Lockharton Press

The Words of Odin

Havamal

This slim volume marks the end of a long and happy

collaboration, which began more than thirty years and some
fifteen joint publications ago. The present rendering of
Havamal is very much the work of my late friend Paul
Edwards. At the outset I provided a literal translation of the
poem which served him as a guide through the Icelandic
text. He felt at home in Havamal and appreciated the
company of Odin, whose potent spirit permeates the poem
from beginning to end. From time to time Paul would ask
me to elucidate a textual problem; otherwise he was on his
own, enjoying in solitude - or with Odin by his side - the
pleasure of literary creation.

Hermann Palsson
 The Words of Odin
Other Scandinavian Books frolll

Lockharton Press
Havamal

George C. Schoolfield and Laurie Thompson (eds), Two

Women Writers from Finland: Edith Sodergran and Hagar
Olsson, 1995, ISBN 1 874665 05 2. Translated and Introduced

by

Carl LinnCEus, The Lapland Journey: Iter Lapponicum 1732 Paul Edwards and Hermann Palsson

(edited and translated by Peter Graves), 1995, ISBN 1

87466501 x.
With an essay on

Voluspti: The Sybil's Prophecy (edited and introduced by 'Paul Edwards in West Africa: Constructing

Hermann Pcilsson), 1996, ISBN 1 874665 06 O. Postcolonialism'

by

Co lin Nicho IsDn

Lockharton Press

Edinburgh

1998
 Lockharton Press Contents

Introduction 7

This edition © the contributors 1998. All rights reserved. The Literary Context 8

This edition first published in 1998 by Lockharton Press, 4A Odin 12

Lockharton Gardens, Edinburgh EH141AU, Scotland.
Words of Wisdom 17
Printed in Wales by Cambrian Printers, Aberystwyth.
The Ways of Women 26

Counsel 30

ISBN 1 874665 10 9 Odin's Agony on the Tree 33

Magic Spells 34

Bibliographical Notes 38

Notes 39

The Words of the High One 41

Colin Nicholson:
'Paul Edwards in West Africa:
Constructing Postcolonialism' 79
 Introduction

Introduction

According to Snorri's Edda, Odin created the earth and the

sky and all that is in them, but his greatest achievement was
the creation of man. He was called All-father since he was
the father of gods and men and governed all things great and
small. The earth was his daughter and his wife; and their son
was the god Thor.
Odin was the god of war and used to stir up trouble.
One of his names was 'Evil-doer', and in The Lay of Grey­
Beard he says about himself, 'I've always incited princes
against each other and never made peace between them'.
And in one of the heroic lays in the Poetic Edda it is stated
that IOdin alone is the cause of every misfortune; he creates
dissension between kinsmen'. He was also known as 'Father
of the Slain', for all those killed in battle were his adopted
sons. He used to send demi-goddesses called valkyries
('choosers of the slain') into battle to pick the heroes he
wanted to join him in Valholl ('Hall of the Slain'). The name
Hangi ('the hanged') alludes to Odin's experience in Havamal
138-141, when he hung for nine nights on a storm-swept tree.
Odin is also called the 'god of the hanged' (Hangagoo,
Hangatyr) because he used to rouse the dead and sit beneath
hanged men. Havamal 157 states that Odin could bring a
hanged man back to life by means of runes and magic.
Havamal ('the Words of the High One') is an
appropriate title for a poem spoken by the enigmatic Odin,
the supreme god of Iceland and Scandinavia in pagan times. 1
His authoritative voice and unique personality give this
wide-ranging work a sense of unity and cohesion. In

The Words of Odin Introduction

Havamal, Odin is concerned not only with his own mystical an empty void into our world, according to the Hebrew
might, torments and triumphs but also with the human vision of the beginning of things, and the more palpable
condition on earth. The poem shifts from the familiar stage method of carving the world from pre-existing matter as
of Everyman to the arcane world of myth. Odin is equally at happened in the poetic tradition of the heathen North.
home in both. About 1225 Snorri Sturluson completed a unique
book which he called the Edda, a work of immense
The Literary Context significance. The main part of the work is a survey of the
The imaginative literature of medieval Iceland is deeply mythical world of the Icelanders in pagan times. Based on
rooted in native culture. The Norse world of pagan myth and old poetry, the Edda describes the ideal landscape of myth,
ancient hero tales is vividly remembered in the Edda of Snorri and the fates and characters of individual gods and
Sturluson (d. 1241), and in numerous poems. Main credit for goddesses. Following Voluspa ('The Sibyl's Prophecy'), Snorri
the preservation of pagan verse and values must go to the depicts the creation of the world, its golden age, decline,
early Christian poets (of the eleventh century) who destruction, and rebirth. The mythology of the Edda was
stubbornly refused to let the Conversion to Christianity (AD relevant knowledge for poets who constantly illuminated
1000) interfere with the serious business of practising an their works with allusions and images from myth. Metaphor
ancient art which took many of its ideas and assumptions and myth were thus closely bound together, and since the
from pagan beliefs. Even centuries after the Icelanders had last part of the Edda deals with prosody, the book as a
embraced the then widely accepted doctrine that God whole became a valuable handbook for poets.
created the heavens and earth in a single day, their poets Snorri gleaned much of his information about the
continued to personify the earth as IOdin's bride' and 'Thor's ancient gods from mythological poetry included in the so­
mother'. Metaphors of this kind kept a window open on a called Elder Edda or Poetic Edda. The principal manuscript of
pristine pre-Christian world whose creation was thought to these poems is a vellum codex written by an Icelander circa
be the work of Odin and his two brothers ViIi and Ve. 1270, but some of these may have been composed in Norway
While the early Icelanders found it hard to swallow before the settlement of Iceland. The codex begins with
the abstruse biblical notion that God created the world out Voluspa which deals with the origin, evolution and ultimate
of nothing, they had no trouble with the native myth of the fate of the world. It is followed by Havamal. In addition to
giant Ymir, who was killed by Odin and his brothers and VafPrubnismal, Grimnismal and Harbarbslj6b mentioned later
whose dead body provided the raw material that went into in connection with Odin, the following mythological poems
the making of the world. Accordingly, poets kept referring to should be mentioned: Skirnismal (Words of Skfrnir) is a love
the earth as 'the corpse 'of, the giant Ymir', the sea as 'Ymir's story describing how young Freyr falls in love with a girl he
blood', and the sky as tymir's skull'. Notwithstanding has never met. She is a giant's daughter and lives far away.
Christian objections, such pagan notions persisted in Iceland Freyr's servant undertakes the difficult mission of going to
for many centuries. The co-existence of heathen and Giantland and persuading the girl to marry Freyr. She proves
Christian myths was one of the salient features of medieval reluctant, but after Skimir has threatened her with magic and
Icelandic culture, where poets and priests were familiar with curses, she finally agrees to meet Freyr in a certain grove.
both imaginary processes: the abrupt trans-mogrification of

8 9
The Words of Gdin Introduction

Hymiskviba (Lay of Hymir) is about Thor's heroic as elsewhere in Europe, young pupils had to memorise the
adventures, including a hazardous fishing-trip with the giant poem when they were beginning to learn Latin. The two
Hymir. Lokasenna (Loki's Flyting) is a mordant satire, in poems use the same verse-form, both deal with moral and
which Loki mocks all the gods and goddesses. prymskviba social issues and both share certain themes; also, there are
(Lay of Thrym) is a comedy, in which Thor is disguised as close verbal similarities between them. However, they differ
the goddess Freyja and, dressed in a bridal outfit, travels to in other ways, and on the whole Hdvamdl is more archaic in
Giantland, where the giant Thrym, who had stolen Thor's diction and thought than Hugsvinnsmdl.
hammer, believes he is marrying Freyja. At the wedding feast Without discussing the problem in detail, the
Thor recovers his hammer, and then kills the bridegroom and relationship between Hdvamdl and Hugsvinnsmdl could be
all the guests at the feast. In Alvissmdl (The Words of the AII­ summarized as follows: (a) there is certain evidence that
wise) a well-informed dwarf claims that he had been both poems were written in the second half of the twelfth
promised the hand of Thor's daughter in marriage, but Thor century; (b) we are probably dealing with a case of reciprocal
denies any knowledge of such a deal. He tells the dwarf that borrowings - the two poems seem to have influenced each
he must answer certain questions to prove his knowledge; he other; (c) there are indications· that the Hdvamdl poet may
then asks him about the different terms for the earth, have used the Latin original of Disticha Catonis, as well the
heavens, moon, sun, clouds, winds, calm, sea, fire, trees, Icelandic version called Hugsvinnsmdl; (d) although Hdvamdl
night, ale, and corn used by the gods, men, giants and elves. in its present form evidently belongs to the second half of the
The dwarf knows the right answer to every question but, twelfth century, there can be no doubt, as was stated earlier,
being a nocturnal creature, he turns to stone at sunrise. that certain parts of it must be much older, going back to
The second half of the Poetic Edda is about mortal pagan times.
heroes, the greatest of whom is Sigurd the Dragon-Slayer, The unknown twelfth century poet who was
who was supposed to be descended from Odin himself. responsible for the ultimate form of Hdvamdl appears to
Several poems are devoted to his heroic exploits and tragic have done three things: (a) to gather together various
fate. After killing the dragon, he meets a valkyrie called fragments of ancient 'verse; (b) to compose a number of
Sigurdrifa, who teaches him runic lore and gives him useful additional stanzas; (c) to forge this disparate material into a
pieces of advice, which are included in Sigurdrifumdl (Words single artistic whole. We believe that his most brilliant stroke
of Sigurdrifa) and are reminiscent of Hdvamdl: swear no was to make Odin his spokesman; the ancient god is both
oath, unless you intend to honour it; never argue with foolish the narrator of the poem as a whole as well as the principal
people; stay away from witches; bandy no words with character in the narrative sections. The dual function of Odin
drunk men; it is better to fight than to be burned in a house; which gives him a voice and a presence, as well as a
don't seduce a maiden or a married woman; don't ever trust narrative-gnomic function, serves to create the illusion that
a man whose brother or father you have killed. And so on. the poem is a pagan creation, even though a good many of its
Certain stanzas in Hdvamdl bear a strong resemblance ideas, particularly those in the first section, are manifestly of
to Hugsvinnsmdl, an Icelandic rendering of the third century learned origins. Here as elsewhere in medieval Icelandic
Latin poem Distichs of Cato (Disticha Catonis),2 which is a literature the assimilation of foreign elements is so thorough
collection of proverbs and pithy sayings. In medieval Iceland,

10 11
The Words of Odin Introduction

that it is by no means an easy task to distinguish between 'What did Odin whisper into the ears of his son Baldur
native and alien origins. 3 before he stepped onto the funeral pyre?' This question costs
the giant his life, as also happens to Odin's adversary in
Odin Heidrek's Saga, where Odin is disguised as a chieftain called
In order to make sense of Havamal, it will be helpful to Gestumblindi and asks King Heidrek a similar question.
remember what we know of Odin from elsewhere in the As can be seen from Havamal 140, Odin learned nine
literature of medieval Iceland. There are detailed powerful songs from his maternal uncle and later in the poem
descriptions of him in two of Snorri Sturluson's books, (146-163) eighteen magic songs are briefly described.
Ynglinga Saga and Edda. Odin appears in prose and poetry Ynglinga saga states explicitly that he was a master of
as a mysterious character of many masks, an actor of diverse witchcraft which enabled him to see into the future and bring
roles. Sometimes, he is a traveller like the hypothetical guest death and destruction to his enemies. He was called 'father
figured in 'Words of Wisdom'. Elsewhere he is a hospitable of magic' (see Havamal 139, 142-63), and could transform
farmer, or an entertaining story-teller, a master of language himself into various creatures. Leaving his body behind, he
and suspense. . would travel long distances in an alien form. The description
Grimnismal ('The Words of the Masked One'), is set of his magical powers suggests the influence of Sami
OJl earth, where a certain king Geirrod is suspicious of an wizardry. In Lokasenna ('Loki's Flyting'), it is revealed that
unknown stranger whom no dog would attack and he places Odin had been Loki's blood-brother and a perverse sorcerer.
him between two blazing fires in the hope of forcing him to This aspect of Odin serves to explain why he appears as an
reveal his identity. The mysterious visitor is in no hurry to evil and sinister character in certain sources.
tell the king who he is, describing instead, and in some detail, As the god of poetry, Odin was revered by other
the holy land of the gods and their delightful abodes, poets. Snorri Sturluson gives a careful account of the origin of
including his own Valholl, which is easily recognised by two the mead of poetic inspiration which Odin fetched from the
predatory creatures: 'A wolf hangs before the west door, and hostile world of giants and gave to gods and men, his
an eagle hovers above'. Towards the end of the poem Grimnir greatest gift to humankind. A part of the relevant tale is told
recites a litany of his own names and finally declares: 'Now in Havamal 104-110, and the reference to Odin's heavy
my name is Odin'. The king rises to his feet to rescue him drinking in the houses of Gunnlod and Fialar (Havamal 13­
from the flames but stumbles and falls fatally on his sword. 14) probably belongs here, too.
The irony of the story is that Geirrod had nothing to fear Harbarbslj6b ('The Lay of Harbard')4 figures Odin
from Odin, who was his foster-father and wanted simply to disguised as a ferryman, stationed at a certain sound. The
find out if Geirrod was as inhospitable as had been god Thor arrives on the opposite side and asks to be ferried
suggested. across but gets a blunt refusal. Soon the two gods start
In VafPrubnismal, ('The Words of Vafthrudnir') Odin wrangling, each praising himself and deprecating the other.
in disguise calls himself Gagnrad ('the one who controls Odin, a notorious womaniser, boasts of his conquests of
victory') and pits his wits against a giant with encyclopedic different females, including seven sisters, and night-witches
knowledge of the cosmos, from creation onwards. whom he lured away from their husbands.
Vafthrudnir answers every question until the stranger asks,

