow from mistletoe, which he gives to the blind Hödr (Gray’s “Hoder”), Baldr’s brother. Unknowingly, Hödr kills Baldr. Odin begot Vali on the giantess Rind[a] to revenge his dead son. Vali grew to be man in just one day and killed Hödr.

The poem takes place after the dreams. Gray omits the first four lines, which tells of the gods holding a council in which they decide to find out about Baldr’s fate. Odin dons the disguise of the traveller Vegtam (literally, “Way-tamer”) in order to awaken a völva from her grave. The völva could see into the future (hence, Gray’s translation “prophetess”), and the idea was to trick her into revealing the portents of Balder’s visions. Odin makes the re-animated völva answer a series of questions and thereby learns of Balder’s imminent death and how it will be revenged. For reasons no longer understood, Odin’s fourth question reveals his identity and the seeress bids him to leave, refusing to disclose any further information. Nonetheless, she alludes to the events that will take place at the end of the world: Ragnarök.

The poem contained many of the themes that would become familiar in Norse-inflected poetry during the Romantic era: the descent to the underworld, the waking of the dead, the use of magic incantations etc.