30
“DEEP THE RAVEN WADES IN GORE:”
DEATH SONGS AND THE NORSE-GOTHIC SPECTACLE
Sha on Choe
DOI: h ps://doi.o g/10.14712/2571452X.2025.69.3
Abs ac : The No se skaldic poem The Dea h Song o Ragna Lodb ok, a celeb a ion o he
mili a y exploi s and dea h o he legenda y wa io -king Ragna Lodb ok, was a popula
ex o ansla ion in he eigh een h cen u y. In he ea ly pa o he pe iod, he ba ba ic
ancien No h was se in opposi ion o he e ined Classical wo ld, bu by he la e
eigh een h cen u y he No dic landscape was ecas as a place o Go hic libe y, and he
No seman as a amilia O he . T ansla ions o The Dea h Song inc easingly p esen ed
Ragna ’s iolen exploi s and ea less dea h in a snake pi as a spec acle o he oism,
especially when he No se-Go hic became in eg a ed in o England’s sea ch o an e hnic
li e a y pas o coun e he ising Cel icism pos -Ossian. Howe e , despi e e ising he
No dic ma ial spi i in o a symbol o esis ance agains y anny, English ansla ions o
No se na a i es con inued o p esen shocking isuals o he B i ish public, whe e ales
o e o and ex ao dina y cou age we e packaged in go y isions o Viking
wa monge ing. This a icle compa es h ee in luen ial ansla ions o The Dea h Song: by
Thomas Pe cy (1763), Hugh Downman (1781), and James Johns one (1782). The a icle
examines how hei p esen a ion o go y spec acle ewo ks Viking dea h-de iance in o
a B i ish, speci ically English, ai , hus ans o ming Ragna ’s exploi s in o a p o o ype
o esis ance and “nec opowe .” Dea h is eimagined wi hin modes o poli ical
so e eign y ia he shocking aes he ics o No se-Go hic e o .
Keywo ds: Ragna Lodb ok, Go hic, No he n an iqua ianism, ansla ion, No se
ecep ion, Roman icism
The No se-Go hic Mode
In eigh een h-cen u y B i ain, ma y dom, sel -immola ion, and aking con ol o
one’s dea h we e belie ed o be cha ac e is ic o he No seman. This dea h-
de iance was one o many mo i s adop ed by B i ish an iqua ies, schola s, a is s,
poe s, and ansla o s, o nego ia e a his o ical and e hnic oo o he Fou
“Deep he Ra en Wades in Go e”
31
Na ions. The an iqua ian Thomas Pe cy summa izes he ypical iew o he ancien
No semen as enacious wa io s whose “ alou , hei e oci y, hei con emp o
dea h, and passion o libe y, o m he ou lines o he pic u e we commonly d aw
o hem.”1 O e he cou se o he cen u y, his s e eo ype o a sa age and ba ba ic
No h e sus a e ined Classical wo ld shi ed in o ha o eedom- igh ing
wa io s ba ling agains Roman y anny. Ye in bo h cha ac e iza ions, he
No semen emained igu es o e o . In a ious English an iqua ian essays and
ansla ions on No se subjec s, a poli icized e sion o ancien Scandina ia
o eg ounded ce ain poli ical alues such as libe y and i uous me le.2 These
we e hen inco po a ed by he B i ish na ions – speci ically England – in o
con empo a y cul u al poli ics. The mo emen gained ac ion a e he eme gence
o James Macphe son’s popula Ossian poems in he 1760s, be o e which he e
pe sis ed a con usion o e hnici ies unde he umb ella e m o he “Go hic” o ,
con e sely, he “Cel ic.”3 Pos -Ossian, he No semen we e iewed as he an i hesis
o Sco ish sen imen alism and Sco land’s poe ic pas . They we e in eg a ed by
English an iqua ians in o Go hic isions o an Anglo-Saxon pas , and wi hin his
mo emen The Dea h Song o Ragna Lodb ok in pa icula became a p ominen
subs i u e o Anglo-Saxon adi ions.4
Hugh Blai opens his 1763 c i ical disse a ion on Ossian wi h a compa ison
be ween he Cel ic and Go hic na ions ia The Dea h Song, o which he p o ides
his own ull English ansla ion in o de o calib a e a de ence o Ossian’s
sen imen ali y. Blai acknowledges he skalds – he No se poe s – and hei songs
ha once exis ed, bu hen ema ks ha “ he Go hs, unde which name we usually
comp ehend all he Scandina ian ibes, we e a people al oge he ie ce and
ma ial, and no ed, o a p o e b, o hei igno ance o he libe al a s.”5 In Blai ’s
1 Thomas Pe cy, “P e ace,” in Fi e Pieces o Runic Poe y T ansla ed om he Islandic Language
(London: R. and J. Dodsley, 1763), A2.
2 By Scandina ia, I e e o Denma k, Sweden, No way, and Iceland (which is no pa o
Scandina ia bu was unde Danish ule a he ime).
3 Fo mo e on he de ini ions o “Go hic” and “Cel ic” see Ma ga e Clunies Ross, The
No se Muse 1750-1820 (T ies e: Edizioni Pa naso, 1998); Ma ilyn Bu le , Mapping My hologies:
Coun e cu en s in Eigh een h-Cen u y Poe y and Cul u al His o y (Camb idge: Camb idge
Uni e si y P ess, 2015); Joanne Pa ke , “My hs o Cel ic and Go hic O igin: An In oduc ion,”
in The Ha p and he Cons i u ion: My hs o Cel ic and Go hic O igin, ed. Joanne Pa ke
(Leiden: B ill, 2016), 1-10.
4 Robe W. Rix, “The A e li e o a Dea h Song: Recep ion o Ragna Lodb og’s Poem in
B i ain un il he End o he Eigh een h Cen u y,” S udia Neophilologica 81, no. 1 (2009): 53.
5 Hugh Blai , A C i ical Disse a ion on he Poems o Ossian, he Son o Fingal (London: T.
Becke and P.A. De Hond , 1763), 4.
Sha on Choe
32
eyes, he e is no compe i ion be ween Ossian and Ragna , because “when we u n
om he poe y o Lodb og o ha o Ossian, i is like passing om a sa age desa ,
in o a e ile and cul i a ed coun y.”6 He d aws a line o ci ili y h ough he
poe y, delinea ing he bounda y be ween he Cel ic he i ages o Sco land and
I eland, and he English-Go hic. Views such as Blai ’s led English an iqua ians like
Pe cy o de end No se cul u e and insis ha “all o [ he Scandina ians]
demons a e ha poe y was once held he e in he highes es ima ion.”7 In his
p e ace o Fi e Pieces o Runic Poe y, T ansla ed om he Islandic Language (1763)
– a collec ion in ended as an o e coun e o Macphe son’s Ossian – Pe cy
de elops his claim, a guing ha he Go hic ibes “ha e mo e o hei o iginal
composi ions handed down o us, han o any o he o he no he n na ions.”8 As
pa o he collec ion, Pe cy p o ides one o he i s English ansla ions o The
Dea h Song, unde he i le “The Dying Ode o Regne Lodb og.” The i le adjus s
he concep o a dea h song in o ha o an ode, a neoclassical gen e mo e
ecognisable o his eigh een h-cen u y audience – an app oach o an ique
li e a u es ypical o he pe iod (Macphe son pe o ms a simila media ion o his
Ossianic ma e ial, p esen ing i as agmen s o “Ancien Epic”).9 Fo Pe cy, he
No semen we e in ellec ual and wo hy o ecogni ion o hei poe ic p owess as
well as hei b a e exploi s. Ne e heless, his acknowledgemen pa ook o a
b oade cul u al s a egy and English na ionalis agenda in which he co-op ing o
No se cul u al a e ac s sough o s eng hen English e hnic claims. No he n
An iqui ies (1770) was Pe cy’s seminal ansla ion o he 1763 edi ion o Paul-Hen i
Malle ’s In oduc ion à l’his oi e de Dannema c (1755), which included Monumens de
la My hologie e de la Poësie des Cel es (1756), and i sough o co ec Malle ’s mis ake
o “con ounding he an iqui ies o he Go hic and Cel ic Na ions.”10 By expanding
on wha he No semen could o did ep esen o England, Pe cy in eg a ed
elemen s o No se cul u al iden i y wi hin an English pas , hus u he se ing up
he No se-Go hic in opposi ion o Macphe son’s Cel ic.
Gau i K is mansson a gues ha “ ansla ion as ex p oduc ion was seen
di e en ly a e Ossian appea ed on he scene,” and ha imi a ions and
ansla ions “we e an a emp o inco po a e ancien poe y in o an English
6 Blai , A C i ical Disse a ion, 11.
7 Pe cy, “P e ace,” A3.
8 Pe cy, “P e ace,” A3.
9 Da id Du , Roman icism and he Uses o Gen e (Ox o d: Ox o d Uni e si y P ess, 2009),
123-24.
10 Thomas Pe cy, “T ansla o ’s P e ace,” in No he n An iqui ies, Vol. 1 (London: T. Ca nan,
1770), A3, ii.
“Deep he Ra en Wades in Go e”
33
na ional con ex : hey a e cul u al hyb ids o con en on a spec um.”11 Eigh een h-
cen u y B i ish an iqua ians mainly sou ced hei ma e ial al eady in ansla ion,
ei he om La in sou ces, om o he Eu opean ansla ions, o om Icelandic
na i es such as G ímu Tho kelín.12 Ne e heless, ansla ed isions o No se-
Go hic e o s such as wa a e, go e, and dea h s ill ocused on hei inhe en
Go hic s eng h, in eg a ing his wi hin an English, Anglo-Saxon pas . Schola ly
discussions o he Go hic p edominan ly cen e on he Eu opean Sou h, while
esea ch in o Go hic e o as oo ed in he No h is ela i ely sca ce.13 Howe e ,
as Robe Rix has ecen ly a gued, “jus like one can iden i y a ce ain egula i y
in he ep esen a ion o O ien alism, wha became a ecognisable ‘No he nism’
was he ocus on da k, isce al and go y images.”14 Many o he na a i es
conce ning No dic dea h-de iance and ma ial spi i come om Olaus Wo mius’s
Runi , seu, Danica li e a u a an iquissima (1636) o Thomas Ba holin’s An iqui a um
Danica um de Causis con emp a a Danis adhuc gen ilibus mo is (1689), wi h he
o me p o iding an Icelandic o iginal and he la e including a La in ansla ion
o The Dea h Song o Ragna Lodb ok.
The No se monologue i sel cen es on a se ies o s anzas, also known as
s ophes, whe e Ragna e lec s on his wa campaigns, ad en u es, and
expedi ions wi h his companions, while he himsel is on he e ge o dea h inside
a pi o ipe s in No humb ia. The o iginal appea s in he skaldic lay K ákumál,
named a e one o Ragna ’s wi es. To explain he popula i y o Ragna , Rix poin s
ou ha many eigh een h-cen u y English ansla o s we e a ac ed o he
in ospec ion o Ragna ’s inal momen s. As a esul , The Dea h Song was “b ough
in as an exhibi lending suppo o he heo y o an ea ly no he n o igin o he
11 Gau i K is mannsson, “Ossian and he S a e o T ansla ion in he Sco ish Enligh enmen ,”
in James Macphe son and he Poems o Ossian, ed. Da ydd Moo e (Glasgow: Sco ish
Li e a u e In e na ional, 2017), 43-44.
12 Fo example: Olaus Wo mius, Runi , seu, Danica li e a u e an iquissima (1636); Paul-Hen i
Malle , In oduc ion à l’his oi e de Dannema c (1755); he collabo a ion be ween James
Johns one and G ímu Tho kelín. Fo mo e on he la e , see: M.J. D iscoll, “The Re . James
Johns one, Sep en ionalis and Man o Mys e y,” in Sc ip a Mino a: Selec ed Essays on
Icelandic Manusc ip s and Tex s (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum P ess, 2024), 387-406.
13 Though in one o he ea lies majo s udies o eigh een h-cen u y ansla ions o The Dea h
Song, Paul Van Tieghem w i es ha “ ou le poème, d’ailleu s, é ai bien ai pou donne
des gue ie s e de la poésie du No d une imp ession g andiose e e ible.” Paul Van
Tieghem, Le P é oman isme: É udes d’His oi e Li é ai e Eu opéenne, Vol. 1 (Pa is: F. Riede ,
1924), 81.
14 Robe W. Rix, No dic Te o s: Scandina ian Supe s i ion in B i ish Go hic Li e a u e
(London and New Yo k: An hem P ess, 2025), 30.
Sha on Choe
34
omance gen e.”15 By ans o ming he No semen in o models o omance and
chi al y, Rix a gues, B i ish an iqua ians e ised hem om sa age ba ba ians
in o examples o a p e-exis ing omance adi ion om he Ge manic na ions.16
Howe e , he No semen’s appeal as objec s o e o and go y spec acle con inued.
Te o and Nec opoli ics
By he la e eigh een h cen u y, he No semen we e eimagined as libe a o s, and
igu es like Ragna and Odin we e used o isualize esis ance agains co up ion.
In his guise, he image y emains iolen , and he dea hs o hese wa io s become
poli icized momen s o libe a ion, esis ance, and ailu e. Like o he Roman ic
poe s cu ious abou No se a e ac s, Robe Sou hey imagines Odin as a chie ain
igh ing agains he y anny o Rome, and his poem “The Dea h o Odin” (1795)
opens wi h Odin decla ing, “I ush o mee [F eya] by a sel -will’d doom […] Fo
Odin shall a enge his ASGARD’S all.”17 Wi h he ba le aging and de ea
imminen , he na a o highligh s Odin’s willing accep ance o dea h:
Fa e- augh alchions widely gleaming;
When MISTA ma ks he des in’d p ey,
When d ead and dea h de o m he day;
Happy he amid he s i e,
Who pou s he cu en o his li e […]18
The hyming couple o “s i e / li e” is accen ua ed by he in ense apid- i e
alli e a ion, while he wo d “Happy” jux aposes he de as a ion desc ibed a
momen ea lie . Dea h-de iance he e is no a blood hi s y ampage bu a ma k o
esis ance agains “p oud Rome” which is sus ained un il he poem ends: “So
spake he daun less chie , and pie c’d his b eas , / Then ush’d o seize he sea o
endless es .”19 The iolence o “seize” coupled wi h he bookending o he inal
line wi h “ ush’d / es ” c ea es a sense o u gency ha anscends dea h. This is a
wa io who emains loyal o his cause e en in he ace o de ea .
Sou hey’s he o ic o ma ial u y p omo es he idea o eedom, bu i does no
lessen he spec acle o he No se wa io as an objec o e o . The wo concep s
15 Rix, “The A e li e o a Dea h Song,” 58.
16 Rix, “The A e li e o a Dea h Song,” 58.
17 Robe Sou hey, “The Dea h o Odin,” in Poems: Con aining The Re ospec , Odes, Elegies,
Sonne s, &c. By Robe Lo ell, and Robe Sou hey (Ba h and London: C. Dilly, 1795), 103.
18 Sou hey, “The Dea h o Odin,” 105.
19 Sou hey, “The Dea h o Odin,” 103, 109.
“Deep he Ra en Wades in Go e”
35
had become associa ed du ing he “Reign o Te o ” in e olu iona y F ance,
when he wo d e o “changed i s meaning and came o be used o desc ibe a s yle
o go e nmen , a he han jus iolence;”20 i ue and e o became explici ly
linked in he heo y o e olu iona y go e nmen . P io o his, e o signi ied
simply a eeling o d ead o a eac ion o a e i ying momen o objec . This
eeling, hough, could also be accompanied by pleasu e, a pa adox cen al o
eigh een h-cen u y aes he ics, whe e i unde pins bo h he heo y o he sublime
and he eme gen aes he ic o he Go hic, which in ol ed “ he exci a ion o
pleasu able eelings o ea by he depic ion o iolence, he supe na u al, e c., as
a li e a y gen e.”21 John Aikin and Anna Le i ia Ba bauld (w i ing unde he
maiden name o Aikin) examine his e o -pleasu e duali y in hei sho ac
“On he Pleasu e De i ed om Objec s o Te o ” (1773), whe e hey hypo hesize
ha “ he appa en deligh wi h which we dwell upon objec s o pu e e o […] is
a pa adox o he hea .”22 Na han D ake la e ca ego izes objec s o e o in
Li e a y Hou s (1798), dis inguishing be ween “ hose which owe hei o igin o he
agency o supe human beings” and “ hose which depend upon na u al causes and
e en s o hei p oduc ion.”23 T acing he de elopmen o No dic e o li e a u e,
Rix sugges s ha i is usually cha ged wi h he supe na u al which “in bo h English
ansla ion and new composi ion can be unde s ood as a esul o w i e s seeking
an al e na i e o he o e used neoclassical con en ions.”24 In his way, he aes he ics
o No se e o could be used o edisco e e nacula modes o composi ion.25
In he ex ended no es o his ansla ion, Lodb oka -Quida, o , The Dea h Song o
Lodb oc (1782), James Johns one s a es ha “du ing he ude pe iods o socie y, he
sa e y, bo h o na ions and indi iduals, depends upon making hemsel es objec s
o e o .”26 Wi hin his amewo k, e o is no some hing supe na u al bu is
a eal p ospec . Resis ance is symbio ic wi h iolence, whe e he unc ion o e o
is o su i e; i is a li e-o -dea h si ua ion. E en hough Johns one di ec s eade s
o ecall ha “many o he Scandina ian he oes we e o a ies o he muse,” hus
20 Hugh Gough, The Te o o he F ench Re olu ion (London: Bloomsbu y Academic, 2010), 2.
21 Ox o d English Dic iona y Online, “Te o (n.), sense 2.a,” Ma ch 2025, accessed 4 June 2025,
h ps://www.oed.com/dic iona y/ e o _n? ab=meaning_and_use#18690423.
22 John Aikin and Anna Le i ia Aikin, “On he Pleasu e De i ed om Objec s o Te o ,”
in Miscellaneous Pieces, in P ose (London: J. Johnson, 1773), 120.
23 Na han D ake, “Numbe XV,” in Li e a y Hou s: O , Ske ches C i ical and Na a i e
(London: T. Cadell, 1798), 245.
24 Rix, No dic Te o s, 24.
25 Rix, No dic Te o s, 26.
26 James Johns one, Lodb oka -Quida, o , The Dea h Song o Lodb oc (Copenhagen: P in ed o
he Au ho , 1782), 94.
Sha on Choe
36
so ening Ragna ’s exploi s like Pe cy, his ansla ion o eg ounds he iolen
e hos o No se li e a u e and p o ides “No es o he English eade ” which
u he si ua e The Dea h Song wi hin Icelandic his o y. No se-Go hic e o in his
p esen a ion can be ead as a p o o ype o cul u al poli ical esis ance ha ed in o
la e eigh een h-cen u y discou ses o e olu ion and sys ema ic change.
Mode n poli ical heo ies can o e new pe spec i es on he ambiguous
posi ion o he No semen as bo h objec s o e o and libe a o s. Wi hin
biopoli ics, e o , dea h, and he “go hic longe i y” o he body poli ic – o bo ow
om Eugene Thacke – can be concep ualized h ough he idea o nec opoli ics, a
e m i s coined by Achille Mbembe in 2003 which de elops om he Foucauldian
de ini ion o biopowe and so e eign y.27 Nec opoli ics e- heo izes he unc ion
o sociopoli ical powe when de e mining li e and dea h wi hin na ion s a es.
Wi hin he amewo k o no ma i e heo ies o democ acy, whe e “ he ul ima e
exp ession o so e eign y is he p oduc ion o gene al no ms by a body ( he demos)
comp ising ee and equal indi iduals,” so e eign y is he capaci y o de ine who
does ma e and who does no , who is disposable and who is no .28 Wi h his in
mind, “ e o hus became a way o ma king abe a ion in he body poli ic.”29 I is
no only a ool o biopoli ical expe imen a ion and con ol, bu i also ca ies he
po en ial o esis such nec opowe s. As Mbembe pos ula es, ac s o ma y dom,
esis ance o dea h, and sel -immola ion all become condui s o a new semiosis o
killing, especially when he body is a uni o m whe e i “in i sel has nei he powe
no alue. Ra he i s powe and alue esul om a p ocess o abs ac ion based
on he desi e o e e ni y.”30 In o he wo ds, he subjec o e comes hei own
mo ali y by labou ing unde he signs o he u u e, and in doing so, any spa io-
empo al unde s anding o he u u e becomes subsumed in o he p esen
momen . The body hen eclaims i s powe h ough dea h; i s mo ali y becomes
an ac o ansg ession ha b eaks down s a e powe s.