12 13
The Words of Odin Introduction

Odin is described as a great sage and his counsel was for a meeting. There were eleven men sitting on chairs but a
highly valued, as we can see from various sagas. In Hrolf twelfth chair was empty:
Kraki's Saga Odin, disguised as a farmer called Hrani,
offered hospitality and good advice to King Hrolf on three Starkad and his foster-father joined the
occasions. On his last visit the king made the fatal mistake assembly, and Grani Horsehair seated himself on
of offending his host when, following an old custom, Hrani the twelfth chair. Everyone present greeted him
presented him with a shield, sword and corslet as a parting by the name Odin, and he declared that the
gift. But Hrolf refused to accept them and went on his way. judges would have to decide Starkad's fate.
They hadn't gone far when one of his champions warned that Then Thor spoke up and said: 'Since Starkad's
Hrani must have been Odin himself, so they went back to tell grand-mother, Alfhild, preferred a clever giant to
the farmer that Hrolf had changed his mind about the gift. Thor himself as the father of her son, I ordain
But when they reached the place where they had enjoyed that Starkad himself shall have neither a son nor
Hrani's hospitality there was no sign of him or his farmstead. a daughter, and his family end with him.'
It was now obvious that Hrolf had lost Odin's protection, - Odin: 'I ordain that he shall live three life
and he is advised not to fight any more battles. However, spans.'
I-Irolf's sister leads an army against him and in that conflict - Thor: 'He shall commit a most foul deed in each
Odin seems to be lurking about somewhere in the enemy one of them.'
ranks on the killing field; King Hrolf and all his champions - Odin: 'I ordain that he shall have the best of
lose their lives in the battle. weapons and clothing.'
One of the most intriguing accounts of Odin is an - Thor: 'I ordain that he shall have neither land
episode in Gautrek's Saga where he is disguised as a farmer nor estates.'
called Grani Horse-hair (Hrosshars-Grani) living on the island - Odin: 'I give him this that he shall have great
of Askey near Bergen in Norway. He adopted as his riches.'
fosterson a three year old boy called Starkad who lived with - Thor: 'I lay this curse on him, that he shall never
him for nine years. Then Starkad joined King Vikar, who had be satisfied with what he has.'
been Starkad's foster-brother before Grani Horsehair came - Odin: 'I give him victory and fame in every
into the story, and remained with him for the next fourteen battle.'
years. On one occasion as they were sailing along the coast - Thor: 'I lay this curse on him, that in every
of Norway, they ran into unfavourable winds and tried by battle he shall be sorely wounded.'
divination to find out when the weather would improve; - Odin: 'I give him the art of poetry, SQ that he
they were told that Odin expected a human sacrifice from shall compose verses as fast as he can speak.'
the army. So they drew lots throughout the army and King - Thor: 'He shall never remember afterwards
Vikar's lot came up every time, which they found very what he composes.'
disturbing. Then about midnight, Grani Horsehair came and - Odin: 'I ordain that he shall be the most highly
woke up his fosterson Starkad, and they rode over to thought of by all the noblest and the best.'
another island, where a large group of people was gathered

14 15
The Words of Odin Introduction

- Thor: 'The common people shall hate him, every Words of Wisdom (HavamaI1-83)
one.' This part of the poem is essentially a collection of proverbs,
Then the judges decreed that all that had been maxims and observations on the human condition. It is to a
declared should come about.' 5 large extent abstract and impersonal. The speaker addresses
himself to Everyman rather than to anyone in particular;
Afterwards Starkad betrayed his friend and fosterbrother short narrative and descriptive passages serve as exempla to
Vikar by persuading him to submit himself to a mock illustrate or develop an idea, while the main purpose is to
sacrifice but with Odin's magic it turned out to be the real advise on general principles of conduct rather than to inform
thing. Starkad stabbed Vikar with a reed-stalk and gave him its audience about a past, whether real or imaginary. Its
to Odin; the reed became a spear and pierced the king. recommendations range all the way from rather pedestrian
Odin appears in two different disguises to Arrow­ commonplaces to the honest and generous embrace of shared
Odd. On the first occasion, Odd 'saw a man walking by, decencies in a world where the goodwill of one's neighbour
about middle height, wearing a blue-striped cloak and high may be a matter of life and death. The speaker re-enacts the
boots, and carrying a reed in his hand. 6 He wore gold­ subtle manipulations of daily experience in a commonplace
emblazoned gloves and had a courteous look about him, world energised by alert and unsentimental observation. The
though a hood concealed his face. He had large moustaches point of this exploration of the pedestrian is, perhaps, that
and a long beard, both red in colour'. He was called Red­ in this potentially static world of shared commonplaces,
Beard. He gave the hero good advice, which Odd ignores to nothing, all the same, can be taken for granted. Odin, has his
his great loss. However, they become sworn blood-brothers eye rather closer to the common ground than if he were
and go into battle together. 'Red-Beard was seldom around observing no more than lofty perspectives from his high seat,
when there was any danger, but he was a great man for and in fact assumes the guise and role of the Everyman he is
giving advice whenever it was needed, and rarely dissuaded addressing.
them from performing great deeds.' When we read a major poem of the past for the first
Later, Odd walked through a forest and beyond it he time, our experience may suggest the entry into a new world
saw a small farmstead, so he went up to the door. Outside a where the landscape along with its inhabitants and values
man was chopping firewood, a short man with white hair. appears both familiar and alien; we may be led to
Odd spent the night there. The old man called himself Jolf, uncertainties even while essential values are being confirmed.
but was in fact Odin in disguise. He gave Odd three stone Havamal opens impersonally with the image of a stranger
arrows, with magical properties. In spite of Odin's friendly passing warily through an unknown door, a striking way of
gestures, Odd remained an atheist and refused to believe in beginning a poem about a kind of mental traveller. In the
him, declaring on one occasion: 'Odin is bad / as a bosom literal sense this suggests a warning; an enemy may be lurking
friend'. Elsewhere, we come across the idea that Odin is not anywhere, and in such circumstances one should always be
to be trusted. In his poem Lament for My Sons, Egil Skalla­ on guard; the idea of being a stranger is one of the principal
Grimsson complains that Odin had broken his friendship themes in the stanzas which follow. In this section the
with Egil. speaker is both master sage and vulnerable traveller, an
explorer of human strengths and weaknesses and a guide for

16 17
The Words of Odin Introduction

those who desire to look beyond the confines of the narrow In stanza 12 the poet makes a pause; the notion of a
world to which they belong. As a stranger in a foreign land journey as a metaphor for the human condition gives way to
Everyman becomes aware of his vulnerability. a warning of the perils of over-indulgence in ale: the more a
The idea of travel serves to divide people, potentially drinker swills down, the less he knows about his own mind.
antagonistically, into hosts and guests; either kind must And now, Odin tells a brief anecdote about himself and the
know, respect and beware the other. The host should offer mysterious bird associated with oblivion and alchoholic
his guest a seat and make him feel at home, and he must not excess:
forget his basic needs: a warm fire, dry clothes, food, water
and a towel; and last but not least the stranger wants Hovering over the ale

courtesy and conversation - his intellectual and social needs hangs the heron, the pale

should not be neglected (3-4). The traveller-guest on his part bringer of oblivion.

must act out a role no less demanding: he must show It can make wise men blind:

modesty and courtesy; without common sense, he will be a down at Gunnlod's, my mind

laughing-stock; he should be skilled in the arts of listening lay fettered by its feathers (13).

and speaking, self-reliant, not depending on other people's

advice. The art of travelling makes more demands on your Such a casual boost for the cause of Alchoholics Anonymous
mind than on your purse: may sound weird coming from this most unlikely source, the
God of Drinking,7 but being alive to the kind of scepticism
If you take to the road,
his comments might arouse, Odin drives home his message
there's no richer load
uncompromisingly with another allusion to his secret diary:
than a mind that's mature.

When you're out of your way,

At wise old Fialar's place,

wit serves better than pay,

I was flat on my face,

it's poverty's best companion (10).

in a dead drunk condition:

the best thing about drinking,

It is typical of this part of Havamal that the metaphors used when your brain resumes thinking,

are suggestive of pilgrimages and other extended land-travels and steers back to sense (14).

in medieval times: a mature mind is the richest 'load' you can

bear along the road, but a bellyful of beer is your worst From the immoderate consumption of alchohol the poem
'burden'; wit, on the other hand, is poverty's best (travelling) shifts its ground, warning against excessive boasting about
'companion'. The poet of Havamal seems to be thinking of fighting skills, or complacent cowardliness. And now the
human life itself as a kind of journey, which could indeed be time is ripe to reiterate the difference between the stupid
regarded as an extension of the metaphor that we are no man who raises his voice at a feast and allows his first drink
more than questing visitors to a world which by its very to expose him to ridicule, and the one who has travelled the
nature is potentially an alien place. world and knows what life is about, moderate in drink and
wise in speech. Having dealt with the evils of alchohol, Odin

18 19
The Words of Odin
Introduction

thinks it time to say something about gluttony. People eat Here as elsewhere in the poem the setting is a gathering, a
too much:
feast or a dinner, and this recurrent idea, in combination
with the travel-theme mentioned. above, makes it possible
Gluttons must learn some sense
if they're not to go hence, that the twelfth century poet ultimately responsible for the
gorging to their graves. shape of Havamal was not necessarily thinking in terms of
When they feed with wise folk, recurrent social events in Iceland, but rather about the weary
they're the butt of each joke, pilgrims who made the long journey to Rome or Jerusalem.
rebuked by their bellies (20). The implied experiences of the hypothetical traveller in
Havamal correspond remarkably closely to various
descriptions we have of the actual pilgrimages to Rome in
Over-indulgence is a kind of blindness: people simply don't
medieval times.
understand themselves and their true needs, as they worry
themselves to death at night over their problems instead of At this stage of the poem the theme of friendship,
taking practical action, or fail to recognise the difference one of the principal preoccupations of intellectuals in
between true friendship and pretence - the difference medieval Europe, is spotlighted. Friendship is an extremely
between false and real smiles - 'what smiles really say' (24). complex ideal, as is well known from medieval literature,
As Hamlet notes in his own handbook of wise saws: and one of the abiding features of Havamal is that the poem
demands that good friends should not only be properly
0, villain, villain, smiling damned villain! marked off from enemies, but also from false friends:
My tables - meet it is I set it down
Follow byways and bends
That one may smile and smile and be a villain
(I. v. 106-9). if you visit bad friends
though they live down the lane:
but find a short cut
Then there are people who make fools of themselves (as well
as their friends) by trying to show how clever they are, and to the faraway hut
playing games that only lead them into trouble and that of the man who's your mate (34).
demonstrate their stupidity:
The art of good friendship involves tact - one should never
Some folk think it smart outstay one's welcome:
to poke fun, and then dart
away dodging the danger. Know when to be gone,

At the feast, a few jests don't sit hanging on

as if stuck to the spot.

making fun of the guests

Even best friends are bores

can transform them to foes (31).

when they dither and pause

and put off their departures (35).

20
21
 Introduction
The Words of Odin

In order to fulfil his life a man needs a place he can call his stanza: 'Guard yourself always, going through doorways',
own, even though what he has may be the minimal 'two but...
goats, a thatched roof that's barely rain-proof, which is
'better than begging'(36), as he says. The speaker is the one If it's friendship you're after,
who has seen what it is to be a hungry beggar, Lear's give laughter for laughter,
'unaccommodated man': pay falsehood with fraud (42).

Though it's mean and quite poor,

In such a world true friendship is all the more to be cherished
a man feels secure
and nurtured when it is found:
if he has his own home:

for it makes the heart bleed

You know, if you've a friend

when a man has to plead

you can really depend

for his meat every mealtime (37).

on, and want his goodwill,

exchange suitable gifts,

Odin himself has been represented elsewhere as a solitary avoid all social rifts,

traveller - one of his many names is Gestr ('Guest') - and make him value your visits (44).

recognises the virtues and value of independence even in the

humblest of stations, when compared with the harrowing But inevitably it is not that simple; alert watchfulness is
experience of dependency, perhaps bearing in mind the needed for survival, along with a degree of unscrupulousness
hardships borne by the pilgrim in faraway places, a recurrent that realistically counterbalances the high moral tone. While
theme of the poem, along with ideas about generosity of there are people...
spirit and munificent giving. In Havamal this is seen not as a
matter of grandeur or vain display but rather of social and who scheme to deceive:
moral survival, as the cumulative images of hospitality in a try a smile and a wink,
threatening universe indicate. Above all is the proper conceal what you think,
recognition of what we owe to a true friend and even the return tit for tat (46).
friend of a friend, as mutual affection and trust is placed in
an expanding social perspective of human needs: A simple gift of clothing, an act of compassion which lays
bare the speaker himself, can restore humanity to the 'pair of
Nor should you offend
scarecrows', King Lear's 'poor naked creatures...who bide the
the friend of a friend,
pelting of the pitiless storm':
cultivate his acquaintance (43).

I gave all my clothes

But despite this, the world of the poem remains one of to a pair of scarecrows
suspicion and threat, like the ambiguous door of its first I found in the fields.
They dressed up and then

22 23
The Words of Odin Introduction

they felt fine, like real men. But bad friends can be more dangerous than open enemies.
When you're naked, you're nothing (49). Another threat stems from stupid behaviour, which a man
can learn to avoid, whereas pusillanimity deserves contempt:
But this only serves to bring poignant aspects of loneliness
and the lack of companionship and love into focus in an Puny seas, narrow sands,

archetypal image of the naked heath, like Lear's, or Hardy's and undersized strands

Egdon, analogous too with Coleridge's Mariner 'Alone, alone, are like men with small minds (53).

all, all alone, Alone on a wide, wide sea':

However, no one is perfect, 'fault can always be found'. But
On the hillside alone
there are compensations:
the young fir-tree has grown,

now it fades bark and bough.

No man's life is pure hell!
So a man pines away
even when he's not well,
once love's had its day.
his children may cheer him (69).
How long ought he to live? (50).

Life itself is our greatest asset, but 'money's a mocker' and...

