Editing Baldrs draumar

{{short description|Eddic poem}}
{{Italic title}}
{{For|the Norwegian ballet|Baldurs draumar}}
[[Image:Odin rides to Hel.jpg|thumb|right|300px|"Odin rides to Hel" (1908) by [[W. G. Collingwood]]]]
'''''Baldrs draumar''''' (Old Norse: '[[Baldr]]'s dreams'){{Sfn|Orchard|1997|p=13}}{{Sfn|Lindow|2002|p=70}} or '''''Vegtamskviða''''' is an [[Poetic Edda|Eddic poem]] which appears in the manuscript [[AM 748 I 4to]]. It describes the myth of [[Baldr]]'s death consistently with ''[[Gylfaginning]]''. Bellows suggest that the poem was composed in the mid 10th century as well as the possibility that the author also composed ''[[Völuspá]]'' or at least drew from it, pointing at the similarity of stanza 11 in ''Baldrs draumar'' and stanzas 32-33 in ''Völuspá''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe13.htm |title = The Poetic Edda: Baldrs Draumar}}</ref> Additionally, the 14th stanza of ''[[Þrymskviða]]'' is almost identical to Baldrs draumar's 1st stanza. Only in the last sentence do the two diverge from one another. Guðni argued that Þrymskviða was the younger poem of the two and it had received the stanza from Baldrs draumar. <ref>{{cite web |url=https://wevikings.com/library/baldrs-draumar-eng |title = Baldrs Draumar}}</ref>

==Synopsis and text==
[[Baldr]] has been having nightmares. [[Odin]] rides to [[Hel (realm)|Hel]] to investigate. He finds the grave of a ''[[völva]]'' and [[resurrection|resurrects]] her. Their conversation follows, where the völva tells Odin about Baldr's fate. In the end Odin asks her a question which reveals his identity and the völva tells him to ride home.

==Form and date==
The poem is one of the shortest Eddic poems, consisting of 14 ''[[fornyrðislag]]'' stanzas. Some late paper manuscripts contain about five more stanzas, those are thought to be of young origin. [[Sophus Bugge]] believed them to have been composed by the author of ''[[Forspjallsljóð]]'', which is thought to have been written in the 17th century. Bellows, on the other hand, suggests the poem is much older but could not date it earlier than the tenth century.

==Influence==
The confrontation between The Wanderer (Wotan) and Erda in Act 3, Scene 1 of [[Richard Wagner]]'s opera [[Siegfried (opera)|Siegfried]] is based upon ''Baldrs draumar''.

The poem inspired a [[ballet]], ''[[Baldurs draumar]]'' (''Baldur's Dreams''), by the [[Norway|Norwegian]] [[composer]] [[Geirr Tveitt]], first staged in 1938.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===

* {{Cite book|last=Lindow|first=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KlT7tv3eMSwC|title=Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs|date=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-983969-8|language=en|author-link=John Lindow}}
* {{Cite book|last=Orchard|first=Andy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uIujQgAACAAJ|title=Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend|date=1997|publisher=Cassell|isbn=978-0-304-34520-5|language=en|author-link=Andy Orchard}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource|Translation:Baldrs draumar}}
===English translations===
*[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe13.htm Baldrs Draumar] Translation and commentary by H. A. Bellows
*[https://wevikings.com/library/baldrs-draumar-eng/ Baldrs Draumar] English translation by Eiður Eyþórsson, along with the Old Norse version.

===Old Norse editions===
*[http://etext.old.no/Bugge/vegtams.html Vegtamskviða] [[Sophus Bugge]]'s edition of the manuscript text
*[http://heimskringla.no/wiki/Baldrs_draumar Baldrs draumar] Guðni Jónsson's edition of the text with normalized spelling
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060207135031/http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/748/am748.html AM 748 I 4to] Facsimile of the original manuscript

===Other links===
*[http://sydney.edu.au/arts/medieval/saga/pdf/277-malm.pdf Baldrs draumar: literally and literarily] Article by Mats Malm
*[https://myndir.uvic.ca/BldrDrms.html MyNDIR (My Norse Digital Image Repository)]  Illustrations of Baldrs draumar from manuscripts and early print books.

{{Norse mythology}}
{{Poetic Edda}}

[[Category:10th-century poems]]
[[Category:Baldr]]
[[Category:Eddic poetry]]
[[Category:Resurrection]]