The Legend Of Sigurd And Gudrún (Kindle Edition)
Product Description
“Many years ago, J.R.R. Tolkien composed his own version, now published for the first time, of the great legend of Northern antiquity, in two closely related poems to which he gave the titles The New Lay of the Volsungs and The New Lay of Gudrun. “In the Lay of the Volsungs is told the ancestry of the great hero Sigurd, the slayer of Fafnir most celebrated of dragons, whose treasure he took for his own; of his awakening of the Valkyrie Brynhild who slept surrounded by a wall of fire, and of their betrothal; and of his coming to the court of the great princes who were named the Niflungs (or Nibelungs), with whom he entered into blood-brotherhood. In that court there sprang great love but also great hate, brought about by the power of the enchantress, mother of the Niflungs, skilled in the arts of magic, of shape-changing and potions of forgetfulness. “In scenes of dramatic intensity, of confusion of identity, thwarted passion, jealousy and bitter strife, the tragedy of Sigurd and Brynhild, of Gunnar the Niflung and Gudrun his sister, mounts to its end in the murder of Sigurd at the hands of his blood-brothers, the suicide of Brynhild, and the despair of Gudrun. In the Lay of Gudrun her fate after the death of Sigurd is told, her marriage against her will to the mighty Atli, ruler of the Huns (the Attila of history), his murder of her brothers the Niflung lords, and her hideous revenge. “Deriving his version primarily from his close study of the ancient poetry of Norway and Iceland known as the Poetic Edda (and where no old poetry exists, from the later prose work the V?lsunga Saga), J.R.R. Tolkien employed a verse-form of short stanzas whose lines embody in English the exacting alliterative rhythms and the concentrated energy of the poems of the Edda.” – Christopher Tolkien
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When J.R.R. Tolkien wasn’t teaching philology at Oxford or penning classic fantasy novels, he did some retellings of old poetry. VERY old poetry.
“The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun” is one such work: a verse working of the Norse legend of the hero Sigurd and his adventures, as well as the two doomed women who loved him. The wording is a bit awkward in places, and a good chunk of the book’s content is commentary by his son Christopher Tolkien — but the deep-rooted mythic story and Tolkien’s vivid prose are gorgeous.
After exploring the gods and their glittering Valholl, Tolkien introduces the bitter dwarf Andvari and his magic ring, the greedy dragon Fafnir, and the tragic tale of Sigmund, Sigurd’s daddy. Sigurd was tricked into slaying Fafnir for his treacherous foster father, and gained a hoard of cursed gold and a roasted dragon heart. Then he learns of the beautiful Valkyrie Brynhild, who is doomed to “wed the World’s chosen” only, and sleeps in a fortress of flames.
Though he wakes Brynhild, Sigurd claims that he isn’t going to marry her until he has a kingdom of his own — and he gets one too. But in the process, he falls in love with the beautiful Gudrun and marries her. When his brother-in-law Gunnar wants the finest woman in the world, Sigurd tricks Brynhild into marrying Gunnar instead. This betrayal — and a cursed ring given to both Gudrun and Brynhild — leads to lies, hatred, death, and a devastating tragedy that destroys more than one person’s life.
“The Lay of Gudrun” is a sort of sequel to the Sigurd legend: after Sigurd dies, Gudrun goes a little nuts in her woodland house and ends up being wed against her own wishes (courtesy of her witchy mom) to the king of the Huns, Atli. Of course, everything goes wrong for the poor woman — and her brothers Gunnar and Hogni rush to attack Atli.
“The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun” is not for those who only like to read Tolkien’s Middle-Earth stories. Sure, there’s a cursed ring and a mention of “Mirkwood,” but the rest of it is pure Norse saga infused with gods, sorrow, magic and ancient battles. But it’s a fascinating story, and you can hear the ring of the elves and the Rohirrhim in some of the stately passages (”Hail O sunlight/and sun’s rising”).
It’s also very complex story, with lots of gory battles, doomed love affairs, and everybody involved ending up miserable and/or dead — in particular, the bleak yet exquisite finale of “The Lay of Gudrun” is astonishing. And Tolkien does make you feel for the two lead characters of Sigurd and poor, tragic Gudrun (whose only crime was to love her husband), even if Sigurd is kind of a jerk. Brynhild just comes across as a snotty ice queen.
And Tolkien’s wordcraft is pretty smooth, easily read if you’re used to epic poetry. There are a few awkward moments (”Last night I lay/where loath me was/with less liking/I may lay me yet”), but most of it is easy to decipher and to follow. And the words are usually quite vivid, beautifully written (”gleaming robed/as flower unfolded/fair at morning”) and evocative (”his beard was grey/as bark of ash”), with many moments that are simply beautiful.
For the record: “The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun” has a LOT of Christopher Tolkien’s forewords, commentary and Tolkien’s own information on Norse mythology (for the record, “midgardsormr” means the serpent around the world). There’s fifty pages to wade through before the poem even starts. Those with little experience in Norse myth might find it handy, but anyone who already knows the story will find it rather dry.
The legendary JRR Tolkien’s working of “The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun” is a vivid retelling of this saga, and his unmistakable touch is left on the words. If you can handle epic poetry, this one is definitely worth a read.
Something that often goes unappreciated by fans of The Lord of the Rings–novels or movies–is that J.R.R. Tolkien was an important figure in the world of Germanic language, literature, and mythology, and often incorporated his knowledge and research into his stories whole. Several of the songs sung by Treebeard, for instance, are written in the alliterative verse of Old English. Tolkien was also almost single-handedly responsible for reviving study of Beowulf as a work of literature.
It was wonderful, then, to see this work published. Composed as his own conflation of the various legends of Sigurd (known to opera fans as Siegfried), this set of two long poems concerns Sigurd’s birth, life, heroic feats, and tragic death. To provide a quick and dirty version–the poems follow Sigurd, a great hero, as he slays the dragon Fafnir. Bathing in Fafnir’s blood makes his skin impenetrable except for one tragic weak point. Sigurd becomes involved with the Valkyrie Brynhild and eventually the princess Gudrun. Sigurd marries Gudrun and Brynhild is instrumental in his death. Following Sigurd’s death, the widowed Gudrun exacts a horrifying and bloody revenge.
Tolkien wrote these poems (two separate works, the first of which is broken into several parts) in an Old Norse skaldic meter similar to the Old English alliterative verse already mentioned, giving the reader some feel for the texture of these old poems. The poems are briskly-told and exciting–and beautiful. Tolkien was no mean poet himself, and even when working in a strict form like this his abilities make for worthwhile reading.
The many notes and explanatory texts by Christopher Tolkien are helpful, and I imagine will be very helpful to those unfamiliar with this kind of poetry, which can be very difficult. In fact, most of the book is made up of notes and other material–one can read the poems themselves very quickly.
The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun should be a good introduction to the Sigurd legends for beginners, and for those of us already familiar with his adventures, this book is a nice way to revisit either Tolkien or the Norse legends–or both.
Highly recommended.
and other stories of that ilk, you will love this! And, you’ll find hints of LOTR and the The Silmarillion: a dangerous ring, a dragonslayer, Mirkwood, dwarves, enchanted swords, and tragic romances. It’s all there. Be forwarned that without Christopher Tolkien’s notes and commentaries, it’s hard to make sense of some of the verses. Christopher’s writing style can also be dry and confusing at times, but I felt that the two legends were worth the work of consulting the commentaries every now and again. I hope this review helps.