Title: Hávamál

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Description:

Hávamál ("Sayings of the High One," literally "Words of Hávi") is a poem in the Codex Regius ("royal book") of thePoetic Edda (to distinguish it from the identically named Codex Regius of theProse Edda).Hávamális the second poem in the manuscript, afterVöluspáand beforeVafþrúðnismál. It is quite a long poem, comprising 164 stanzas. Because of the variation in the poetic metres and the subject matter, as well as changes in narrator/speaker, it is considered to be a compilation of separate poems that shared a focus on Óðinn and his advice and wisdom.Hávamális a gnomic or didactic poem, meaning it deals with knowledge and uses aphorisms (short statements of truth or about principles) to teach the reader/audience about something. Much of this advice concerns secular, everyday things like how to behave as a guest and to avoid dishonor and insult. Parts of the poem venture into mythological and magical matters, though, and this includes the famous passage of Óðinn hanging himself on the cosmic tree, Yggdrasill (LINK), and gaining runic wisdom.

Synopsis​

(*Structure and section names based on those found in D.A.H. Evans' entry "Hávamál" in Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia) 

Stanzas 1–77 comprise the Gnomic poem section, narrated mostly in the third person, giving advice on social behavior, particularly as a guest in a strange place where no one is familiar. After stanza 35, the topics become more varied, such as how to grow friendship and exchange gifts properly. This includes the famous stanza: "Cattle die / kinsmen die / the self dies all the same / but reputation / never dies / for those who can get themselves a good one" (stanza 76). The overall tone in this section is mundane, not involving any superstitions or mythology, but rather everyday advice for living and abiding in the society of this time. This is followed by some stanzas about how and when to do certain activities, like ship out to sea or cut wood, and then rather misogynistic stanzas about never trusting women, comparing them vividly with the danger of burning flame, a coiled snake, and other hazards. This is somewhat countered by more stanzas after which say that men are also untrustworthy, and that sexual desire robs people of their good sense. 

Stanzas 95/96–102 change to a first-person speaker, identified in 98 as Óðinn, and tells how he was betrayed byBillings mær, the maiden or daughter (or wife?) of someone named Billingr, who is not known outside this poem. Stanzas 104–110, carrying on from the preceding betrayal, tell how the embittered Óðinn carried out his own lovelorn betrayal of Gunnlöð, the daughter of thejötunnSuttungr (LINKS). As is recounted fully inSkáldskaparmálin the Prose Edda, Suttungr owns the Mead of Poetry, and has charged his daughter to guard it inside of his home. Óðinn uses an auger, a kind of drill, to bore a way into their stony court, seduces Gunnlöð and convinces her to give him a drink of the mead, and then abandons her. These two sections, about being betrayed and betraying in kind, seem to serve as Óðinn's empirical proof for the advice offered in the section before, about never trusting women and how men lose their heads at the sight of beautiful women. If not, then the two sections at least complement one another.

The next section is sometimes calledLoddfáfnismál, "the Words of Loddfáfnir," a somewhat misleading title, since the poet is actually telling someone (not known outside of this poem) to heed their advice, rather than Loddfáfnir saying anything. The stanzas of this section have a repeated refrain, "I advise you, Loddfáfnir, to take this advice, it would benefit you if you take it, will be good for you if you get it," followed by the advice. This section resembles the Gnomic poem in the beginning, although the tone is imperative ("do this; you should never do this" etc.) and does mention magic, superstition, and sex. This section goes from stanza 112–137.

Stanza 138–145 are known as theRúnatál, "list of runes," dealing with runes, magic, and myth. Most of this section is esoteric and incoherent, although it opens with the ritual hanging on the tree. 138–139 describe how Óðinn recounts in the first person how he hung for nine nights with no food or drink on a tree interpreted as Yggdrasill (which means "Yggr's steed," where Yggr, "terrifying one," is a name of Óðinn, and hanged men are sometimes said to "ride" the gallows like a horse). "I know that I hung / on the windy tree / nine long nights / wounded by a spear / and given to Óðinn / myself to myself / on that tree / which none knows / from where  its roots run. / With no bread did they refresh me / nor with a drinking horn / I peered down / I took up the runes / screaming I took them / and fell back from there." Despite the obvious parallels with the Christian crucifixion here, the Rúnatál section has often been cited both as a source for runic mysticism (a tradition with scant evidence from pre-Christian Scandinavia, and unfortunately founded in the völkisch nationalist movement and proto-Nazi ideologies in 19th and 20th century Germany) and for the presence of shamanic practices in the pagan North associated with Óðinn. 

Building on the esoteric and magical theme of theRúnatálsection, the last section of the poem, calledLjóðatál, "list of chants/charms," runs from stanza 146–163. It lists 18 spells and what they do, but not how to perform them, and the speaker declares that they alone know them and won't divulge them. The speaker is not named, but it is likely to be Óðinn again, which Snorri also believes when he quotes this section in Ynglinga saga (LINK). Stanza 164 concludes the poem with a closing remark that includes the name of the poem,háva mál.