This is one of the crucial questions posed in the poem, and it
comes as no surprise that it is immediately followed by a wealth passes you by
statement relating to 'false' friendship: in the wink of an eye,
the most fickle of friends (78).
Maybe five days or so
the flames of love grow Like the rest of the animal world, man is mortal; unlike the
more fierce than fire. beast's, his mortality is a painful burden his consciousness
Let the sixth day arrive, compels him to bear, though it also offers him a gift in
the spark won't survive, compensation, in the world of memory and the pleasures of
and love turns to loathing (51). kinship that the beasts do not share:

True friendship grows freely: Memorial stones

won't stand over your bones
Bestow gifts for pleasure,
with no kinsman to care (72).
weapons, clothes, things to treasure:

it couldn't be clearer:
Beast and man have things in common, but the former prove
both giving and taking,
superior in one way - they do not display the vice of
good-will's in the making
gluttony:
as long as friends last (41).

When it's time to go home,

24 25
The Words of Odin Introduction

your cattle don't roam,

unreliability for the speaker is that of womankind, though
they plod from the pasture.
Odin has to admit that 'men too can be treacherous', so it
But there's many a fool,
should come as no surprise when, inspired by similar
who can't measure and rule
sentiments in Ovid's Art of Love, he describes how a woman
what his stomach can swallow (21).
may be won by male trickery, reflecting the earlier account of
the duplicities of friendship:
In connection with this we might refer to a recurrent
proverbial medieval idea: although we are human by nature, For the love of a maid,

we exist like the beasts (Homines sumus natura, vita bestie). the game to be played

Another old saying claims that man contains something of all is coax and pay cash:

creatures (Omnis creaturae aliquid habet homo). So, as King to be in her good books

Lear expresses it, 'Allow not nature more than nature needs, praise her figure and looks.

Man's life is as cheap as beast's'. Havamal acknowledges You must woo he;r to win (92).

this, perhaps sharing a truth here with Biblical wisdom: 'For

that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts, even Love, he insists, is nevertheless a serious matter and one
one thing befalleth them; as the one dieth so doth the other' should not ridicule a man for loving, though Odin sees love
(Ecclesiastes 3. 19). So Havamal declares... as a weakness of the wise and sensitive, brought on by lust:

Your cattle will die.

But never cast shame
Dead your kinsmen will lie,
on another man's name
the end comes to all.
when he dotes on his darling:
So earn a good name;
the wise and the just
if you're honoured, your fame
may grow weak in their lust,
will outlast your lifetime (76).
while the fool's unaffected (93).

As the old gravestone inscription puts it, 'A man is only Earlier Odin has asked a rhetorical question about a man
known when he is dead': without love or friendship: 'How long ought he to live?' Now
he acknowledges the terrifying void of loving nothing, when
But there's one deathless prize,
'The heart knoweth his own bitterness' (Proverbs 14. 10):
one thing never dies,

that's the honour you've earned (77).

Each heart lives alone,

its own truth lurks unknown

The Ways of Women (Havamal 84-110) to a soul but itself.

This section begins by sandwiching between two bitter Even worse than disease

stanzas about the unreliablity of women a headlong is when nothing can please:

catalogue of the unreliable things of this world. The central this a wise man knows well (95).

26 27
 The Words of Odin Introduction

So now Odin tells a brief story about one of his own love should recall another stanza in this section shortly before the
affairs in which even the god is made vulnerable to the account of the girl who tricked him:
commonest of human passions:
Now I've studied them both,

I learned that one day, and to speak honest truth,

deep in love, as I lay men too can be treacherous:

in reeds by the river. those whose words are most kind

She was clever, she stole may be cunning in mind,

my heart, body, and soul, outsmart even the shrewdest (91).

yet I wasn't to win her (96).

This prepares us for Odin's own treachery in his next love
As she lay there and dreamed, affair, the seduction of Suttung's daughter Gunnlod. Odin,
Billing's lassie, she seemed god of poetry and drink, gains the former by means of the
to shine like the sun. latter in his most two-faced act- of betrayal which ironically
Nobody but she provides him with his great gift to mankind, the mead of
gave me reason to be, poetry. This episode is related in Snorri's Edda to which we
I burned for her body (97). referred earlier. In spite of the fact that Snorri's version of the
myth differs significantly from that of Havamal, each helps
The girl makes a fool of him so Odin-Everyman denounces to clarify the other. Snorri makes it clear that Bolverk is one
her, though it is part of the ambivalence of his role that in the the many aliases of Odin, and that Rati was the magical drill
very process of bitter complaint he acknowledges his own with which he bores access to Gunnlod through solid rock.
knavish purposes and, in a sheepish finale, his absurdity: Suttung has given his daughter, Gunnlod, the task of
guarding the marvellous mead of poetic inspiration, and she
But some women of virtue takes Odin to her bed apparently not suspecting that his
turn vicious, they hurt you purpose is the theft of the mead. The humiliated machismo
once you know them well. of Odin, the failed seducer of Billing's lassie, is now
I longed to seduce replaced by guilt and self-recrimination at his ambiguous
that girl, make her loose sexual success:
in her ways but she wouldn't.
Her smart little game From her golden stool

brought me nothing but shame: Gunnlod passed me a bowl

I never got near her (102). of her marvellous mead.

I rewarded her badly,

Odin at this point embarks on a second account of a love wounded her warm heart sadly,

affair, his most rewarding seduction. But the poem is turning gave poor recompense (105).

and reflecting on itself, for at this juncture the reader's mind

28
29
The Words of Odin Introduction

Suddenly there follows a shift into the third person, and They are analogous to the repeated phrases used by the Wise
some commentators are perplexed by the introduction of Lord of the Book of Proverbs: 'My son, attend to my words;
another 'voice' than Odin's. But this might better be seen as a incline thine ear unto my sayings' (Proverbs 4. 20), - or - 'My
dramatic device to introduce a moment of self-distancing, as son, attend unto my wisdom and bow thine ear to my
Odin, having bitterly asserted the faithlessness of women, understanding' (Proverbs 5. 1).
looks at himself and questions his own integrity: Odin's advice to Loddfafnir ranges from the
frivolous, such as don't go outside at night unless you need
Odin swore the ring-oath
to relieve yourself, to more solemn matters such as
1suppose. How much truth
friendship, or how to treat the old, the poor, and the stranger
in his words, 1wonder?
at your door, and again, inevitably, dealings with women:
First Suttung he defrauds

of the mead that he hoards,

Don't waste your rest

then leaves Gunnlod a-grieving (110).

on a witch-woman's breast,

don't embrace her body (113).

Read superficially without regard to the self-dramatising

twists and turns of the narrator's stance, this section of Don't lust, don't be led

Havamal, in its fear and distrust of women, might seem to another man's bed,

merely to articulate a male-centred egotism. But these want your way with his wife (115).

internal self-contradictions and shifts show the poem turning

back on itself and taking on more complex moral dimensions. Watch the ale, don't get tied

However, Odin has won his mead and there is no sign of his to another man's bride (131).

making amends to Gunnlod and her father.

Again this is an old, sour song, not without wisdom, which
Counsel (HavamaI111-137) may remind us of Proverbs 5. 20: 'Why wilt thou, my son, be
In this section Odin, Everyman turned sage again, first tells ravished with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a
of his apprenticeship in runic learning.'in the hall of the High stranger' or Ecclesiastes 7. 26: 'I find more bitter than death the
One', then he addresses an otherwise unknown figure, woman whose heart is snares and nets'. At the same time,
~oddfafnir, offering him advice on a multitude of subjects,
Odin's uncompromising distrust of women appears to have
beginning each piece of advice with the same words: undergone another modulation as a result of his self-scrutiny,
though it remains chauvinistically self-centred:
Learn what 1 advise,

Loddfafnir, and be wise,

Should you feel the desire
you'll gain from this gift
for a fine girl to fire
if you master the message (112-37).
your passions and pleasure,
you must treat her fairly
and keep your faith squarely;

30 31
The Words of Odin Introduction

be grateful for good things (130). Odin's Agony on the Tree: Runic Lore
(HtivamtiI138-45)
Again, friendship is vital: call often on your friend, keep the
path between you well trodden: This section is set in the divine world of myth, Odin taking
on near Christ-like proportions as an enigmatic figure of
They grow taller, the grasses
suffering and self-sacrifice in pursuit of superhuman powers
where nobody passes,
and the mastery of runic lore. The description of Odin
and thicker the thorns (119).
hanging for nine days and nights on a storm-tossed tree,
sacrificed and self-speared to himself, is evocative of the
Don't be first to end
Gospel description of Christ's suffering on the Cross, and
your ties with a friend,
there seems little doubt that the poet must have been
or you'll rue your rashness.
inspired by the Biblical myth.
Your heart's joy will be gone,
However, the essence of the Norse myth is evidently
eaten up, if there's none
native, and in this connexion it is worth mentioning that a
you can spill out your soul to (121).
Shetland folksong about the suffering of Christ appears have
borrowed some features from the Odin myth:
Much of the advice reiterates the actual world of the opening
section - 'he's no friend who flatters', 'don't waste your Nine days he hang pa de riitless tree;
words on him [a fool]', 'don't rejoice in foul play'. Be for ill was da folk, in' giid wis he.
generous to the poor; don't indulge in mockery, there's A bliidy mael wis in his side
trouble enough at table; play proper respect to old age: made wi' a lance - 'at wid na hide.
Nine lang nichts, i' da nippin rime,
Don't ever make fun
hang he dare wi' his naeked limb.
of an old grey haired man,
Some, dey leuch;
what he says may make sense.
but idders gret. 8
It's often the case

with the care wrinkled face,

Odin had not only numerous functions but also, as was
the man who resides
indicated earlier, a good many names linking him with
amongst old skins and hides,
particular roles. Here it should be noted that the spear was
though he rot among wretches,
his favourite weapon, so he was the 'Lord of the spear'. His
attend what he teaches (134).
own weapon was the spear Gungnir, and a spear was used
when sacrificial victims were dedicated to him (see p. 7).
More importantly, Odin was the God of the dead,
and was associated with the hanged, as is indicated by
terms such as the 'Lord of the gallows' and the 'God of the
hanged'. He was also called 'the hanged one'. So behind the
myth of Odin's self-sacrifice, as well as elements drawn from
32 33
The Words of Odin Introduction

the sufferings of Christ on Calvary, there appear to be traces The eighteenth I'll conceal:

of an ancient pagan Scandinavian practice of some cult or I shall never reveal

ritual. it to maiden or mistress ­

except for the wife

Magic Spells (Havamal 146-163) I shall love all my life,

This section lists eighteen magic spells by means of which and except for my sister.

Odin can suspend various laws of nature and perform Though it's best, as life shows,

astonishing feats, mostly for laudable purposes such as when only one knows,

healing the sick, blunting the weapons of enemies, freeing and so ends my song (163).

oneself from shackles, stopping a hostile spear in flight,

putting out house fires and saving the inmates, saving ships With this final allusion to Odin's secret knowledge, the poem
in a storm, getting the better of witches, ensuring the safety is finished apart from a single stanza in which Odin observes
and victory of friends going into battle, resuscitating a corpse the formalities of the world of men whose mind and manners
on a gallows. However, some of his spells return to the he has adopted. So in the epilogue he pays tribute to himself
recurrent theme of his dealings with women and these may as god, poet and teacher, and honours his audience for their
appear to have more of male wishful thinking about them patience:
than the display of godlike powers:
Now you've heard

Sixteen: say I've a mind

the words of the Lord of All

to amuse a refined
uttered in the High One's hall,

and witty young woman.

most useful to the sons of men,

I can turn on my charms,

most harmful to the giants' kin.

and that girl with white arms

Hail to him who spoke them!

will soon follow new fancies (161).

Hail to him who learnt them!

Hail to all who heard!

With my seventeenth spell

I'll ensure the young belle

One of the more obvious features of Havamal is the use of
never leaves me alone:
contrasts and parallels, a feature suggesting a learned
'Twill be long, Loddfafnir, till
moralistic mind at work. Individuals are presented in sets of
you master this skill,
contrasted roles or qualities: e.g. shrewd - stupid; rich­
but once learnt, you'll delight in it (162).
poor; friend - enemy; good friend - false friend; traveller­
stay-at-home; host - guest. Other kinds of contrasts
The penultimate stanza returns to the domestic world with include: a small home - a life of begging; the living - the
its mixture of everyday affections and suspicions which, dead; man - animal; courtesy - boorishness, and so on. But
despite the excursions into magic and divine power, has the effect of the poem is to present us with nothing so simple
remained the true core of the poem: as binary oppositions: the world as we experience it in our

34 35
The Words of Odin Introduction

vulnerability to error and the nagging awareness of our the man who has been
inadequacies and betrayals is far from the complacent far from home, who has seen
certainties of a proverbial, good-bad moralising tone, which the ways of the world (18).
we might call after the character in Hamlet the 'Poloniad'.
As Keats says in his letters, 'Even a proverb is no The world is a wonderful and fearful place and even its
proverb until your life has illustrated it', and 'Axioms in worst pains have their compensations: man is born to
philosophy are not axioms until they are proved upon the endure, but...
pulses': so the internal stresses and strains, the
contradictions and ironies we have observed in the poem, for No man's life is pure hell!
instance in Odin's self-revelation as lover-seducer and Even when he's not well,
complacent male, are contextualised as ironies by the twists his children may cheer him.
and turns of the moral stance. So the poem insists on the Some are famed for their kin,
commonplace that no man is perfectly good or bad and our some for fortunes they win,
experience in life is something of a lottery the consequences some for deeds that they dare.
of which we can only do our imperfect best to cope with:
If you're quick, you can buy
People sitting at home yourself cattle - just try
never know who might come to do that once you're dead!
to drop in at their door: What's a rich man's warm hearth
we all bear some defect, when he'll soon rot in earth;
still, you'll always detect Death waits at his door?
worth even in the wicked (133).
Though a man has been lamed
But as we have said, these commonplaces have to be seen in he can ride: though he's maimed
the context of the tangle of moral experience in the poem and he can still care for cattle.
thus they do not function with the complacency of wise Deaf men fight, and it's said,
saws. The poet is in two minds about 'People sitting at home' better off blind than dead:
for though he recognises the value of domesticity... a corpse is just carrion (69-71).

what men most require The ultimate 'message' of the poem is the terrible ancient
is a good blazing fire, commonplace: the individual perishes and our hope is that
and a sight of the sun (68) humankind remains - Homines quidem pereunt, humanitas
manet.
...he believes in going out into the world and trusts in...

