Hávamál
A burning hall, and rising hate
The seventh song saves a blazing hall, however fiercely it burns. The eighth, which anyone can learn, calms hate among warriors.
Reference: stanzas 151–152 (Bray’s numbering) (The Elder or Poetic Edda, Commonly Known as Sæmund’s Edda, part I: The Mythological Poems)
The text, stanzas 151–152
151.
A seventh I know: if I see a hall
high o'er the bench-mates blazing,
flame it ne'er so fiercely I still can save it, --
I know how to sing that song.
152.
An eighth I know: which all can sing
for their weal if they learn it well;
where hate shall wax 'mid the warrior sons,
I can calm it soon with that song.
- Olive Bray (editor and translator), The Elder or Poetic Edda, Commonly Known as Sæmund’s Edda, part I: The Mythological Poems (opens in a new tab) (1908), stanzas 151–152 (Bray’s numbering) Rights: Public domain. Published in 1908, so in the public domain in the United States. Text as edited online by D. L. Ashliman, Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts, University of Pittsburgh.
In plain English
The seventh song: if he sees a hall blazing above the bench-mates, however fiercely the flame burns, he can still save it; he knows how to sing that song.
The eighth song is one that all can sing for their good if they learn it well. Where hate grows among warrior sons, he can calm it quickly with that song.
- Olive Bray (editor and translator), The Elder or Poetic Edda, Commonly Known as Sæmund’s Edda, part I: The Mythological Poems (opens in a new tab) (1908), stanzas 151–152 (Bray’s numbering) Rights: Public domain. Published in 1908, so in the public domain in the United States. Text as edited online by D. L. Ashliman, Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts, University of Pittsburgh.
Modern interpretation
Read today, the two songs are about stopping a fire and stopping a feud. The eighth is the only one the speaker says anyone can learn. That is a modern reading.
Questions to sit with
- What is burning in a place you share with other people? What would calm it?