The Poetic Edda: Voluspo · 3 of 16 · tr. Henry Adams Bellows

Section 1c

stanza 47 and note), of the dark elves (Svartalfaheim), of the dead (Niflheim), and presumably of the dwarfs (perhaps Nithavellir, cf.

stanza 37 and note, but the ninth world is uncertain).

The tree: the world-ash Yggdrasil, [fp.

4] symbolizing the universe; cf.

Grimnismol , 29-35 and notes, wherein Yggdrasil is described at length.] p.

4 3.

Of old was the age | when Ymir lived; Sea nor cool waves | nor sand there were; Earth had not been, | nor heaven above, But a yawning gap, | and grass nowhere.

4.

Then Bur's sons lifted | the level land, Mithgarth the mighty | there they made; The sun from the south | warmed the stones of earth, And green was the ground | with growing leeks.

5.

The sun, the sister | of the moon, from the south Her right hand cast | over heaven's rim; No knowledge she had | where her home should be, The moon knew not | what might was his, The stars knew not | where their stations were.

[3.

Ymir : the giant out of whose body the gods made the world; cf.

Vafthruthnismol , 21.

in this stanza as quoted in Snorri's Edda the first line runs: "Of old was the age ere aught there was." Yawning gap : this phrase, "Ginnunga-gap," is sometimes used as a proper name.

4.

Bur's sons: Othin, Vili, and Ve.

Of Bur we know only that his wife was Bestla, daughter of Bolthorn; cf.

Hovamol , 141.

Vili and Ve are mentioned by name in the Eddic poems only in Lokasenna , 26.

Mithgarth ("Middle Dwelling"): the world of men.

Leeks : the leek was often used as the symbol of fine growth (cf.

Guthrunarkvitha I, 17), and it was also supposed to have magic power (cf.

Sigrdrifumol , 7).

5.

Various editors have regarded this stanza as interpolated; Hoffory thinks it describes the northern summer night in which the sun does not set.

Lines 3-5 are quoted by Snorri.

In the manuscripts line 4 follows line 5.

Regarding the sun and moon [fp.

5] as daughter and son of Mundilferi, cf.

Vafthruthnismol , 23 and note, and Grimnismol , 37 and note.] p.

5 6.

Then sought the gods | their assembly-seats, The holy ones, | and council held; Names then gave they | to noon and twilight, Morning they named, | and the waning moon, Night and evening, | the years to number.

7.

At Ithavoll met | the mighty gods, Shrines and temples | they timbered high; Forges they set, and | they smithied ore, Tongs they wrought, | and tools they fashioned.

8.

In their dwellings at peace | they played at tables, Of gold no lack | did the gods then know,-- Till thither came | up giant-maids three, Huge of might, | out of Jotunheim.

[6.

Possibly an interpolation, but there seems no strong reason for assuming this.

Lines 1-2 are identical with lines 1-2 of stanza 9, and line 2 may have been inserted here from that later stanza.

7.

Themes

◆Animismcosmology

The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.

The text depicts a cosmos populated by plural, embodied divine agents (gods, giants, sun, moon) active within the landscape and natural phenomena.

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◆Anthropomorphismtheology

Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.

Divine beings are described with human characteristics and actions, such as the sun casting a right hand and gods playing at tables.

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◆Cosmic Dualismtheology

Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.

The passage establishes an opposition between the gods (order) and the giants from Jotunheim (chaos/disruption), a fundamental Norse cosmological conflict.

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◆Cosmogonycosmology

Narratives or doctrines of cosmic origin — how heaven, earth, and the primordial deities first came into being. The Kojiki's deities born alone on the Plain of High Heaven, Voluspo's Ginnungagap, Genesis's tohu wa-bohu, the Timaeus's Demiurge fashioning the Receptacle, the Hesiodic Theogony, the Kalevala's egg-cosmogony, Egyptian Nun-and-Atum. Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (structural-ontological cascade), letters_of_creation (mechanism of creation), and apocatastasis/frashokereti (end-state restoration); cosmogony is temporally-narrative beginning.

The passage explicitly details the Norse creation narrative, including Ginnungagap, Ymir, and the formation of Midgard by the gods.

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◆Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

The gods are portrayed as active, dynamic agents who build, forge, hold council, and interact with the world rather than abstract principles.

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◆Sacred Namestheology

Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.

The gods give names to time periods (noon, twilight, morning), implying the ontological power of naming in establishing cosmic order.

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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 act of naming time and forging tools suggests a belief in the causal efficacy of divine speech and action in shaping reality.

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◆World Tree Axiscosmology

A vertical structure connecting cosmic levels — a tree, pillar, mountain, or ladder linking heaven, earth, and underworld around which the cosmos is organised. Yggdrasil binding the Nine Worlds in Norse cosmology, the Kalevala's Sampo as world-pillar, the Mayan ceiba, the Vedic Aśvattha, the shamanic central tree of Eliade's analyses. Cosmic-structural in character: distinct from sefirot_tree (a kabbalistic emanation diagram) and emanation_hierarchy (an ontological cascade); world_tree_axis is the cosmos's spine rather than the divine's outflow.

The notes explicitly identify Yggdrasil as the world-ash symbolizing the universe and binding the Nine Worlds, central to the cosmological context.

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