The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature Part 10

V.

IN THE LATTER DAYS.

ECHOES OF ICELAND IN LATER POETS.

After William Morris the northern strain that we have been listening for in the English poets seems feeble and not worth noting. Nevertheless, it must be remarked that in the harp of a thousand strings that wakes to music under the bard's hands, there is a sweep which thrills to the ancient traditions of the Northland. Now and then the poet reaches for these strings, and gladdens us with some reminiscence of

old, unhappy, far-off things And battles long ago.

As had already been intimated, the table of contents in a present-day volume of poetry is very apt to show an Old Norse t.i.tle. Thus Robert Lord Lytton's _Poems Historical and Characteristic_ (London, 1877) reveals among the poems on European, Oriental, cla.s.sic and mediaeval subjects, "The Death of Earl Hacon," a strong piece inspired by an incident in _Heimskringla_. In Robert Buchanan's multifarious versifying occurs this t.i.tle: "Balder the Beautiful, A Song of Divine Death," but only the t.i.tle is Old Norse; nothing in the poem suggests that origin except a notion or two of the end of all things. "Hakon" is the t.i.tle of a short virile piece more nearly of the Norse spirit. Sidney Dobell's drama _Balder_ has only the t.i.tle to suggest the Icelandic, but Gerald Ma.s.sey has the true ring in a number of lyrics, with themes drawn from the records of Norway's relations with England. In "The Norseman" there is a trumpet strain that recalls the best of the border-ballads; there is also a truthfulness of portraiture that argues a poet's, intuition in Gerald Ma.s.sey, if not an acquaintance with the sagas:

The Norseman's King must stand up tall, If he would be head over all; Mainmast of Battle! when the plain Is miry-red with b.l.o.o.d.y rain!

And grip his weapon for the fight, Until his knuckles grin tooth-white, The banner-staff he bears is best If double handful for the rest: When "follow me" cries the Norseman.

He knows the gentler side of Old Norse character, too, a side which, as we have seen, was not suspected till Carlyle came:

He hides at heart of his rough life, A world of sweetness for the Wife; From his rude breast a Babe may press Soft milk of human tenderness,-- Make his eyes water, his heart dance, And sunrise in his countenance: In merriest mood his ale he quaffs By firelight, and with jolly heart laughs The blithe, great-hearted Norseman.

The poem "Old King Hake," is as strikingly true in characterization as the preceding. In half a dozen strophes Ma.s.sey has told a whole saga, and has found time, too, to describe "an iron hero of Norse mould." How miserable a personage is the Italian that flits through Browning's pages when contrasted with this hero:

When angry, out the blood would start With old King Hake; Not sneak in dark caves of the heart, Where curls the snake, And secret Murder's hiss is heard Ere the deed be done: He wove no web of wile and word; He bore with none.

When sharp within its sheath asleep Lay his good sword, He held it royal work to keep His kingly word.

A man of valour, b.l.o.o.d.y and wild, In Viking need; And yet of firelight feeling mild As honey-mead.

Another poem, "The Banner-Bearer of King Olaf," pictures the strong fighter in a death he rejoiced to die. It is a good poem of the cla.s.s that nerves men to die for the flag, and it has the Old Norse spirit.

These poems are all from Ma.s.sey's volume _My Lyrical Life_ (London.

1889).

A glance at the other poems in Gerald Ma.s.sey's volumes shows that like Morris, and like Kingsley, and like Carlyle, the poet was a workman eager to do for the workman. Is it not suggestive that these men found themselves drawn to Old Norse character and life? The Icelandic republic cherished character as the highest quality of citizenship, and put few or no social obstacles in the way of its achievement. The literature inspired by that life reveals a fellowship among the members of that republic that is the envy of social reformers of the present day. Morris makes one of the personages in _The Story of the Glittering Plain_ (Chap. I) say these words: "And as for Lord, I knew not this word, for here dwell we the Sons of the Raven in good fellowship, with our wives that we have wedded, and our mothers who have borne us, and our sisters who serve us." Almost may this description serve for Iceland in its golden age, and so it is no wonder that the socialist, the priest, and the philosopher of our own disjointed times go back to the sagas for ideals to serve their countrymen.

We have no other poets to mention by name in connection with this Old Norse influence, although doubtless a search through the countless volumes that the presses drop into a cold and uncaring world would reveal other poems with Scandinavian themes. We close this section of our investigation with the remark already made, that, in the tables of t.i.tles in volumes of contemporary verse, acknowledgment to Old Norse poetry and prose are not the rarity they once were, and in poems of any kind allusions to the same sources are very common.

RECENT TRANSLATIONS.

We have already noted the beginning of serial publications of saga translations, namely, Morris and Magnusson's _Saga Library_ which was stopped by the death of Morris when the fifth volume had been completed.

By the last decade of the nineteenth century Icelandic had become one of the languages that an ordinary scholar might boast, and in consequence the list of translations began to lengthen very fast. Several English publishers with scholarly instincts were attracted to this field, and so the reading public may get at the sagas that were so long the exclusive possession of learned professors. _The Northern Library_, published by David Nutt, of London, already contains four volumes and more are promised: _The Saga of King Olaf Tryggwason,_ by J. Sephton, appeared in 1895; _The Tale of Thrond of Gate_ (_Faereyinga Saga_), by F.

York Powell, in 1896; _Hamlet in Iceland_ (_Ambales Saga_), by Israel Gollancz, in 1898; _The Saga of King Sverri of Norway_ (_Sverris Saga_), by J. Sephton, in 1899. If we cannot give to these the praise of being great literature though translations, we can at least foresee that this process of turning all the readable sagas into English will quicken adaptations and increase the stock of allusions in modern writings.