36 37

 In troduction
The Words of Odin

Bibliographical Notes Voluspa, edited and introduced by Hermann Palsson

(Edinburgh 1996).
J.G. Frazer, The Golden Bough. Abridged edition (London
Havamal is preserved in a single manuscript, the so-called 1957).
A.G. van Hamel,'OOinn Hanging on the Tree',Acta Philologica
Codex Regius of the Poetic (or Elder) Edda, now preserved
in the Arnamagnrean Institute at the University of Iceland, Scandinavica, 1932-3, pp. 260-288.

Landnamab6k: The Book of Settlements, tr. by Hermann Palsson

where it was transferred from Copenhagen in 1971. It was

evidently written c. 1270 and based on a now lost copy and Paul Edwards (Winnipeg 1972).

which probably belonged to the beginning of the thirteenth Bertha Phillpotts, Edda and Saga, (London 1931).

Saxo Grammaticus, History of the Danes, tr. by Peter Fisher

century. A facsimile edition was brought out in Copenhagen
in 1937: Codex Regius of the Elder Edda. MS No. 2365 in the (Cambridge 1979-80).

Royal Collection in the Royal Library in Copenhagen. Of the Seven Viking Romances, tr. by Hermann Palsson and Paul

numerous printed versions of Havamal it will suffice to Edwards (Harmondsworth 1985).

Rudolf Simek, Dictionary of Northern Mythology, (Bury St.

mention three: Sophus Bugge (ed.), Norrren fornkvCl!cJi (Oslo
1965, first published in 1867); Jon Helgason (ed), Eddadigte Edmunds 1993).

Snorri Sturluson, Edda, tr. by Anthony Faulkes (London

I. Voluspa, Havamal (Copenhagen 1962); David A. H. Evans

(ed), Havamal (London 1986). 1987).

Heimskringla, Vo!. I, tr. by Samuel Laing, ed. by J. Simpson

There are several translations of the poem, none of
which has been consulted by the present translators. The (London 1964).
E.O.G. Turville-Petre, Myth and Religion of the North (London
most recent rendering we know of is by W. H. Auden and
Paul B. Taylor in their Norse Poems (London 1983). 1964).
E.O.G. Turville-Petre, Scaldic Poetry (Oxford 1976).

Most of the literature dealing with Havamal and its Viga-Glums Saga, tr. by John McKinnell (Edinburgh 1987).

background is in languages other than English. The reader

may however find the following selection useful and relevant.

H.M. Chadwick, The Cult of Odin (London 1899).

Notes
Kevin Crossley-Holland, The Norse Myths (London 1989).

H.R. Ellis Davis, Gods and Myths of Northern Europe

1 Havi 'the High One' is one of Odin's numerous epithets.
(Harmondsworth 1964).
Records show that he had about two hundred names
Georges Dumezil, Gods of the Ancient Norsemen (Berkeley
altogether.
1973).
2 The Icelandic translator evidently associated the Cato
Egil's Saga, tr. by Hermann Palsson and Paul Edwards
with the Latin adj. catus which has the same meaning as
(Harmondsworth 1976).
hugsvinnur, 'wise, intelligent, sagacious'.
Eyrbyggja Saga, tr. by Hermann Palsson and Paul Edwards
3 While there is no valid reason to doubt the Icelandic
(Harmondsworth 1973).
provenance of Havamal in its present form, it should be

38 39
The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

noted that some of its visual images are foreign to Iceland.

Thus the reference in stanza 90 to 'the reindeer that runs on HAVAMAL

the thaw-sodden hill' is evocative of the north of Norway or

where Sami nomads have been chasing their favourite beast THE WORDS OF THE HIGH ONE

for thousands of years. And the young fir-tree in stanza 50

clearly belongs to Norwegian rather than Icelandic nature.
4 Harbard 'Grey-beard' is yet another of Odin's names. Odin I. Words of Wisdom
figures as a ferryman also in Volsunga Saga. After the death
of his son Sinfjotli, Sigmund carried the body to a certain 1. Guard yourself always,

fiord, where a man in a small boat offered to ferry him when you go through doorways,

across. The boat was so small that the ferryman decided to scan every stride,

take the corpse first, and soon vanished from sight. scan every step.

5 Gautrek's Saga is included in Seven Viking Romances. Odin's Seldom the eye

gifts to Starkad tell us something about his powers. He sees the enemy lie

decided the length of a person's life-span. King Aun in wait by the wall.

sacrificed nine of his sons to Odin, who granted him ten

extra years for each victim (Ynglinga Saga). As god of war, 2. Praise the giver! a guest

Odin could give good weapons and victory. And he didn't has come by seeking rest,

forget to include poetry in his list of benefits for his can we spare him a seat?

favourite hero. He feels awkward, on edge,

6 The tale of Arrow-Odd is included in Seven Viking Romances. if we form a wedge

between him and the hearth.

7 According to Snorri's Edda, Odin lives on wine alone.

8 See E.O.G. Turville-Petre, Myth and Religion of the North. 3. First, warmth from the fire

The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia (London 1964), p. 43. is your wanderer's desire,

when his knees have turned numb.

Then dry garments and meat

are gifts fit to greet

the man who's crossed mountains.

4. So bring him a bowl

for a bathe, fetch a towel,

give the warmest of welcomes.

Next courtesy's called for,

careful attention or

speech with the stranger.

40
41
The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

5. If you roam far and wide,

9. A man's fortunate, too,
you need wit by your side ­
when he can pursue
homelife's no hardship.
a full life and its lessons:
But all will make fun
but some counsels we get
of the fool of a man
give us cause to regret
who must sit with the sages.
the advice of others.

6. So don't swagger too much

10. If you take to the road,
about your magic touch,
there's no richer load
though you're witty, be wary.
than a mind that's mature.
Be guarded and brief
When you're out of your way,
and you won't come to grief,
wit serves better than pay,
when you venture a visit.
it's poverty's best companion.
A man's best defence

is a fund of good sense,

11. If you take to the road,
a mind its own master.
there's no richer load
than a mind that's mature.
7. The guest who's discreet,
but no burden so bad
when he settles to eat,
for the travelling lad
acts quiet and canny:
as a bellyful of beer.
he pricks up his ears,

keeps his eyes peeled, and peers

12. If you stop to think,
about, wakeful and wise.
strong ale's not the drink
men so often make out,
8. The man is well blest,
for the more he swills down,
who, put to the test,
so much less of his own
wins praise and popularity.
mind does a man know.
It's a trial when we must

place all of our trust

13. Hovering over the ale
and faith in our fellows.
hangs the heron, the pale
bringer of oblivion.
It can make wise men blind:
down at Gunnlod's, my mind
was fettered by those feathers

42 43
The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

14. At wise old Fialar's place,

19. So be moderate with mead,

I was flat on my face,

don't drink more than you need:

in a dead drunk condition:

talk sense or be still.

the best thing about drinking,

Don't stay up too long,

when your brain resumes thinking,

there's little that's wrong

and steers back to sense.

about early bedtimes.

15. A man who's well-born

20. Gluttons must learn some sense

doesn't blow his own horn,

if they're not to go hence,

though he's brave on the battlefield.

gorging to their graves.

Let each soul on earth

When they feed with wise folk,

enjoy ease and mirth

they're the butt of each joke,

till death drags him down.

rebuked by their bellies.

16. Now the coward so sly

21.When it's time to go home,
is sure he'll never die
your cattle don't roam,
if he's wary of warfare.
they plod from the pasture.
But old age and grief
But there's many a fool,
give him little relief,
who can't measure and rule
even though spears may spare him.
what his stomach can swallow.
17. On a visit, some clown
22. Some are vicious and vile,

won't keep his voice down,

they smirk and they smile

or sits dull as a dummy.

full of meanness and mockery.

The littlest sip

They just cannot see,

that he sets to his lip

as they should, no-one's free

lays him bare as a booby.

from follies and foibles.

18. But the man who has been

23. Some turn soft in the head,

far from home, who has seen

tossing all night in bed,

the ways of the world,

worried out of their wits.

truly, such a man finds

See them watch the dawn break,

tracks through other men's minds,

weary, lying awake,

his own mind so well-measured.

as uneasy as ever.

44 45
The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

24. Thinking each man his friend,

28. Some men think they're smart,

a fool can't comprehend

that they've mastered the art,

what their smiles really say.

how to ask and to answer.

With wise folk he'll feel free,

But some tongues never sleep,

and still fail to see

they simply can't keep

it's himself they're smiling at.

their peace about people.

25. Thinking each man his friend,

29. Some people can't school

a fool can't comprehend

the tongue, can't control

what smiles really say.

the rubbish that rolls from it.

But when he goes to law

But the rattling tongue

he won't laugh any more,

that runs on too long

with so few to defend him.

weaves a spell against itself.

26.Then there's the numbskull 30. At the feast, if someone

who thinks he know it all, makes you itch to poke fun,

while he sits there in safety. just try curbing your questions.

But it's too stiff a task Let the fellow seem wise

when you test him, and ask in other men's eyes,

things not easy to answer. let him save his own skin.

27. That clown in the crowd 31. Some folk think it smart

who cackles so loud, to poke fun and then dart

ought to muzzle his mouth. away, dodging the danger.

Not a soul there can see At the feast, a few jests

that he's stupid, till he making fun of the guests

embarks on his babblings: can transform them to foes.

the fool's unaware

that to everyone there 32. I've known many good friends

his words are quite worthless. who before a feast ends

are at daggers drawn.

It's a factor of life,

there'll always be strife,

when fellows are feasting.

46
47
The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

33. Unless you intend

37. Though it's mean and quite poor,

to feast with a friend,

a man feels secure

always eat early.

if he has his own home:

If you sit without food,

for it makes the heart bleed

you sniff and you brood,

when a man has to plead

the coldest of company.

for his meat every mealtime.

34. Follow byways and bends

38. Never wander too far

if you visit bad friends

from your weapons-of-war,

though they live down the lane:

when you're out in the open.

but find a short cut

You never can tell,

to the faraway hut

your spear may serve you well

of the man who's your mate.

on the public pathway.

35. Know when to be gone,

39. No man is so free

don't sit hanging on

with his food and his fee,

as if stuck to the spot.

he won't grasp at a gift,

Even best friends are bores

nor silver dispense,

when they dither and pause

yet not have the sense

and put off their departure.

to welcome some reward.

36. Though it's mean and quite poor,

40. When you've hard cash in hand,

a man feels secure

you don't have to stand

if he has his own home.

for poverty's pinch:

Just two goats, a thatched roof

but once you're in your grave,

that's barely rain-proof:

all the gold that you save

it's better than begging.

may well fatten your foe.

41. Bestow gifts for pleasure,

weapons, clothes, things to treasure:

it couldn't be clearer:

both giving and taking,

good-will's in the making

as long as friends last.

48
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The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

42. Make full recompense

47. As a lad I was known

for what your friend presents

to travel alone,

to you - gifts to the giver.

then I took a wrong turning:

If it's friendship you're after

but it put matters straight

give laughter for laughter:

once I'd found a good mate:­

pay falsehood with fraud.

a man cares for his comrades.

43. Nor should you offend

48. Be generous and brave,

the friend of your friend,

enjoy life, don't save

cultivate his acquaintance;

yourself for life's sorrows.

but keep far away

All things under the sun

from the fellow who may

scare the cowardly man,

be the friend of your foe.

and your miser's a misery.

44. You know, if you've a friend

49. I gave all my clothes

you can really depend

to a pair of scarecrows

on, and want his goodwill,

I found in the fields.

exchange suitable gifts,

They dressed up and then

avoid all social rifts,

they felt fine, like real men,

make him value your visits.

when you're naked, you're nothing.

45. There's some to beware

50. On the hillside alone

of, you want to take care

the young fir-tree has grown:

but yearn to make use of them.

now it fades bark and bough.

Then morals don't matter

So a man pines away

such men you can flatter,

once love's had its day,

out-fox their bad faith.

how long ought he live?

46. Something else you might try on

51. Maybe five days or so

those you can't rely on

the flames of love grow

who scheme to deceive:

more fierce than fire.

try a smile and a wink,

Let the sixth day arrive,

conceal what you think,

the spark won't survive,

return tit for tat.

and love turns to loathing.

50 51
The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

52. There's no need for largesse,

57. A log burning bright

you can buy love for less,

sets the next branch alight,

there's traffic in trinkets.

one ignites the other:

One swig, half a crust,

so converse with your neighbour,

was once all that it cost

it's well worth the labour:

me to purchase a partner.
it hurts you to hide yourself.

53. Puny seas, narrow sands,

58. Rise up with the sun

and undersized strands

if you're sketching a plan

are like men with small minds:

for a killing or cattle raid:

not all people, it's plain,

wolves that don't waken

can boast a good brain,

won't bring home the bacon,

fault can always be found.

sleep wins no awards.

54. Let the men of each nation

59. Start the day wide awake,

show wise moderation,

lacking servants to take

not seem over smart:

proper charge of your chores,

the sharp ones who know

if you tarry in bed

the way the winds blow

there'll be trouble ahead:

are luckiest in life.

wealth's half-won by wakefulness.

55. Let the men of each nation

60. Dry beams for the roof,

show wise moderation,

and good bark, weatherproof,

not be wantonly witty.

in amounts you can measure:

When a man knows too much

enough timber in store

he soon loses touch

for six months or more ­
with the lighter side of life.
these are what a man wants!

56. Let the men of each nation

61. No rich clothes to be bought?

show wise moderation,

You can still ride to court

be well-measured in mind.
if you're fresh and well-fed.

To be happy and free,

If you ride an old hack

best never to see

don't fret, if you lack

what fate lies before you.

fine breeks for your back­

side, or sport shabby shoes.

52 53
The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

62. When old seas they survey

67. There were times when folk would

as they sniff out their prey,

have asked me in for food,

eagles hang down their heads:

had I eaten less eagerly.

so men stand with heads bowed

At my friend's, if I found

o'er the gathering crowd,

two hams hanging around,

wanting someone to speak for them.

I'd eat half what he had.

63. A man who is clever

68. But what men most require

asks questions, and ever

is a good blazing fire

gives patient replies.

and a sight of the sun:

But tell only one friend:

then, better than wealth,

two, or three, things will end

the boon of good health

up in everyone's ear.
and a long blameless life.

