Teresa Kaho Week 1-3 responses

QUESTION 1 ANSWER

The Voluspa is one of the most notable poems that is part of the Poetic Edda and contains traces of Norse cosmogony, history, gods, men, and monsters, along with a world origin story and prophecy of an apocalypse understood by North Germanic peoples (Kuiper, 2011). According to Wessen (as cited in Wanner, 2008) the Edda’s purpose was to provide the mythology, stylistics, and metrics of ancient Scandinavia. With features of Icelandic scenery in the poem, Kuiper (2011) states that Voluspa is often thought to have been composed around the year 1000 in Iceland; a time Icelanders believe was the approach of Christianity and the fall of their ancient gods. This is also addressed by Bellows (1923) in where he alludes to the Christian influences pointed out by critics, with one example (from Extract 3 in Voluspa):

She sees the earth     rising again

out of the waters,     green once more;

an eagle flies     over rushing waterfalls,

hunting for fish     from the craggy heights.

 Bellows (1923) states in his version of the Voluspa analysed that this particular stanza hints at the interpolation of Judeo-Christian themes found in this idea of a new world being raised out of the ruins of an old one (pg. 24). The idea is very similar to that of the New Jerusalem described in the book of Revelations of the Judeo-Christian Bible. However, it is the paganistic themes which I believe make the poem identify with the features of a myth. Myths are the traditional stories of a culture that are created to explain the mysteries of the universe (Myths, Legends, Epics and Tales, n.d.). In Voluspa there are all these references to gods, giants and other mythical creatures as shown in these stanzas:

Hear my words,     you holy gods,

great men and humble     sons of Heimdall;

by Odin’s will,     I’ll speak the ancient lore,

the oldest of all     that I remember.

I remember giants     of ages past,

those who called me     one of their kin;

I know how nine roots     form nine worlds

under the earth     where the Ash Tree rises.

 The epic poem is a long, narrative poem that focuses on the adventures and life of a hero (Myths, Legends, Epics and Tales, n.d.). According to Lambert (2014) the epic has 6 distinguishing features from other folklore genres:

1.      A human figure with a superpower, or superhuman ability, that may have some divine help of sorts is the centre of the plot.

2.      The hero faces and overcomes battles that no regular human could that usually entrails exercising their superhuman strength or bravery.

3.      The setting of the hero’s story is far in wide whether through land, sea, sky, other realms, or even time and space.

4.      Divine or other supernatural forces exist in the story.

5.      The story is written in formal language.

6.      The narrator is often omniscient, meaning they are able to present all perspectives within the story.

The Beowulf poem is almost a perfect model of an epic. Lambert (2014) also points out that the hero in these epics are often born of noble birth and have the characteristics of a warrior with a sense of deep responsibility for the safety of his people, as shown in these examples from Beowulf (note Beowulf’s typical epic characteristics shown here too):

No sword-blade sent him to his death, 

my bare hands stilled his heartbeats 

and wrecked the bone-house. Now blade and hand, 

sword and sword-stroke, will assay the hoar.

...'I risked my life  

often when I was young. Now I am old,

but as king of the people I shall pursue this fight 

for the glory of winning, if the evil one will only 

abandon his earth-fort and face me in the open.'

The Volsunga Saga are part of the Icelandic saga (prose narratives of the historical events which took place in Iceland) that is influenced by the heroes of the Poetic Edda, and belong to the legendary saga, otherwise known as the fornaldasogur (Luebering, 2009). A saga has elements rather similar to the epic poem of Beowulf in terms of social history, events and heroes but its definition differs as it is described as a “prose narrative” that is unlike the more sophisticated or formal language exclusive to an epic poem . For example in this passage from the Volsunga saga, The words flow as though it were written exactly as it was said, just like prose, and somewhat easier to follow compared to the poetic language and choice in the sequence of wording in Beowulf. :

'Now crept the worm down to his place of watering, and the  earth shook all about him, and he snorted forth venom on  all the way before him as he went; but Sigurd neither  trembled nor was adrad at the roaring of him. So whenas  the worm crept over the pits, Sigurd thrust his sword under  his left shoulder, so that it sank in up to the hilts; then up  leapt Sigurd from the pit and drew the sword back again  unto him, and therewith was his arm all bloody, up to the  very shoulder…'

