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The Poetic Edda: Hovamol · 2 of 16 · tr. Henry Adams Bellows

Section 1b

Hail to the giver! | a guest has come; Where shall the stranger sit? Swift shall he be who, | with swords shall try The proof of his might to make. [1. This stanza is quoted by Snorri, the second line being omitted in most of the Prose Edda manuscripts. 2. Probably the first and second lines had originally nothing to do with the third and fourth, the last two not referring to host or guest, but to the general danger of backing one's views with the sword.] p. 30 3. Fire he needs | who with frozen knees Has come from the cold without; Food and clothes | must the farer have, The man from the mountains come. 4. Water and towels | and welcoming speech Should he find who comes, to the feast; If renown he would get, | and again be greeted, Wisely and well must he act. 5. Wits must he have | who wanders wide, But all is easy at home; At the witless man | the wise shall wink When among such men he sits. 6. A man shall not boast | of his keenness of mind, But keep it close in his breast; To the silent and wise | does ill come seldom When he goes as guest to a house; (For a faster friend | one never finds Than wisdom tried and true.) 7. The knowing guest | who goes to the feast, In silent attention sits; With his ears he hears, | with his eyes he watches, Thus wary are wise men all. [6. Lines 5 and 6 appear to have been added to the stanza.] p. 31 8. Happy the one | who wins for himself Favor and praises fair; Less safe by far | is the wisdom found That is hid in another's heart. 9. Happy the man | who has while he lives Wisdom and praise as well, For evil counsel | a man full oft Has from another's heart. 10. A better burden | may no man bear For wanderings wide than wisdom; It is better than wealth | on unknown ways, And in grief a refuge it gives. 11. A better burden | may no man bear For wanderings wide than wisdom; Worse food for the journey | he brings not afield Than an over-drinking of ale. 12. Less good there lies | than most believe In ale for mortal men; For the more he drinks | the less does man Of his mind the mastery hold. [12. Some editors have combined this stanza in various ways with the last two lines of stanza it, as in the manuscript the first two lines of the latter are abbreviated, and, if they belong there at all, are presumably identical with the first two lines of stanza 10.] p. 32 13. Over beer the bird | of forgetfulness broods, And steals the minds of men; With the heron's feathers | fettered I lay And in Gunnloth's house was held. 14. Drunk I was, | I was dead-drunk, When with Fjalar wise I was; 'Tis the best of drinking | if back one brings His wisdom with him home. 15. The son of a king | shall be silent and wise, And bold in battle as well; Bravely and gladly | a man shall go, Till the day of his death is come. 16. The sluggard believes | he shall live forever, If the fight he faces not; But age shall not grant him | the gift of peace, Though spears may spare his life. 17. The fool is agape | when he comes to the feast, He stammers or else is still; But soon if he gets | a drink is it seen What the mind of the man is like. [13. The heron : the bird of forgetfulness, referred to in line 1.
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Themes
Divine Intoxicationpraxis

Ecstatic, non-rational receptivity to the divine figured as drunkenness — Plato's symposium wine, Rumi's sukr, Eckhart's 'sober drunkenness'; the passive/receptive metaphor for divine encounter, distinct from divine_madness's active possessing rapture.

Stanzas 13-14 describe Odin's drunkenness during the mead quest as a means to acquire wisdom, fitting the metaphor of ecstatic receptivity through intoxication.

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Heroic Furorpraxis

Bruno's eroici furori — a passionate, ennobling spiritual ardor that drives the soul toward divine wisdom; distinguished from base or animal passions by its orientation to infinite truth.

Stanza 15 encourages being 'bold in battle' and going 'bravely and gladly,' reflecting a martial spiritual ardor.

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Love Of Neighbourethics

Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love.

Stanzas 3-4 outline detailed ethical obligations of hospitality toward strangers, emphasizing care for the guest's physical needs.

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Renunciation Of Wealthethics

The spiritual danger of attachment to material possessions; wealth as a spiritual obstacle.

Stanza 10 explicitly states that wisdom is a better burden than wealth for wanderings.

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Shapeshifting Transformationtheology

Form-mutability as a constitutional property of divine and preternatural beings — gods, heroes, spirits, and their human practitioners possessing inherent capacity to alter form across human, animal, plant, or elemental states. Loki and Odin's transformations in Norse, Math's pigs and Blodeuwedd's owl-shape and Pwyll's exchange with Arawn in the Mabinogion, the Greek Proteus, the Indian dasavatara, Vainamoinen's bird-flight in the Kalevala, Ovid's metamorphoses, the shamanic and witch's capacity for ritual form-change. Distinct from anthropomorphism (divine taking specific human form, single embodiment) in that anthropomorphism establishes a stable form whereas this concept establishes form's plurality and instability.

Stanza 13 alludes to Odin's transformation during the mead quest ('With the heron's feathers fettered I lay').

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Word Power Incantationpraxis

The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.

The allusion to the Mead of Poetry (Stanzas 13-14) implies words carry wisdom and power, while 'welcoming speech' is valued as a social necessity.

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