64. A wise man will try

69. No man's life is pure hell!

every way to employ

even when he's not well,

his powers with patience:

his children may cheer him.

should he mix with real men,

Some are famed for their kin,

he will see plainly then,

some for fortunes they win,

none rise above the rest.

some for deeds that they dare.

65...there'll be penance to pay 70. If you're quick, you can buy

if you give too much play yourself cattle - just try

to a talkative tongue... to do that once you're dead!

What's a rich man's warm hearth

66. I've turned up at the gate when he'll soon rot in earth;

sometimes much too late, Death waits at his door?

at others, too early;

the ale drunk with the food, 71. Though a man has been lamed

or else not yet brewed ­ he can ride: though he's maimed

I've no talent for timing. he can still care for cattle.

Deaf men fight, and it's said,

better off blind than dead:

a corpse is just carrion.

54 55
The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

72. It's good, though, if one

77. Your cattle will die:

can still father a son,

dead will your kinsmen lie,

though born after you're buried.

the end comes to us all.

Memorial stones
But there's one deathless prize,

won't stand over your bones

one thing never dies,

with no kinsman to care.

that's the honour you've earned.

73. The tongue hates the head,

78. What flocks it would hold,

and wishes him dead,

Filjung's family fold!

in each troop there's two like 'em.

Now they bear staves like beggars.

So take careful note,

Wealth passes you by

beneath every fur coat

in the wink of an eye,

a hand lies in hiding.

the most fickle of friends.

74. Travellers welcome the night,

79. The man's a born fool

everything seems alright,

who boasts he can rule

when supplies are plentiful.

either women or wealth:

Short, the ship's yards,

his pride is so dense,

autumn nights are uneasy,

it defies commonsense,

five days can transform

and inflates his wild fancies.

fair weather to storm,

a whole month can do more.

80. So learn from the runes,

the richest of boons

75. Some are stupid and slow,

that the gods ever grant;

how could they ever know

engraved as the sign

that money's a mocker?

of sage powers divine,

Some are lucky, grow rich,

best be still now and silent.

others rot in the ditch,

none's at fault in misfortune.

81. Praise the day when it's sped,

a wife once she's dead,

76. Your cattle will die:

no sword till you're sure of it.

dead your kinsmen will lie,

Don't trust ice till you tread,

the end comes to all.

nor a maid till she's wed,

So earn a good name;

praise beer after the banquet.

with honour, your fame

will outlast your lifespan.

56 57
The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

82. Fish when weather is good

86. a flying dart,

when it's windy, fell wood;

ice one night old,

seduce girls in the gloom ­

a falling wave,

many eyes has the day!

a serpent coiled,

Test a ship by the way

brides' pillow talk,

it skims over the sea.

a broken lance,

For safety a shield,

royal children,

a sword for the field,

bears that dance,

a lassie for loving.

87. a sick calf,

83. A warm fire will suffice

or a self-willed slave,

when you drink, but cold ice

the charming words

is more suited to skaters.

that witches rave,

Buy a sword none too clean,

the newly slain

a steed lanky and lean.

till they're in the grave.

Better fatten your nag

at your fann, but your dog

88. Field early sown,

can be nourished by neighbours.

precocious son,

don't put your faith

II. The Ways of Women in either one.

By sun and rain

84. If you're wise, never trust are crops controlled:

maid nor woman: you must your lad may grow laggard

beware of her words: as he grows old.

upon a spun wheel,

the heart shaped to conceal 89. Should you meet in the lane

how bitter the breast! the man who has slain

your brother, beware;

85. Don't trust a flame beware buildings half burnt,

or a twanging bow, a fast horse - you'll have learnt,

a gaping wolf, if its fetlock should crack,

a croaking crow, you can fall from its back ­

a grunting pig, don't take things on trust.

a rootless tree,
a boiling pot,
a surging sea,

58 59

The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

90. For the love of sly women

95. Each heart lives alone,

you must pay a price,

it's own truth unknown

it's like an ill-shod horse on slippery ice,

to a soul but itself.

like a wild two-year colt not yet broken in,

Even worse than disease

like a rudderless boat in

is when nothing can please:

the storm's shattering din,

this a wise man knows well.

like the chance of a cripple to catch and to kill

the reindeer that runs on the thaw-sodden hill.

96. I learned that one day,

deep in love, as I lay

91. Now I've studied them both,

in reeds by the river.

and to speak honest truth,

She was clever, she stole

men too can be treacherous:

my heart, body, and soul,

those whose words are most kind

yet I wasn't to win her.

may be cunning in mind,

outsmart even the shrewdest.

97. As she lay there and dreamed,

Billing's lassie, she seemed

92. For the love of a maid,

to shine like the sun.

the game to be played

Nobody but she

is coax and pay cash:

gave me reason to be,

to be in her good books

I burned for her body.

praise her figure and looks.

You must woo her to win.

98. She said 'Evening draws near.

Odin, come to me here,

93. But never cast shame

if you want a woman.

on another man's name

But we'll share the blame

when he dotes on his darling:

if folk learn to our shame

the wise and the just

how far we've offended'.

may grow weak in their lust,

while the fool's unaffected.

99. Back I turned, certain sure

that my love was secure,

94. No, never cast shame

that I'd wooed her and won:

on another man's name

not a shadow of doubt,

for common shortcomings.

sure that things would turn out

Wise men learn to their cost

all love and delight.

how the power of lust

can bewitch a man's wits.

60 61
The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

100. I drew near to her door,

104. I've just been to call

but the bold men of war

on the old giant's hall.

were all wide awake.

No sitting there in silence;

Bearing torches they came,

I gave play to my tongue,

pine branches aflame:

spoke loud and spoke long

not much joy on that journey!

in Suttung's assembly.

101. I watched till day-break.

105. From her golden stool

When no-one was awake

Gunnlod passed me a bowl

it was time to return:

of her marvellous mead.

what I saw there, instead

I rewarded her badly,

of the girl, in her bed

wounded her warm heart sadly,

lay bound her pet bitch!

gave poor recompense.

102. But some women of virtue

106. With Rati's sharp teeth

turn vicious, they hurt you

I drilled down beneath

once you know them well.

the hard stone to make space.

I longed to seduce
I was crammed in the cracks

that girl, make her loose

of the cave giants' tracks,

in her ways but she wouldn't.

in danger of death.

Her smart little game

brought me nothing but shame:

107. I took special care

I never got near her.

of my bargain-share;

the shrewd rarely go short.

103. Enjoy home life, make jests,

The mead-ehalice, mind-shaker,

be generous to guests,
belongs to mankind: the maker

but wise, self-aware.

of mead is amongst you.

More than that, you must really

remember things dearly,

108. I very much doubt

and speak with great skill.

I'd have made my way out

Talk of brave men, don't bray

from the hall of the huge ones,

if you've nothing to say,

without her good graces

don't act like an ass.

and her fond embraces,

the great lady Gunnlod

62
63
The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

109. The next sunrise brought unless it's sentry night,

the frost giants, who sought or you long to relieve yourself.
the hall of the High One.
Had Bolverk gone away 113. Learn what I advise,
back to Gods-home? Had he Loddfafnir, and be wise,
been slaughtered by Suttung? you'll gain from this gift
if you master the message
110. Odin swore the ring oath something of service.
I suppose. How much truth Don't waste your rest
in his words, I wonder? on a witch-woman's breast,
First Suttung he defrauds don't embrace her body.
of the mead that he hoards,
then leaves Gunnlod a-grieving. 114. Such women try hard
to make men discard
their king and his court:
Ill. Counsel they'll put you off your food,
friendships won't be renewed,
111. Time now to declare
and your beds will seem bitter.
from the Wise-One's chair

these words at Fate's wellspring:

115. Learn what I advise,
I watched, held my tongue,
Loddfafnir, and be wise,
I watched, and thought long
you'll gain from this gift
attended to the talk.
if you master the message
What the runes were about,
something of service.
what they meant, was spelled out
Don't lust, don't be led
in the Hall of the High-One..
to another man's bed,
This was the word
want your way with his wife.
that my ears heard

in the Hall of the High-One.

116. Learn what I advise,
Loddfafnir, and be wise,
112. Learn what I advise,
you'll gain from this gift
Loddfafnir, and be wise,
if you master the message
you'll gain from this gift
something of service.
if you master the message
Take plenty of food
something of service:
when you follow the road
don't stir till it's light,
over upland or ocean.

64 65
The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

117. Learn what I advise,

120. Learn what I advise,

Loddfafnir, and be wise,

Loddfafnir, and be wise,

you'll gain from this gift

you'll gain from this gift

if you master the message

if you master the message

something of service.
something of service.

Keep from evil men's ears

Attract good men and true

all the anguish the years

keep them close to you,

may have laid on your life:

you'll have luck all your life.

from men of this sort

you'll ne'er receive ought

121. Learn what I advise,

in kind for your confidences.

Loddfafnir, and be wise,

you'll gain from this gift

118. I've seen what words can do,

if you master the message

the sharp tongue of a shrew

something of service.

can hit a man hard:

Don't be first to end

some sly words were said,

your ties with a friend,

a false charge, he was dead,

or you'll rue your rashness.

laid low by a liar.

Your heart's joy will be gone,

eaten up, if there's none

119. Learn what I advise,

you can spill out your soul to.

Loddfafnir, and be wise,

you'll gain from this gift

122. Learn what I advise,

if you master the message

Loddfafnir, and be wise,

something of service.
you'll gain from this gift

Beat a path to the gate

if you master the message

of a good honest mate,

something of service.

call on him constantly.

When you meet a great fool,

They grow taller, the grasses

there's one golden rule,

where nobody passes,

don't waste any words on him.

and thicker the thorns.

123. From those who deceive,

you'll never receive

a reward for goodwill:

but a friend without blame

brings you honour and fame

and credit in kind.

66 67
The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

124. With real friends there's no doubt,

then fight them. You must
the one speaks right out
give no ease to the enemy.
and tells all to the other:

that's fully preferred

128. Learn what I advise,

to the fickle man's word:

Loddfafnir, and be wise,

he's no true friend who flatters.

you'll gain from this gift

if you master the message

125. Learn what I advise.

something of service.

Loddfafnir, and be wise,

Don't rejoice in foul play,

you'll gain from this gift

choose the just fellow's way,

if you master the message

learn to go for the good things

something of service.

Three words may be too much,

129. Learn what I advise,

with men you shouldn't touch,

Loddfafnir, and be wise,

when they're uttered inanger.

you'll gain from this gift

Often virtuous men fall

if you master the message

while the villain takes all.

something of service.

At war, in the fray,

126. Learn what I advise,

watch your eyes never stray

Loddfafnir, and be wise,

lest some spellbinder sight you.

you'll gain from this gift

There are times when a blind "I

if you master the message

terror seizes mankind.

something of service.

Wise men never choose

130. Learn what I advise,

to make weapons or shoes

Loddfafnir, and be wise,

except for themselves.

you'll gain from this gift

If a shoe doesn't fit,

if you master the message

or a shaft bends a bit,

something of service.

your customer will curse you.

Should you feel the desire

for a fine girl to fire

127. Learn what I advise,

your passions and pleasure,

Loddfafnir, and be wise,

you must treat her fairly

you'll gain from this gift

and keep your faith squarely;

if you master the message

be grateful for good things.

something of service.

If you find men unjust,

68 69
The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

131. Learn what I advise,

with the care-wrinkled face,
Loddfafnir, and be wise,
the man who resides
you'll gain from this gift
amongst old skins and hides,
if you master the message
though he rot among wretches,
something of service.
attend what he teaches.
Don't fret more than you need,

don't fuss, just take heed,

135. Learn what I advise,

watch the ale, don't get tied

Loddfafnir, and be wise,

to another man's bride,

you'll gain from this gift

or taken in by tricksters.
if you master the message

something of service.

132. Learn what I advise,

Be kind to the poor,

Loddfafnir, and be wise,

don't drive men from your door

you'll gain from this gift

if they're strangers, don't snap at them.

if you master the message

something of service.
136. When you loosen the pin

Don't jeer and make jests

to let everyone in,

against people's guests,

it's some bolt you draw back!

be they vagrants and vagabonds.

Still, be loving and giving:

if you're not, then may living

133. People sitting at home

hell plague your home.

never know who might come

to drop in at their door:

137. Learn what I advise,

we all bear some defect,

Loddfafnir, and be wise,

still, you'll always detect

you'll gain from this gift

worth even in the wicked.

if you master the message

something of service.

134. Learn what I advise,

When a man's on the booze,

Loddfafnir, and be wise,

it's earth-power he should choose,

you'll gain from this gift

for your earth absorbs ale,

if you master the message

just as fire does a fever,

something of service.
or oak a gut-ailment,

Don't ever make fun

or a wheat-ear does witchcraft

of an old grey haired man,

or the beer-hall bitterness:

what he says may make sense.

alum's best for a bite,

It's often the case

for malice, try moonlight:

70 71
The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

runes breed unrest,

142. You'll find runes writ in lines
fields swallow the flood.
with cyphers and signs,
massive letters and mighty,
IV. Odin's Agony on the Tree: painted by the All-Wise,
Runic Lore carved by gods from the skies,
and by Almighty Odin.
138. I know that I hung

nine whole nights long,

143. By Odin for Aesir,
storm-tossed on a tree,
by Dvalinn for Dwarves,
my body riven,
by Osvif for giants
to Odin given,
by Dain for the elf:
self-speared to myself: ,.
I I cut some myself.
but no-one knows

where that tree grows,

144. Do you know how to cut,

where its deep roots dig.

and interpret a line?

Do you know how to paint

139. I bent down my head,

runes, and how to divine?

but they gave me no bread,

Do you know how to pray,

nor one sip to swallow:

to proffer and plead?

I stretched down and grasped

Do you know how to best

the runes, learnt them, collapsed

make a sacrifice bleed?

pain-stricken and screaming.

145. Better nought of great price

140. Nine mighty lays

than too much sacrifice:

I learnt in those days

prayers look for profit.

from Bolthor's son, sire of BestIa.