The Hobbit is considered a children’s fantasy novel, while it’s sequel Lord of the rings is classed a high fantasy novel, though their content are very similar. What is interesting is that the children’s fantasy or literature is usually described as having protagonists that are children or coming-of-age story, or (Berlatsky, n.d.). A high fantasy novel (a sub-genre of fantasy) can involve an imaginary or parallel world to ours, the theme of good versus evil, the hero is usually someone ordinary who is called to rise to the occasion or the “quest”, with magic, magical creatures or non-human races such as dwarves and influences from older myths and legends (Cipera, 2011). Examples from The Hobbit; “The men of the lake-town Esgaroth were mostly indoors… From their town, the Lonely Mountain was mostly screened by the low hills at the far end of the lake… through a gap in which the Running River came down from the North,” show just a few of the fictitious places Tolkien imagined that is normal in the fantasy genre. Another example is the jargon created with the unique flora and places created for Tolkien’s world of the Lord of the Rings that are also features of the fantasy genre: 'Look!' said Gandalf. 'How fair are the bright eyes in the grass! Evermind they are called, simbelmyne in this land of Men, for they blossom in all the seasons of the year, and grow where dead men rest…”

QUESTION 8 ANSWER

The main difference I have found between the genres of myth, epic and fantasy is found in the storylines – fantasies like the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings sees the two ordinary characters of Frodo and Bilbo forced out of their comfort zone to take on the quests of the epic’s heroes and legends. Their noble statuses are earned or grown into and bravery does not come naturally for them; while heroes like Beowulf, Singurd, and Thor were born into it. And though I feel as though all the genres of myth, legend, epic and fantasy overlap each other I notice how each texts’ desires differ according to the times for which they were written for. I believe the Voluspa was intended to give an understanding of a foundational history of the North Germanic peoples paganistic culture, their origin stories as a people and the universe. Beowulf and the Volsunga saga intended to fashion heroic and strong figures for culture and create relatability through their human forms for people to further accept Norse mythology as true history. While I believe the fantasy works of Tolkien were purely for entertainment, drawing on elements of the earlier Norse mythology works to aid the creation of another world we recognize today as pure fiction. Here everything that is unexplainable in terms of powers, or the very existence of Hobbits or imagined is labelled “magical” and this is what distinguishes the fantasy genre from the other genres considered in Question 1's answer. Basically, my understanding in the intentions of these texts is that the ancient stories may have been written and recognized perhaps to this days as fact, while Tolkien’s work though similar to its influences, is for pure enjoyment or escape.

R E F E R E N C E S

Bellows, H. A. (1923). Voluspo. In The poetic Edda [pp. 1-2]. New York The American-Scandinavian Foundation. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/poeticedda00belluoft/page/2

Berlatsky, N. (n.d.). Tolkien’s The Hobbit as Children’s Literature. Retrieved March 16, 2019, from https://www.splicetoday.com/writing/tolkien-s-the-hobbit-as-children-s-literature

Cipera, K. (2011). Defining the Genre: High Fantasy. Retrieved March 18, 2019, from http://fandomania.com/defining-the-genre-high-fantasy/

Hrala, J. (2017). The Hobbit: How a 10-Year-Old Boy Helped Unleash Tolkien Upon the World. Retrieved March, 1, 2019 from https://thearcanist.io/the-hobbit-how-a-10-year-old-boy-helped-unleash-tolkien-upon-the-world-f9c478358d1d

Kuiper, K. (2011). Völuspá, Icelandic poem. In Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Voluspa

Lambert, K. (2014). Epics, Myths, Legends and Folktales. Retrieved March 6, 2019 from https://prezi.com/r5mvwsfy8i2z/epics-myths-legends-and-folktales/

Luebering, J. (2009). Vǫlsunga saga. In Britannica. Retrieved March 6, 2019, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Volsunga-saga

Wanner, K. J. (2008). Hattatal: Beginning and End of the Edda. In Snorri Sturluson and the Edda: The Conversion of Cultural Capital in Medieval Scandinavia (pp. 94-99). University of Toronto Press