An example of the publishers' feeling that the reading public will find an interest in the saga itself, is the translation of _Laxdaela Saga_ by Muriel A.C. Press (London, 1899, J.M. Dent & Co.). William Morris made this saga known to readers of English poetry by his magnificent "Lovers of Gudrun." Mrs. Press lets us see the story in its original form.

Perhaps this translation will appeal as widely as any to those who read, and we may note the differences between this form of writing and that to which the modern times are accustomed.

This saga is a story, but it is not like the work of fiction, nor like the sketch of history which appeals to our interest to-day. It has not the unity of purpose which marks the novel, nor the broad outlook over events which characterizes the history. Plotting is abundant, but plot in the technical sense there is none. Events are recorded in chronological order, but there is no march of those events to a _denouement_. While it would be wrong to say that there is no one hero in a saga, it would be more correct to say that that hero's name is legion. From generation to generation a saga-history wends its way, each period dominated by a great hero. The annals of a family edited for purposes of oral recitation, or the life of the princ.i.p.al member of that family with an introduction dealing with the great deeds of as many of his ancestors as he would be proud to own--this seems to be what a saga was--_Laxdaela_, _Grettla_, _Njala_.

This form permits many sterling literary qualities. Movement is the most marked characteristic. This was essential to a spoken story, and the sharpest impression left in the mind of an English reader is that of relentless activity. Thus he finds it necessary to keep the bearings of the story by consulting the list of _dramatis personae_ and the map, both indispensable accompaniments of a saga-translation. The chapter headings make this list, and a glance at them for _Laxdaela_ reveals a procession of notable personages--Ketill, Unn, Hoskuld, Olaf the Peac.o.c.k, Kiartan, Gudrun, Bolli, Thorgills, Thorkell, Thorleik, Bolli Bollison and Snorri.

Each of these is, in turn, the center of action, and only Gudrun keeps prominent for any length of time.

Character-portraiture, ever a remarkable achievement in literature, is excellently done in the sagas. There was a necessity for this; so many personages crowded the stage that, if they were not to be mere puppets, they would have to be carefully discriminated. That they were so a perusal of any saga will prove.

In a novel love is almost indispensable; in a saga other forces are the impelling motives. Love-making gets the novelist's tenderest interest and solicitude, but it receives little attention from the sagaman.

Wooing under the Arctic Circle was a methodical bargaining, and there was little room for sentiment. When Thorvald asked for Osvif's daughter Gudrun, the father "said that against the match it would tell that he and Gudrun were not of equal standing. Thorvald spoke gently and said he was wooing a wife, not money. After that Gudrun was betrothed to Thorvald.... He should also bring her jewels, so that no woman of equal wealth should have better to show.... Gudrun was not asked about it and took it much to heart, yet things went on quietly." (Chap. x.x.xIV of _Laxdaela_.) In Iceland, as elsewhere, love was a source of discord, and for that reason love is always present in the saga. It is not the tender pa.s.sion there, silvered with moonlight and attended by song. The saga is a man's tale.

The translation just referred to is in _The Temple Cla.s.sics_, published by J.M. Dent & Co., London, 1899, and edited by Israel Gollancz. The editor promises (p. 273) other sagas in this form, if Mrs. Press's work prove successful. He speaks of _Njala_ and _Volsunga_ as imminent. It is to be hoped that the intention is to give the Dasent and the Morris versions, for they cannot be excelled.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Quoted in Gray, by E.W. Gosse, English Men of Letters, p.

163.]

[Footnote 2: B. Hoff. Hovedpunkter af den Oldislandske litteratur-historie. Kbenhavn. 1873.]

[Footnote 3: Pp. xli-l in Selections from the Poetry and Prose of Thomas Gray, edited by W.L. Phelps. Ginn & Co., Boston. 1894.]

[Footnote 4: Life of Gray, pp. 160 ff.]

[Footnote 5: Wm. Sharp in Lyra Celtica, p. xx. Patrick Geddes and Colleagues. Edinburgh. 1896.]

[Footnote 6: Of Heroic Virtue, p. 355, Vol. III of Sir William Temple's Works. London. 1770.]

[Footnote 7: Of Heroic Virtue, p. 356.]

[Footnote 8: Of Poetry, p. 416.]

[Footnote 9: Spelling and punctuation are as in the original.]

[Footnote 10: Stopford Brooke, English Literature. D. Appleton & Co., New York. 1884. p. 150.]

[Footnote 11: Vol. 3, pp. 146-311.]

[Footnote 12: Quoted in Introduction, p. vii.]

[Footnote 13: Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart., Vol. I, p.

231. Boston, Houghton, Osgood & Co. 1879.]

[Footnote 14: Edinburgh Review, Oct., 1806.]

[Footnote 15: Quoted in Lockhart's Life, Vol. III, p. 241.]

[Footnote 16: In G.W. Dasent's Life of Cleasby, prefixed to the Icelandic-English Dictionary. Based on the MS. collection of the late Richard Cleasby, enlarged and completed by Gudbrand Vigfusson. Oxford.

1874.]

[Footnote 17: In another work by Carlyle, _The Early Kings of Norway_ (1875) he takes special delight in revealing to Englishmen name etymologies that hark back to Norse times. Of this sort are Osborn from Osbjorn; Tooley St. (London) from St. Olave, St. Oley, Stooley, Tooley, (Chap. X).]