Better give nought,

I was given to sup

than more than you ought:

the mead, sacred, scooped up

Odin carved out that word

from the pot that inspires.

before man's voice was heard,

when he rose to reign

141. Then I started to flourish,

in his own place again.

to nurture and nourish

my wisdom and wit:

as I searched my word store,

each word sent me to more,

every one to new work.

72 73
The Words of Gdin The Words of the High One

v. Magic Spells 151. Six: if anyone should

cut a root of new wood

146.There are some spells of mine,

to do me some damage,

even queens can't divine,

the one laying the curse

nor mankind grasp their meaning.

will come off much the worse

One called AID gives relief

when bad things rebound.

in lawsuits, in grief,

in all forms of misfortune.

152. And now number seven:

though flames burn high as heaven

147. For whoever should feel round the host in the hall,

the desire to heal, they won't spread so wide

there's another I know. I can't save all inside,

that's a spell I can sing.

148.There's a third I know too:

if I'm eager to throw 153. Now for spell number eight:

down my foes, really fetter them. you know, when there is hate

I can blunt sword and spear in men's hearts, learn this lesson:

and have nothing to fear if the sons of great lords

from their bludgeons and blades. should start having words,

I can soon set things straight.

149. There's a fourth one I know:

if I'm chained by the foe

154. Number nine holds the key

by the ankles and arms,

when there's peril at sea,

I can chant me a spell

and a ship to be saved.

then stroll as I will

I can quieten the storm,

hands free, down the street,

make the ocean grow calm

fetters flown from my feet.

and the sea fall asleep.

150. Here's a fifth: if a spear

155. Here comes spell number ten:

I should see flying near

I can cope with things when

through the massed ranks of men,

the town-witches ride wild;

though it fly fast as light,

see them all go astray,

I can stop it in flight,

lose their wits, lose their way,

if I get just a glimpse of it.

lose those shapes they assume.

74 75
The Words of Odin The Words of the High One

156. Now eleven: the shields

161. Sixteen: say I've a mind

of old friends from the fields

to amuse a refined

of war I bewitch;
and witty young woman

ensure they win the day,

I can turn on my charms,

that they're safe in the fray,

and that girl with white arms

safe when they're miles away,

will soon follow new fancies.

safe wherever they stand.

162. With my seventeenth spell

157. Now the twelfth: should I see

I'll ensure the young belle

a corpse swing on a tree,

never leaves me alone:

hung there on a halter,

'twill be long, Loddfafnir, till

I can paint such a spell,

you master this skill,

cut some runes - he'll be well

but once learnt, you'll delight in it.

again, stand up and speak.

Spells are fine when you heed them,

and they'll help when you need them.

158. Here's thirteen: if I had

merely sprinkled some lad,

163. The eighteenth I'll conceal:

just wet him with water,

I shall never reveal

he never would die

it to maiden or mistress­

in the wars, never lie

except for the wife

there, slain by the sword.

I shall love all my life,

and except for my sister.

159. Fourteen: I can recall

Though it's best, as life shows,

the names, read out the roll

when only one knows,

of all gods at your gatherings:

and so ends my song.

you need to be bright

to read all those names right,

164. Now you've heard

both Aesir and elves.

1,
the words of the Lord of All

uttered in the High One's hall,

160. There's a fifteenth spell here,

most useful to the sons of men,

sung by Thjodreyrir
most harmful to the giants' kin:

the dwarf, at Delling's door:

Hail to him who spoke them!

brought prestige to the elves,

Hail to him who learnt them!

power to the great gods themselves,

Hail to all who heard!

special insight to Odin.

76 77

 Paul Edwards in West Africa

Paul Edwards in West Africa:

Constructing Postcolonialism

by
Colin Nicholson
I hear you saying
'Here's a partial tenninus for your pathos and patience.
Sit at the desk with poetry.
Come in out of the rain.'
Angus Calder
'Remembering Paul Edwards'l

Having left school as a 16-year-old with the equivalent of

what might now be considered five O-levels, and then
volunteering for the RAF - serving from 1942-47 - Paul
Edwards discovered Anglo-Saxon as part of the English
language and literature undergraduate curriculum at
Durham University, where he took a first in 1952. Taking
further advantage of the dispensations then offered to ex­
servicemen he started again, as it were, reading early Celtic
and Icelandic language and literature at Cambridge,
graduating with another first two years later. In 1959 he
began his academic publishing with a note on the horse
races in Beowulf, by which time he had already been
teaching in West Africa for five years.
The Professor of English and African Literature with
a string of co-translated Icelandic sagas to his credit, several
published as Penguin Classics, lay in the future and Paul's
time teaching in Africa seems long ago; his past another
country. The little I know of his experiences there comes
from his own late-afternoon conversation, years afterwards.
In company he had a fund of entertaining overseas stories,
and a favourite party trick was the recitation from memory
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 The Words of Odin Paul Edwards in West Africa

of Shakespeare translated into Sierra Leonean creole: in and colours were welcome in the multi-racial salon he
which version he could, as occasion demanded, make created in university space and time, where they were
Macbeth's 'If it were done when 'tis done' worries about served wine and, latterly, potent beers of Paul's own
killing Duncan sound either hilarious or convincing; and if making. If walls could speak, that eighteenth-century room
the mood took him, both. He was a natural performer, a in Buccleuch Place would tell a tale or two. A tale I wasn't
dedicated teacher, and over the twenty-odd years we were told until after his death comes back now as my own
colleagues at Edinburgh I learned from him a store of memory of him alone in his room in the early evening, after
tutorially-useful ways of talking about several of the writers guests have departed from sometimes noisy assemblies and
we set for study. Many people around the world benefited before he leaves for home himself, listening to Elgar's
from Paul's adventurous and unorthodox teaching, and I 'Falstaff' on his record-player.
was lucky enough to begin tutoring with his expert advice So as a way of getting some distance on all of this, in
freely available, only later realising the levels of what follows he will not be Paul, but Edwards, and we will
reinforcement that came my way from having a working look at some of the work he did in what soon became
class Black Country Englishman as an Edinburgh colleague; known as Commonwealth Literature and might now be
even if he was a Brummie and my home town was included in the remit of Postcolonial Studies. As with
Wolverhampton. So when Hermann Pcilsson asked me to several of the organising constructs developed by and for
write something for this final instalment of their work European academics busily re-theorising their purpose and
together on medieval Icelandic, an additional difficulty lay place, for this latter rubric Paul Edwards, who had
in getting the love out of the way. Paul had an unerring experience of African countries both before and after
knack for bringing 'Literature' into real life situations and political independence, entertained a residual mistrust.
poems into personal encounter, pricking many a piece of
pretentiousness in the process. He read Shakespeare ..

informatively through significant detail for which he had an

astute eye, and could breathe a kind of Chaucerian life into In 1954, possibly helped by the Roman Catholicism he had
The Knight's Tale. A favoured tactic for engaging students long since repudiated but which might still tactically figure
with Wordsworth was to describe with relish Max on a job application, Edwards started his teaching career at
Beerbohm's cartoon of the lanky poet in pouring rain as St. Augustine's College in the imperial territory then known
drenched as the impoverished urchin girl over whom he is as The Gold Coast, an English carve-up of several ethnic
stooping in the act of patting her benignly on the head. spaces, including the Fanti, the Ashanti and, after 1917
Behind his back his other hand holds a rolled umbrella. when Germany's control was displaced, the western part of
Paul would then work hard to suggest and demonstrate, Togoland. In 1949 Kwame Nkrumah had founded the
and get his students to talk about, a range of values and Convention People's Party with the declared aim of
attitudes derivable from Wordsworth's patterned syntax. immediate self-government; had been briefly imprisoned by
His convivial drinking and clowning made him irresistible the colonial authorities in 1950 for his political activities,
to many and an irritant to some. Students generally and had served as prime minister of The Gold Coast for two
responded warmly to him, and people of any and all creeds years by the time Edwards started teaching English there. In

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The Words of Odin Paul Edwards in West Africa

1957, the year in which Nkrumah took the helm of the in 1962; Kenya, after a long and bloody struggle, in 1963 and
newly-independent Republic of Ghana, Edwards started Malawi (then Nyasaland) in 1964. Civil war raged in the
teaching at Fourah Bay College in Freetown, Sierra Leone, a Congolese Republic (subsequently Zaire, now the
city founded by the British in 1787 to relocate Africans Democratic Republic of the Congo) until 1965; and the
'rescued' from slavery, and a state that had become a British thirteen-year guerrilla war (followed by civil war) it took to
colony twenty-one years later. Sierra Leone achieved liberate and bring independence to Angola began in 1961. If
independence in 1962, and while teaching at Fourah Bay the example of India had left any lingering doubts, the
Edwards acted from 1960 to 1963 as an examiner and then struggle for Kenyan independence brought home to a
senior examiner in oral English for the West African British occupying power the difficulty of sustaining
Examinations Council. Also in 1960 he began, initially from militarily its post-war share of empire by repressing colonial
Africa and subsequently from the UK, publishing work movements for self-government, and the red, white and
about the teaching of English overseas. With this experience blue flag left other parts of Africa less bloodily and more
he came to Edinburgh in 1963, firstly in a sub-department civilly than precedent might have suggested. Nigeria was a
teaching English as a Foreign Language before joining the resource-rich prize and the departing power took some care
department of English Literature two years later. His long to leave in place as many structures of commercial and
and productive collaboration with Hermann Palsson did not pedagogic practice as it could. The evidence suggested that
begin until 1968, by which time Edwards had already preferential trading arrangements could stimulate markets
produced a series of Africa-related articles and had edited and help to protect them from outside competition, and
anthologies for use in African schools, including West with faltering credibility Sterling Area managers still
African Narrative (1963) which for the first time made thought themselves a force to be reckoned with. While the
available for classroom use African writing in English, as structure of Third World debt developed systems of
well as translations from native languages; and, in 1968, A economic subordination, a desired rubric of post­
Ballad Book for Africa. independence power relationships was nicely spoken by the
It perhaps helps to remember that besides metropolitan centre in the cultural sobriquet soon applied to
witnessing at first hand African moves to political self-rule, this hoped for substitution of socio-economic motives in
Edwards was in Sierra Leone when Harold Macmillan place of military incapacity. Though it had a recent English
visited Ghana, Nigeria and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) on his pedigree as a 'Common Wealth' movement in British
way to announce in Capetown the 'wind of change' a politics sometimes within and more often to the left of the
speeded up programme of decolonisation was producing; Labour party, part of the widespread radicalising of
and when the South African government signalled its own wartime opinion - as Sir Richard Acland put it in Tribune in
intentions two months later with the Sharpeville police 1939: 'Instead of: "this is mine and foreigners are our
massacre of black civilian demonstrators against pass laws. enemies," I want: "this is ours and foreigners are our fellow
Nigeria's independence celebrations in 1960 had been human beings'lt 2 - the idea of membership in a trans­
accompanied by widespread disturbances involving the Tiv national commonwealth of states with English language use
in the Northern Region; a portent of the tribal conflicts to as a public characteristic owed much of its dynamic to the
come. Tanganyika achieved independence in 1961, Uganda emergence of India as the world's largest democracy. But

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The Words of Odin Paul Edwards in West Africa

imperial habits of mind die hard, and a more purposely purveyed and thus served dominant interest-groups in
styled 'British' Commonwealth was soon trading. various states and territories. Considered as part of this
Coterminous with early notions of this evolving relationship creative evolution, African English was another application
between Whitehall, Threadneedle and Wall Street, and and extension. Whereas in a hostile perspective Edwards
England's increasingly uncertain market reach, a shared deployed the superior effectiveness of his teaching skills as
language use would significantly enable transactions across an agent of cultural subordination, not a quiet American but
ethnic and political frontiers while establishing and a boisterous Englishman doing serious damage with good
clarifying preferred commercial codes and practices. intentions; meanwhile the needs he identified and
In which contexts it might now be fashionable - and responded to in teaching and learning contexts spurred him
not difficult - to see Edwards as a minor cog in the to extend his students' fields of reference by improving a
transition from colonial to post-colonial status; a junior language use to make it quickly possible.
functionary in the infrastructural continuance of imperial Looking back in 1976, Edwards reminds us how
values" priorities and assumptions through the rapidly post-independent African writing developed in the
dissemination of an anglophone thought-world. By 1960s and how at that time French and West Indian writers
appropriating linguistic and pedagogic space for the and critics became more widely known in West African
continuing development of alien but governing norms, it countries: 'quite suddenly not only were they with us, so
could then be argued, Edwards enlisted with the overseas were their predecessors of the eighteenth and nineteenth
educational engineers, maintaining the 'mind-forged centuries, and so were all those new men writing in
manacles' Blake saw proliferating in the Regency London English.' Already the success of the Nigerian novelist
that initially took possession of Sierra Leone on behalf, as Chinua Achebe made him additionally for Edwards 'a
they used to say, of the 'British Crown'. 'The imperialism of teacher of that widespread colonial legacy, an African
language,' comments the native Gaelic-speaker lain language, English': '[Achebe] has contributed immeasurably
Crichton Smith, who has awareness of its continuing to the creation of what seemed incredible twenty years ago,'
cultural effects, 'is the most destructive of all. '3 And it seems a reading public both at home and abroad for African
likely that the Edwards who believed that for the people of writing in English. 'Between 1966 and 1974, nearly a quarter
Orkney, Orkneyinga Saga had become, since its first English­ of a million copies of Things Fall Apart were sold by
language appearance in 1873, 'what might be called their Heinemann, most of them in Africa, and around a hundred
secular scripture, inculcating in them a keener sense of their thousand each of Arrow of God and A Man of the People. '5
remote forbears and sharpening their awareness of a special International publishing houses develop their markets and
identity,'4 might also acknowledge that a canonised if elastic West African English language writers enjoy high sales,
'Great Tradition' of literature could serve a similar function while teachers like Edwards flex that language use as an
for native English people. Evidently there was a practice of individually enabling instrumentality. There were a number
'English Literature' Edwards found sustaining, but if he of technical problems to be overcome and he recalls the
thought of it 'organically' at all, it was likely to be in terms difficulties, from the 1950s into the early 60s, of trying to
of its proven ability to adapt and mutate across time and persuade educational policy-makers and syllabus-setters to
space, enabling linguistic forms of individuation even as it recognise West Africa's transforming circumstances and re­

