Sie sind auf Seite 1von 4

Blake's Indebtedness to the "Eddas" Author(s): Theodore T. Stenberg Source: The Modern Language Review, Vol. 18, No.

2 (Apr., 1923), pp. 204-206 Published by: Modern Humanities Research Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3714597 . Accessed: 05/10/2013 16:08
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Modern Humanities Research Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Modern Language Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 142.103.160.110 on Sat, 5 Oct 2013 16:08:57 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

204

Mliscellaneous Notes

legendary smiths to whose skill all excellent swords were attributed. Hence, it would seem that the success of the blade was due to material, and not to magical, properties. To sum up then, one of the characteristics of Grendel was a toughness of skin which protected him against weapons. Beowulf realised the futility of attacking him with his sword and preferred to trust to his muscular strength. When the monster's arm and shoulder were displayed, the Danes understood why all their efforts to rid themselves of their foe had been in vain. The same protective toughness of skinthough possibly in a less degree-was also an attribute of Grendel's mother, but, by the fortunate acquisition of a sword of special excellence, the hero was able to overcome her.
E. D. LABORDE.
LONDON. BLAKE'S INDEBTEDNESS TO THE 'EDDAS.'

In Ellis and Yeats' The Works of WilliamtBlake, I, p. 336, we read, 'Vala, a Scandinavian prophetess, may have given her name to Albion's wife.' Even in this over-elaborate edition of Blake I find only the above rather tentative statement bearing on Blake's probable indebtedness to the Eddas. Other critics have, however, been reminded of Norse mythology in reading the Prophetic Books. In Irene Langridge's William Blake, p. 129, we find,' Looking through the pages of " Jerusalem," vague memories of Norse sagas...come to one and cause a delightfill and yet fearfil shudder.' In P. Berger's William Blake (London edition of 1914), p. 157, 'From this first great labour we get the myth of Los the Blacksmith, a sort of Thor, standing hammer in hand...'; and p. 347, 'We must not compare it (Vala) with the Iliad or the Divine Comedy, but rather read it as we should read some northern Saga.... He (the student) must regard Urizen, Los, Enitharmon, Tharmas, and all the rest as demigods, of protean shapes and subject to no logical rules; as gigantic heroes of a prehistoric age; as beings like Odin, Balder or Siegfried.' But all of this is rather vague. Can it be made more definite ? It is of some interest to note that Blake refers to Odin three times, to Frigga four times, and to Thor five times. One of the references to Odin is to Wodan; and Frigga's name is spelled Friga in all four instances. The contexts in which these three names occur do not, however, make it evident that Blake had more than a very general knowledge of Norse mythology. Of more importance is the fact that Blake seems to adopt several

This content downloaded from 142.103.160.110 on Sat, 5 Oct 2013 16:08:57 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Miscellaneous Notes

205

names that occur in the Eddas, and uses several others that may have been suggested by names, more or less similar, in Eddie material. The names Vala, Har, and Hela are well known to the reader of Blake's Prophetic Books; but they are still better known to the reader of the Eddas. The name Mam-Tor occurs three times in Jerusalem; this he may of course have got from the Derbyshire hill of that name, but Tor and Torus are both found in the part of the Latin version of the Younger Edda appended to Mallet's NrorthernAntiquities (Bishop Percy's translation, 1770). Since Mallet's two volumes were very well known and were considered the principal source of the matters in question, I shall assume for the moment that Blake was acquainted with them. The two following columns of names will then appear significant. FromBlake: FromMallet: Vala. Vale,Vali,Vola. Vala,Valascialf, Har. Har. Hela. Hela. Mam-Tor. Tor,Torus. Ona. Onar. Belin. Belen,Belenus,Bel, Bil. Rintrah. Rinda. Estrild. Estridsen. Heva. Havamaal I am aware that the last five names in the column from Blake are not necessarily derived from the last five in the column from Mallet (Blake might have found 'Estrild' for example in Faerie Queene,Book ii); but the evident similarities between the two groups are at least suggestive of a probable influence. Several editors of Blake have called attention to the fact that he seems to have borrowed several names from Ossian; but it should be recalled, in this connexion, that not in a single case does Blake use exactly the same spelling as Macpherson. It has already been pointed out above that he chose the form Friga in preference to the common and accepted form Frigga. Cottle's Edda appeared in 1797, and Blake's three long Prophetic Books, in which most of the above names occur, were written after this date. Cottle translated only the Elder Edda; but the following names, important for our purpose, appear also in his book: Hela, Harr, Valaskialf, Vali, Belenus, Rinda. The name Harr, it will be noted, is not spelled as in Mallet and in Blake. There were of course many other possible sources of Norse material accessible in the time of Blake, though most of them were of lesser value. Of considerable importance was the publication of the Copenhagen Edda, in 1787. This critical edition contained thirteen poems

This content downloaded from 142.103.160.110 on Sat, 5 Oct 2013 16:08:57 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

206

Miscellaneous

Notes

from the Elder Edda, in Norse and in Latin. This book must have created considerable stir in England, since it was reviewed in the Critical Review, the Gentleman's Magazine, and the Analytical Review -in the last two at great length. A fairly exhaustive study of Scandinavian sources accessible during this period may be found in F. E. Farley's Scandinavian Influences in the English Romantic Movement, Boston, 1903. Mr Farley does not, however, give us any information as to Eddic influences on Blake. Blake's perverse and mystical originality in dealing with his material makes it exceedingly difficult to determine whether he borrowed any subject-matter from the Eddas. Perhaps it may be worth while to point out that Vala, the first of Blake's long Prophetic Books, is somewhat analogous to the first and most important poem of the Elder Edda, generally called in translations The Prophecy of Vala. The very names are significant. Again, both poems are prophecies; and both poems deal, in a general way, with the creation, the development, the degeneration, the destruction, and the regeneration of the world. Both women bearing the name Vala are pagan in spirit and rather heartless. Blake's Vala
represents (among other things) natural religion; the Norse Vala is the

prophetess of a kind of natural religion. A few other matters may be worthy of mention. Blake's giant Tree of Mystery reminds one of the giant ash Yggdrasil; and gigantic animals figure largely both in Blake and in the Eddas. In Jerusalem, Los's hammer is referred to as his 'thunderous hammer' three times; this is suggestive, in view of the fact that Thor also thunders with his hammer. It is perhaps unnecessary to add that both Blake's Prophetic Books and the Eddas are mythical and mystical.
THEODORET. STENBERG. U.S.A. AUSTIN, TEXAS, A NOTE ON FERNiN PJREZ DE GUZMAN,' MAR DE HISTORIAS,' cap. xcvi (' Del sto grial'). Del imperio de leon aniod'l seilor de dccxxx (MS.' seys9ientos treynta') fue en bretana avn hermitano fecha vna marauillosa reuelacion segun se dize: la qual diz que le reuelo vn angel d' vn grial o escudilla que tenia josep abarimatia en que ceno nuestro seiior jiu xpo el jueues dela cena. Dela qual reuelacion el dicho hermitaino escriuio vna estoria 4 es dicha del sancto grial: esta historia no se halla en latin sino en frances: & dizese que algunos nobles la escriuieron. La qual quanto quier q sea deletable de leer & dulce: enpero por muchas cosas estraiias que enella se cuenta asaz deuele ser dada poca fe.

Madrid, Bibl. Nac. lib. Raros 597 fol. xliiii; cf. MIS.9564 fol. 134. Commenting on this passage, Amador de los Rios remarked (Hist.

This content downloaded from 142.103.160.110 on Sat, 5 Oct 2013 16:08:57 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen