SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

104 Saga-Book of the Viking Society
there is no difference between 6i5inn's manner of speech
and Vaiprurinir's. On the other hand the subject-matter
and framework of Valuspa can hardly be separated, as
has already been shown. This demonstrates at once that
Valuspa was hammered out in a hotter forge.
The organisation of content and the cohesion of
Vafpruonismal show this even better. 6i5inn's first
question (st. 20) is, it is true, about the origin of heaven
and earth, and his next to last (st. 52) about his fall in
Ragnarok, but in st. 17 there is talk of the battlefield of
Surtr and the gods, in st. 48, right in the middle of other
material, of the noms, and so on. The poem is a jumble
of odd fragments of erudition without any proper
organisation, and no attempt is made to trace the causal
connection of events. In Valuspa it is quite different.
There the tale of the life of the gods is followed in strict
chronological order and each event is tied up with the next,
even though the pace is quick. The poem is sustained
by a strong framework of art and philosophy.
In Vafpruonismal the treatment of the subject is cool
and dry. The poem is clear and easily understood, full
of names and facts. On the other hand there is the swell
of poetic excitement in Valuspa. It is true that the
principal events of the mythology had to be mentioned,
but the poet merely uses these as stepping-stones. In
Vafpruonismal they are like stones threaded on a string, in
Valuspa like gravel rolled onward by a rushing current.
This is why the poem is so obscure that hardly a single
stanza can be completely explained, and the way to
understanding is rather by living at the speed of the
current than by staring at individual pebbles.
The understanding of individual events is different. In
Vafpruonismal a crude imagination and an unpolished
taste, which swallows every camel of popular credulity,
produce such curious things as:
Undir hendi vaxa
kvMu hrimpursi