84 85
 The Words of Odin Paul Edwards in West Africa

think their objectives: with some passion, too, since one of debate overseas teaching practice at all levels and in all
his first teaching jobs in what was about to become Ghana subject areas, published arguments and proposals
was 'The Pardoner's Tale' in Middle English. '[A]fter the sometimes highly critical of the imperial pedagogy in
initial culture-shock, my first response was to raise my voice transition it sought to modernise and improve. Its opening
against that loveable old pantomime villain, the Traditional issue addressed a perceived decline in the standards of
English Syllabus. "Relevance," I said, "what we want is English, especially spoken English, and declared its
relevance"'.6 At that earlier time African writing in English intention of ensuring that 'West Africans can continue to
hardly existed 'either for myself or my students, as a thing hold their own in the outside world wherever they may be,
you could study,' and of course whatever work had been and one way of doing this is ... to see to it that this decline is
produced did not begin to approach the standards of 'our' halted now.' The operational urgency of a restructuring that
Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Dickens, T.S. Eliot, 'our would necessarily involve 'a re-examination of the English
gifts to Africa.' This late ironising of what he now called syllabus'7 might also make available more appropriate
'the daftness in our condescension' (p. 91) masks the degree materials for future native teachers to work with. Two years
of self-awareness Edwards brought to his personal, later an editorial praised the profession's contribution to
classroom engagement with students. He may have change:
accepted the instrumentality of the language use he taught,
- and stayed within its parameters in West African space, but The shadowy schools of colonialism in West
he had decided feelings about the set texts he was required Africa gradually empty, and their pupils emerge,
to use in doing it. If a British imposed curriculum smiling, into the searching sunlight of
requirement of Middle English in these revolutionary independence. It is a proud and steady
African contexts defies even the expanded credibility of procession: Ghana, 1957; Guinea, 1958; Nigeria
hindsight, making Arnold's 'The Scholar Gypsy' a set text and French Togoland, 1960; Sierra Leone hard on
was hardly less obtuse. This is over forty years ago, and as their heels .... The West African revolutions we
we shall see Edwards continued with others for some years are witnessing are distinguished above all by
to do battle with a blinkered establishment. He and like­ their geniality. And whilst the politician rightly
minded colleagues were up against a mind-set that has claims credit for the fact of independence, the
since been so thoroughly discredited that it is useful to teacher can surely claim some of the credit for
remember the constraints it once exercised over the the manner of its achievement,8
permissions of publishable debate. Left like many others to
cope with the immediate classroom task Edwards, like Giving a different impression, an essay in the same issue
some, soon learned that 'the problem had to be faced, not interrogates some of the fundamentals of English teaching
simply of my students' unawareness of [English literary] practice in postcolonial or imminently postcolonial space: 'If
conventions, but of my own bondage to these conventions' a boy is required to learn the elements of a foreign language
(p.92). without being led to the point where he can read works in
The West African Journal of Education, launched in this language and appreciate them ... I should find it
1957 by the Institute of Education at Ibadan, Nigeria, to difficult to justify the teaching of such subjects in the

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The Words of Odin Paul Edwards in West Africa

crippled form in which they are taught as preparation for a Victorian public school and university precedent was irking
particular examination.' This harassed contributor, keen on "t teachers at several levels. Edwards's first intervention is
curriculum inclusion of texts open to 'the requirements, mired in the problematics of making a corpus of writing
feelings and temperament of the people of West Africa,' and from a dominant imperial language usefully available to
more than a little uneasy at the assumption that local colonial and ex-eolonial students. Sustained by a conviction
reading and interpretative strategies should conform to that good writing was first and foremost a communicative
European codes of response - 'must [African students] have act which, like music, could cross oceans to share its
the same feelings and reactions as the English, the French, pleasures boundlessly, he argues from classroom experience
the German undergraduate?' - quotes from a letter written for the curriculum replacement of Pope's 'The Rape of The
by a Nigerian who was going through the process: Lock' with Browning's 'My Last Duchess' on the grounds
that 'the student feels the people in this poem, and the
Broadly, the problem I wish to raise is the
problem stated by the poem, to come well within the range
question of the inability of an African student
of his experience as a West African.'ll Similarly, in suitably
sincerely to appreciate certain types of English
modernised language - but not otherwise - Chaucer's 'The
literature without the lurking feeling that it is all
Nun's Priest's Tale' is 'sufficiently human and universal in
a colossal deceit. This difficulty is due mainly to
its satire to appeal to almost any society at any time,' with a
a difference in culture, and in bridging the gap,
comic impact that helps to 'make the English literature class
there is a tendency, I fear, of one becoming un­
what it should be, an entertainment' (p. 4). 'Julius Caesar is
Africanised without becoming English. Being so
political, and the situation it deals with is a recurring one ­
much the study of a culture, I feel something, I
we might find it at present in Ghana .... But it is not only
don't know what, ought to be done, to relate it to
about politics, it is about people, and here, too, the
African background and culture. Otherwise,
schoolboy will find much that is relevant to his own society.'
what are the values one should expect from
Wordsworth's 'Michael' can also be addressed by young
studying English; is it simply the abiliry- to make
West African readers who 'often come from societies where
expert criticisms of, say, Shakespeare?9
the farms have decayed, and the young men gone to the
cities, where traditional bonds have been broken, and
'We cannot afford,' claims another contributor to the same honesty corrupted by the intrusion of a new and disturbing
issue, 'to model our schools on second-rate English world upon an old one which, for all its shortcomings,
grammar schools, on a tradition that was already dying offered standards of conduct which were secure' (p. 4).
when it reached Nigeria. '10 Working generally within the operative critical and
Clearly, overseas pedagogy was in transitional theoretical terms of the day, Edwards would come back to
difficulties, its surviving methodologies and examination the universalising benevolence of a domestically
practices increasingly out of touch with rapidly changing constructed canon: but the immediately pressing need to
social and political requirements: and as clearly the improve the quality of English language use in schools and
hubristic absurdity of entailing on African contexts English colleges was a main concern. The ability to write clearly and
curricular and assessment procedures largely derived from effectively was a transferable skill he sought to make

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The Words of Odin Paul Edwards in West Africa

attractive to students through the agency of appropriately an alien culture which may somehow be relevant and
chosen literary examples. A practitioner of clear writing interesting to the students in their very different
himself, he describes in his next essay an African use of environment,'14 Carroll and Edwards leave a footnote to
English corrupted by the cultural artifice of its acquisition. carry their proposal for a restructuring that would
The attempted engrafting onto African difference of English transform practice and expectation: 'We wonder, for
middle-class sensibility as an examinable practice produces instance, whether there is really a case for the School
a language use marked by an inflationary striving for Certificate English Literature course; whether some test of
resonance, to the detriment of effective communication. 'The English reading, much of which would be directed towards
Rejection of Plain English'12 looks for ways of improving the younger reader, might not be devised as part of the
public and private language use by arguing forcefully English Language examination. Much of the literature
against its own title and asserting that 'the teacher of discussed in this article would best be studied in G.CE. (A)
English must try to establish a new tradition and a Level classes and beyond' (p. 44).
discipline in clear thought and expression' (pp. 68-9). There Departing from an English literary canon that
is a certain clarity of purpose in an article Edwards wrote inflected teaching practice in the imperial homeland,
about 'Poetry in the West African School Certificate, 1961': 'if reading material proposed for their amended curriculum
English literature cannot be taught as a means of giving included a chapter of Camara Laye's The African Child
experience of reading for pleasure, it should not be taught at (1959) as comparator text for Lawrence's poem 'Snake', with
all. All other aims are secondary, and most of them are the suggestion that 'through the comparison of two such
irrelevant.' Edwards habitually read aloud so that students works as these, the African student, so often brought up [by
could hear the shape of uttered meaning, even in a strange European educators?] to think his own traditions merely
and distant text like 'Michael' written in highly formalised superstitious, can be led to recognise once more their
syntax and archaic mode by an unknown person from an original symbolic meaning.' More extensively, the same
unknown past. As he put it then: 'if we are to have comparative methods might be used to enhance post­
examinations in English Literature, the least we can do for independence study of the English novel, where the teacher
poetry and for our pupils is to see that they enjoy reading it.' has 'an invaluable aid ready to hand':
He questions whether anthologies designed for use in
British schools are ever likely to be satisfactory in West namely the beginnings of the West African novel
Africa,13 and so describes a project he would shortly in English. We may go straight to these West
undertake himself. Later, in 1968, and jointly with David African novels, several of which are original in
Carroll, Edwards pointed up the cultural exclusivity, and conception and competent in execution, as a
thus narrow-mindedness, of regarding a literature means of introducing our students to this
curriculum for non-native-speakers as the necessary particular literary form, confident that here is
container for an Anglocentric canon conceived as a something immediately recognisable and
sacrosanct whole to be handed over inviolate across time intelligible. (p. 42)
and cultures. Reading the imported curriculum more
rationally as 'a collection of novels, poems and plays from

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 The Words of odin Paul Edwards in West Africa

Integrative readings of two Achebe novels - Things Fall who would be reading and writing essays about the
Apart (1958) and No Longer at Ease (1960) - are outlined, and anthology, Edwards ends his introduction by
Edwards and Carroll make an early plea to pluralise this recommending the clarity of writing its excerpts
Commonwealth component in their revised curriculum by
demonstrate: 'This plainness, which you might cultivate in
inviting experimental classroom comparisons using fiction
your work more than elaborate styles, could be summed up
from 'the works, say, of the West Indians Naipaul and
as the power to recognise clearly what needs saying, and
Alston Anderson , or those of the Indian Narayan' (p. 44).
then to say it forcefully, with truth and precision, without
This co-~uthored es.say carri~s the, nearest thing to a I',
o's· wasting words or obscuring the point. Those of you who
confession of faIth we are lIkely to find - one cannot afford want to write well will find a number of good models in the
to neglect any of t~e possi~le .links between Africa and the pages which follow.'15 For young Nigerians, Ghanaians and
study of English lIterature - In. ~rder further to recast the Sierra Leoneans coming to terms with post-independence
pedagogic mould by emphasIsmg the desirability and status and identity, the good models included native
efficacy of classfo.om study of the 'less sophisticated' literary English-language fiction by Achebe, Tutuola, William
form of West A~Ican folk. tales, many.of which had already Conton and Camara Laye; excerpts from C. C. Reindorf's
been translated mto EnglIsh, and whIch form 'such a vital
History of the Gold Coast and Asante - 'of fundamental
background to th~ achie~ement of Achebe and that importance for the early history of Ghana' and making use
uniquely West AfrIcan. wrIter, Amos Tutuola' (p. 43). If of anecdotes that were 'probably complete tales intended as
better-prepared entry mto th~ sacred temple of English oral entertainment when he got them from his informants';
Literature is framed as the moti~e for this restructuring, the and, partially as a way of bringing attention to A. B. C.
proposals postpone conce~ WIth any attendant mystical Sibthorpe's nineteenth-century History and Geography of
'awareness of. the ~rgamc unity' of English literary Sierra Leone, from Sibthorpe's largely ghost-written
traditions untIl confIdence has been established in the
Centenary Oration on the Abolition of the Slave Trade; as well as
revised c~rriculum 'and vital connections amongst the
excerpts from Olaudah Equiano, who was to occupy
poems and novels [s.tuden~s] have been studying become Edwards's attention in years to come.
apparent and una~Oldable (p. 44). Comparative study of
Crossing several kinds of frontiers, native and
literatures in EnglIsh could make an instructive range of otherwise, this early exercise in cross-cultural reinforcement
vital connections apparent and unavoidable for readers in includes translations from Akiga's Story (1939), first
erstwhile colonial space.
completed in the Tiv language; from Prince Modupe's
Conscious t~at for wr.iting in. English by West America-based, English-language recollections of childhood
Africans to exte~d Its ~pproprIate audIence local reading in a Guinea village; from Baba of Karo's tape-recorded
habits needed stImulating, Edwards had edited the first
Hausa tales and memories - 'not merely of scientific interest
anthology of writing in English by native West Africans, a to the anthropologist but [in their transcribed and translated
book that was set for study in West African schools and so
form] a vigorous and human work of literature'; from
helped to prontote interest in what the dOminant linguistic
Anansi folk tales; and from Hassan and Shuaibu's record of
domain would soon be calling African Literature. Directly
Northern Nigerian oral traditions and customs, first
advising teachers, would-be teachers and the young people
published in English as A Chronicle of Abuja at Ibadan in
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 The Words of Gdin Paul Edwards in West Africa

