Hávamál
Man is the joy of man
The speaker remembers being young, alone and lost on the road, and the wealth he felt on finding another person.
Reference: stanza 47 (Bray’s numbering) (The Elder or Poetic Edda, Commonly Known as Sæmund’s Edda, part I: The Mythological Poems)
The text, stanza 47
47.
Young was I once, I walked alone,
and bewildered seemed in the way;
then I found me another and rich I thought me,
for man is the joy of man.
- 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), stanza 47 (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
When he was young, the speaker walked alone and seemed to have lost his way. Then he found another traveller and felt rich, because man is the joy of man.
- 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), stanza 47 (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
This is among the most quoted lines of the poem today, usually as a statement about companionship. That is a modern use; the poem is describing a lost young traveller.
Questions to sit with
- Who was the “other” who made you feel rich when you were lost? Have you told them?