Editing Mansöngr (section)

== In ''rímur''==
In Icelandic ''[[rímur]]'', ''mansöngur'' is the term used for the (optional) opening section of each ''ríma'' poem within the larger epic. The ''mansöngur'' typically shares a metre with the ''ríma'' it prefaces but is [[lyric poetry]] rather than narrative and the poet often speaks in the first person, addressing the audience directly. The ''mansöngur'' is often addressed to a woman but known as ''mansöngr'' even when it isn't. The ''mansöngur'' may or may not relate to the main narrative of the ''rímur'': some poets use the ''mansöngur'' to comment on the events of the story as they unfold or explore specific narrative themes, but others treat the ''mansöngur'' as a 'break from the action'.

The earliest ''rímur'' lack ''mansöngvar''. In later ''rímur'', the author (usually male) would compose poetry about a woman he had fallen in love with (but who generally is not depicted as reciprocating his feelings). Accordingly, ''mansöngvar'' are often sorrowful. Later, they started to feature other topics, such as love for one's ancestral estate or complaints at how few people appreciate poetry.<ref>Vésteinn Ólason, 'Old Icelandic Poetry', in ''A History of Icelandic Literature'', ed. by Daisy Nejmann, Histories of Scandinavian Literature, 5 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006), pp. 1-63 (pp. 55-59).</ref>

One example of the content of a ''mansöngur'' is afforded by [[William Craigie|Craigie]]'s summary of stanzas 1-17 of the third ''ríma'' of ''[[Skotlands rímur]]'' by Einar Guðmundsson, a 17th-century poet. It includes many of the classical features of the ''mansöngur'' in ''rímur'': a fair woman is addressed, while the poet laments his inadequacy as a poet and the sorrowful state of the world. The ''mansöngur'' is also a platform for personal expression—here, probably, a (veiled) complaint over losing his position as the minister for Staður in Reykjanes in 1635 after accusing two parishioners of sorcery:

<blockquote>Though the ring-decked maiden might wish for a love-song, I have but little poetry from [[Odin]]. Only a little [[poetic mead|scent of the fruit of song]] he gave me once: I have no need to be grateful for his generosity. Let those rejoice who have been more successful. Friendship is not shown to every man, and I was never good at winning favour of the great. True friendship is rare over all the land; most men look for some advantage and are envious of all others who get wealth or fame. Seek not, then, to be praised by the world: disgrace and loss may follow. [[God|He that sees in secret]] will reward you, and He will come one day to sit in [[Last Judgment|judgement]]. May I be able to see Him with joy, though my works are not so good as they might be. I have not the ''mansöngs'' to speak about the fair maid, but I must try to give her the third ballad now!<ref>''Skotlands rímur: Icelandic Ballads on the Gowrie Conspiracy'', ed. by W. A. Craigie (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908), p. 6; https://archive.org/details/skotlandsrmuric00craigoog.</ref></blockquote>