1952. Bringing into classroom use English-language texts authority, entailed a radical transformation for cultures of
that could clarify writing practice more generally, West orality. West African teachers and would-be teachers could
African Narrative gathers together local and regional consider their experience in the light of Hassan and
particularities through various kinds of prose writing; Shuaibu's Chronicle, commissioned 'so that the oral
documentary, satirical, comic and tragic. Folk tales are traditions might not be lost,' and comprising 'part legend,
customarily communicated in the shared language of living part tradition, part fact,' in a text Edwards recognises as a
speech, and because Akiga had never read the English distinguished contribution to Hausa literature (p. 73). As a
classics, 'he did not spoil his writing by trying to imitate way of negotiating complex transitions from native African
them.' Edwards gives canonical blessing to his oralities in a plurality of languages into English-language
recommendation of Akiga's Story as stylistic model for print literacy, the anthology reads now like an interesting
readers: 'As Keats said of poetry, 'if it comes not as leaves to because permissive document in postcolonial processes. At
the tree it had better not come at all' (p. 10). Subsequent a time when African states were increasingly required to
advice is forthright: 'Much of the bad writing you will come represent their own affairs as best they may in international
across in West Africa and elsewhere is the result of straining markets dominated by global and ruthless profit-taking, a
after effect and trying to sound grand instead of considering culture of English-language literacy could readily be seen as
what must be said, then choosing those words which come a necessary enabling medium for the exploited. And if a
most naturally' (p. 9-10). To which end local and regional social habit of reading for pleasure might be cultivated in
creativity and distinctiveness present an anthologised range alliance with developed skills in writing clearly and
of cultural practice and political disposition, from imperial accurately, who knows where it might lead? Nehru was
arrogance to tribal warfare; from conflict between custom speaking Indian priorities in impeccable English on the
and innovation, as with Achebe's account of the Ibo village stage of world politics, and closer to home Julius Nyerere,
elder and warrior Okonowo who refuses to reconcile his like Nkrumah originally a teacher, was already using the
way of life to the new ways introduced by incoming white language to impressive political effect. More immediately,
missionaries and administrators, to 'the dangers of an 'if there were more reading for pleasure in West Africa then
authoritarian tradition, where men are guided less by their fewer hopes would be buried in that scholastic graveyard,
own observation than by the pressure of common social the School Certificate English Language examination' (p. 1).
beliefs strictly and uncritically held' (p. 151); from 'black Good writing in English by West African authors could
Englishmen' to 'Freetown Creoles, bridging precariously the provide a useful avenue of exploration. But the controversy
gap between the worlds of Africa and Europe'(p. 236). The over whether the erstwhile colonised should continue to
Reindorf excerpt, headlined here as 'Too White, Like a write creatively in the language of the coloniser, a question
Devil!', comically subverts a grounding ideological basis for that continues to raise considerable dust, broke out again in
white supremacy. the same year that Edwards's anthology appeared.
The nation-wide dissemination, among populations Published in Transition in 1963, Obi Wali's 'The Dead End of
hitherto largely excluded from its teaching programmes, of African Literature' insisted that 'until these writers and their
a social culture of print literacy that was already a well­ Western midwives accept the fact that any true African
established instrument in the apparatus of imperial literature must be written in African languages, they would

94
95

""'­
The Words of Odin Paul Edwards in West Africa

merely be pursuing a dead end which can only lead to educated people, so a form of creative literacy in
sterility, uncreativity and frustration.'16 The Kenyan it would be very likely to develop anyway. (p. 4)
novelist Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Decolonising the Mind: The
Politics of Language in African Literature ('my farewell to Against the prospect of English becoming a social class
English as a vehicle for any of my writings'), subsequently marker, separating educated practitioners from speakers of
(1986) maintained that continued European-language use different tribal languages, Edwards raises the possibility
merely perpetuates the colonial dependency which has that a post-independence policy of universal primary
brought the continent to its present difficulties. More education provision would disseminate a form of English­
recently again, Adewale Maja Pearce pointed out that these language fluency as the coming generation's early learning
positions ignore the demonstrable achievement of African environment. He also notes that a recent decision of the
writers using European languages to provide an alternative, South African government to substitute Bantu languages for
localised vision: 'In other words, English is one of the English in black primary and high schools had been
languages of Africa, at least for the present, because the reasonably described as racialis~ policy 'at its most sinister'
poets have determined it so, a fact which is readily (p. 5) for seeming to stimulate traditional life while
acknowledged by the African dictators who would silence effectively denying black South Africans university entry.
them.'17 Aware that most of his readers were at least bilingual,
In 1963, with English language use in Ghana, Edwards hands them the problem: 'this is the sort of
Nigeria and Sierra Leone (their only common tongue) question which you could usefully discuss between
officially confirmed, and an evidently irreversible yourselves, and about which you may be able to say more
programme of African self-government under way, than your teachers' (p. 4). A continuing evolution of
Edwards includes something of the vitality of native English-language usage adopting local patois is similarly
production and puts his case about the relative usefulness of scouted and Edwards, writing in clear and intelligible
English language, as opposed to local language, literacy: English so that his mod~ of delivery becomes an effect in his
argument, leaves future resolution to future practitioners: 'I
Political independence is resulting in even more have no intention of proposing answers to the problems
communication between West African nations which have been mentioned: for one thing I am not sure of
and the rest of the world, so that a common the answers, and for another I should like you to think
language is going to be indispensable. It could be about them and come to your own conclusions' (p. 5). In
argued that in this case English might become 1967, Donatus The Nwoga, recognising that 'more and
the language of diplomacy and government, more, African students will be introduced to poetry through
trade and education, and that the vernaculars the work of their own poets,' edited West African Verse: An
might remain the vehicle of creative writing and Anthology, and comments in his preface: 'we have all read
local communication. But [under these English poetry for so long, we have had books with all types
circumstances] the use of English would be very of notes to help us with their study, that we have formed
widespread indeed, particularly amongst certain expectations about poetry so that many of the
readers of the African poets are at a loss to see their

96 97

The Words of Odin Paul Edwards in West Africa

meaning. It is not what we are used to, and there are as yet blacks in Britain. Ken Ramchand, Edwards's first graduate
no books to help us with notes.'18 Now that was changing. student and now Professor of English at the Saint Augustine
(Trinidad) campus of the University of the West Indies,
..
ended the 'Reminiscence' he wrote as an obituary in 1992:

In the year that Hermann Pcilsson and Paul Edwards Thirty years ago in Scotland we began to work
published the first of their translations of Old Icelandic together, and to this day he remains a sustaining
sagas, A Ballad Book for Africa justified itself on the grounds presence. I do not think I shall ever forget him or
that 'the plainest poetry of high quality in English is to be these lines from eL.R. James's The Black Jacobins:
found in the ballads, and many teachers in Africa have 'The Blacks will know as friends those Whites
recognised that these poems can often be enjoyed by who are fighting in the ranks beside them.'20
learners of English who would have little success with other
forms of verse.'19 The 'lively experience of reading poetry, Hindsight suggests that the work of putting together both
and the powerful effects it can have' might supply some of his West African prose and English ballad anthologies, and
the perceived English-language needs of non-native the continuing impact Caribbean writing had on him,
speakers - enhanced skill and sensitivity in reading and helped sensitise Edwards to the powerful development of
writing the language; increased familiarity with forms of narrative rhythms he evidently enjoyed in Icelandic writing.
English close to those the student is being taught in The introduction to Gautrek's Saga and Other Medieval Tales
language classes. Mindful as ever of the guiding principle ­ refers to 'a fascination with the past, a narrative style of
'these poems are meant to be read for pleasure' - in making dramatic verbal economy [and] a keen insight into human
use of ballads 'we would expect the poetry taught to motive';21 qualities he also found in African writing,
reinforce work in language' and thus develop the range and including its textualised oral traditions. He saw problems of
skill-level of the individual student's language acquisition. moral philosophy posed, in clear and dramatic narrative by
Edwards's desire - and capacity - to translate into West African folk tales, and admired Achebe for developing
classroom practice the Horatian injunction that poetry give this into a persuasive and complex presentation of
instructive pleasure was well-known and is still traditional tribal life facing utter transformation, with
remembered. His work in Africa, it can be thought from a psychological depth gained through narrative attention to a
metropolitan as well as a postcolonial perspective, by protagonist's anguish at changes he cannot ;revent,
avoiding pedagogic engagement with native languages including the Christian conversion of his son. 2 Achebe
inevitably extended the structures and mediations of a advised Edwards about elements in The Life of Olaudah
global and exploitative power. He would have been Equiano (c. 1745-97), the first notable leader of black people
uncomfortable with the idea of poetry as exploitative and, in Britain, and a significant campaigner against the slave
dealing with the world as he found it, did what he could to trade whose narrative constructs an epic effort at self'::
share with others the pleasures of the text as he saw them. realisation. 23 Edwards read a differently inflected epic
He made connections where he could and went on to record in Egil's Saga, of conflicting conduct between
become an important authority on the early history of freedom and authority, loyalty and bad faith, generosity

98 99

The Words of Odin Paul Edwards in West Africa

and greed; presented in this case by a self-aware protagonist chauvinist, and if Edwards saw African narrative in English
whom he adapts Yeats to describe as a 'drunken as an evolution, often a seriously problematising one, in the
vainglorious lout writ[ing] out in verse his own pride and scope of the language, he also saw Icelandic s1as forming
its vanity.'24 Repeatedly drawn to the intricate interface part of Medieval Europe's narrative traditions.2
between imaginative narrative and event of record, and to So it seems appropriate as well as ironic that for his
the interplay between oral recall and the scripting of last collaboration with Hermann Pcilsson, Edwards should
historical identity, Edwards responded to a characteristic assume the voice of 'the many-faced Odin, the shape­
Icelandic rooting of fantasy in folk tradition. Historical changer and rune-master, lord of drink, wanderer, god of
narratives quoting poetry as evidence, as well as both an poetry and of the slain.'28 Shape-changing was integral to
oral tradition and written material, are read as reinforcing a the practice they developed together over the years; with
responding and communally self-identifying audience's Pcilsson producing a literal prose translation of the text for
sense of continuity by referring precedence and genealogy Edwards to work into modern English ('Hermann is the
to a mythic or legendary collective unconscious. As they scholar, I play with the words'); and with Pcilsson then
used their story-telling skills to satisfy an evident curiosity restraining Edwards whenever he moved against the spirit
by giving memorable form to the past, saga writers were of the original. Benefiting from Edwards's life-long interest
creative in other ways, introdu~ng new characters into their in ballad, Havamal in this version uses rhyming syllabic
inherited stories or inventing dialogue to enliven and metre sometimes with heroic or semi-heroic associations,
entertain. 25 'But the stories had to sound plausible to a but as often adapting its ebullient measure to situational
knowledgeable audience, and all that was incongruous or and narrative realism. Idiomatic speech rhythms, a feeling
anachronistic had to be avoided: in fact the author had of pattern and a naturalising of Odin's voice produce
rather less licence than the historical novelist of our own contemporary resonance from antique inscription. Together
time. '26 Habitually in breach of the discursive conventions with a characteristic masculine bravado this speaker is
he conventionally used, Edwards engaged with secular closely aware of death, and grim actualities form part of his
demystifications of godhead in tales where 'we are unsure account. Other 'Words of Wisdom' have a different focus:
whether men have become gods, or gods have turned into
men' and where the atmosphere 'is not so much fantastic, as Let the men of each nation

continually shifting between the fantastic and the credible show wise moderation,

and human' (p. 16). be well-measured in mind.

Shifting between Odin's words in Havamal must, To be happy and free,

then, have been an interesting exercise on several counts, best never to see

not least speaking in modern idiom an archetypal patriarch what fate lies before you.

whose masculine self-representation glorifies appetite and

battle-prowess at the same as it produces a relentless A log burning bright

disclosure of manly arrogance, often superstitiously sets the next branch alight,

motivated cruelty, and violent self-deception. Odin is one ignites the other:

among other things a benchmark North European male so converse with your neighbour,

100 101
The Words of Odin Paul Edwards in West Africa

it's well worth the labour: 7 'Commentary by the Editors' in West African Journal of
it hurts you to hide yourself. Education (February, 1957), vo!. 1, no. 1, p. 2. Hereafter
WAJE.
In 1976 Edwards joked about the idea of giving a lecture in 8 Ibid., (February, 1959), vo!. 3, no. 1, p. 2.
Ibadan entitled 'To Africa on an Iceberg,' on the place of 9 C. J. Classen, 'Quo Vadis, West African Education?', in
medieval Icelandic saga in modem Nigerian fiction. 29 In WAJE (February, 1959), vo!. 3, no. 1, p. 22.
another life, perhaps he did.
10 R. E. Manley, 'The Character of Nigerian Grammar
Schools', in WAJE (February, 1959), vo!. 3, no. 1, p. 40.
Colin Nicholson 11 Paul Edwards, 'English Literature and West African Life',

Edinburgh University in WAJE (February, 1960), vo!. 4, no. 1, p. 3.

12 Paul Edwards, 'The Rejection of Plain English' in WAJE

Gune, 1960), vo!. 4, no. 2.

13 Paul Edwards, 'Poetry in the West African School

Certificate, 1961', in WAJE (February, 1961), vo!. 5, no. 1, p.

Notes 16.

14 Paul Edwards and David Carroll, 'Teaching English

Literature to West African Students', in English Language

1 Angus Calder, Waking in Waikato (Edinburgh: diehard, Teaching (1968), vo!. 18, no. 3, p. 38.
1997), p. 53.
15· Paul Edwards (ed.), 'Introduction' to West African
2 Cited in Angus Calder, 'The Common Wealth Party: 1942 ­
Narrative: An Anthology for Schools (Edinburgh: Nelson,
1945' (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Sussex,
1963), p. 8.

1967), p. 18.
16 Cited by Adewale Maja-Pearce in his introduction to The

3 lain Crichton Smith, 'Real People in a Real Place', in

Heinemann Book ofAfrican Verse (London: Heinemann, 1990),

Towards the Human: Selected Essays (Edinburgh: MacDonald,

p.xiii.

1986), p. 20.
17 Ib·d .

I ., p. XIV.

4 Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney, tr. by 18 Donatus Ibe Nwoga, West African Verse: An Anthology

Hermann Pcilsson and Paul Edwards (Harmondsworth: (London: Longman, 1972), pp. xv-xvi.

Penguin, 1981), p. 9. 19 Paul Edwards (ed.), A Ballad Book for Africa (London:

5 Paul Edwards, 'West African Literature and English Faber and Faber, 1968), 'Introduction', p. 10.

Studies', in African Studies Since 1945: A Tribute to Basil 20 Ken Ramchand, 'Obituary: Paul Edwards', in Wasafiri

Davidson, ed. Christopher Fyfe, (Harlow: Longman, 1976), p. (Autumn, 1992), no. 16, p. 82.

92,94. 21 Hermann Pcilsson and Paul Edwards, Gautrek's Saga and

6 Ibid., p. 91. other Medieval Tales (London: University of London Press,

1968), p. 7.

102 103
The Words of Odin

22 'Teaching English Literature to West African Students', p.

42-3.

23 Paul Edwards (ed.), The Life of Olaudah Equiano (Harlow:

Longman, 1989), p. xxii, n. 35.

24 Hermann Pcilsson and Paul Edwards, Egil's Saga

(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), p. 10.

25 Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney, p. 11.

26 Gautrek's Saga, p. 10.

27 Gautrek's Saga, p. 7.

28 Hermann Pcilsson and Paul Edwards, Egil's Saga

(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976), p. 11

29 Paul Edwards, 'West African Literature and English

Studies', in Fyfe, ed., p. 91.

I
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