Currently I am enrolled in a class called The Vikings, which I signed up for because 1. I heard the class was easy, and 2. I am taking my senior seminar at the same time and need to focus on that paper. I did not sign up because I was interested in old men who raped and pillaged and burned monasteries. But the Vikings, as I soon learned, had much more to them than what we see in popular culture. The Vikings didn't just sail the high seas - they had an active role in government at home. They valued family above all else. They invented a rhythmic and metaphorical form of poetry, and told heroic stories about the quest for good over evil. The Vikings didn't even wear the scary horned helmets that we imagine they did. But what struck me most of all is the fact that the Vikings were wise. Here are a few of my favorite sayings from Hávamál, a poem from the Poetic Edda ... and my own translations:
There is mingling in friendship when man can utter
all his whole mind to another;
there is nought so vile as a fickle tongue;
no friend is he who but flatters.
= be honest with friends
all his whole mind to another;
there is nought so vile as a fickle tongue;
no friend is he who but flatters.
= be honest with friends
Less good than they say for the sons of men
is the drinking oft of ale:
for the more they drink, the less can they think
and keep a watch o'er their wits.
is the drinking oft of ale:
for the more they drink, the less can they think
and keep a watch o'er their wits.
= more drinking = less thinking
The miserable man and evil minded
makes of all things mockery,
and knows not that which he best should know,
that he is not free from faults.
makes of all things mockery,
and knows not that which he best should know,
that he is not free from faults.
= no one is perfect, including you
Long is the round to a false friend leading,
e'en if he dwell on the way:
but though far off fared, to a faithful friend
straight are the roads and short.
e'en if he dwell on the way:
but though far off fared, to a faithful friend
straight are the roads and short.
= a good friend is always near at heart
Cattle die and kinsmen die,
thyself too soon must die,
but one thing never, I ween, will die, --
the doom on each one dead.
thyself too soon must die,
but one thing never, I ween, will die, --
the doom on each one dead.
= one's reputation lives on forever
and finally, my favorite, and probably the most true:
Let him speak soft words and offer wealth
who longs for a woman's love,
praise the shape of the shining maid --
he wins who thus doth woo.
who longs for a woman's love,
praise the shape of the shining maid --
he wins who thus doth woo.
= compliment and give stuff to girls and they will like you
Haha... jk about the last one.
Not a Viking in so many ways