Mbembe e e s o he ideology o mode n e o ism he e, bu i is also
applicable o eigh een h-cen u y concep ions o “ e o ” as ound in B i ish
ansla ions o he legenda y No seman. In his con ex , an applica ion o
nec opoli ics o his o ical ex s sheds ligh on he way an ique socie ies iewed
27 Eugene Thacke , “Nec ologies, o , Dea h o he Body Poli ic,” in Beyond Biopoli ics: Essays
on he Go e nance o Li e and Dea h, ed. Pa icia Ticine o Clough and C aig Willse
(Du ham, NC: Duke Uni e si y P ess, 2019), 159; Achille Mbembe, “Nec opoli ics,”
ans. Libby Mein jes,” Public Cul u e 15, no. 1 (2003): 11-40.
28 Achille Mbembe, Nec opoli ics, ans. S e en Co co an (Du ham, NC: Duke Uni e si y
P ess, 2019), 67, 80.
29 Mbembe, Nec opoli ics, 73.
30 Mbembe, Nec opoli cs, 89.
“Deep he Ra en Wades in Go e”
37
dea h and he body as pa o s a e go e nance. In a discussion o nec opoli ics
and nec opoli ical iolence in Ancien G eece, Alexand os Velao as as u ely
obse es ha he e is alue in Mbembe’s heo y as an in e p e a i e ool when
s udying p emode n s a es.31 Fo Velao as, ecognising nec opoli ical iolence in
ancien socie ies “in i e[s] us o e-e alua e he ele ance o ancien hough o
ou unde s anding o nec opoli ics in he 21s cen u y.”32 When eading No se
ex s in ansla ion, he pe spec i e o nec opoli ics pe mi s a be e unde s anding
o how legenda y No semen we e pe cei ed as bo h ac o s o iolence and
media o s o libe a ion du ing he eigh een h cen u y. As a mode n nec opowe ,
he body a he momen o dea h con ibu es o he blu ing o lines be ween
esis ance, sac i ice, edemp ion, and eedom.33 In he hands o eigh een h-
cen u y an iqua ians, he iolence o The Dea h Song is epackaged in such a way
ha Ragna ’s dea h and his e o izing o communi ies is condi ioned by his
abili y o add ess his own mo ali y h ough song, esul ing in esis ance and
eedom being ampli ied h ough dea h.
Compa ison o T ansla ions o Ragna Lod ok
In Hugh Downman’s ansla ion, The Dea h-Song o Ragna Lodb ach, o Lodb og,
King o Denma k (1781), unique ansla ion decisions esul in a e sion o The Dea h
Song ha di e s om hose o his con empo a ies. Downman was a physician,
poe , and ounde o he Socie y o Gen lemen a Exe e , whose membe s included
Richa d Polwhele and Isaac d’Is aeli.34 He con ibu ed o and assis ed Polwhele
wi h he collec ion Poems, Chie ly by Gen lemen o De onshi e and Co nwall (1792).
This included ep in s o an iqua ian poe y by Richa d Hole such as “Ode o
Te o ” and “The Tomb o Gunna ,” which showcased how “a wa io code om
he he oes o he pas could be econ ex ualised o an age when B i ain was a
wa wi h F ance.”35 Downman’s in es men in No se subjec s is clea , especially
when he leans in o he No se-Go hic spec acle o The Dea h Song by embellishing
31 Alexand os Velao as, “In oduc ion: F om Nec opoli ics o Ancien Nec opoli ics,” in
Mal ea ing he Li ing, Abusing he Dead in G eek An iqui y, ed. E imia D. Ka akan za,
Alexand os Velao as, and Ma ion Meye (Bos on: B ill, 2025), 3-20.
32 Velao as, “In oduc ion,” 11.
33 Mbembe, Nec opoli ics, 92.
34 Alick Came on, “Downman, Hugh (1740-1809), physician and poe ,” in Ox o d Dic iona y
o Na ional Biog aphy, accessed 16 June 2025, h ps://www.ox o ddnb.com/ iew/10.1093/
e :odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-7983.
35 Rix, No dic Te o s, 20.
Sha on Choe
38
he go y ad en u es and de-cen ing he na a i e om i s his o ical si ua ion and
he longs anding a gumen s su ounding he ancien No h om p io decades.
Downman uses Olaus Wo mius’s La in and ollows his con empo a ies in
in e spe sing he La in be ween his ansla ion, which he calls his “English
Ve sion.”36 This, hough, is almos he ull ex en o he pa a ex p o ided. Ins ead
o accou emen s o oo no es o supplemen he na a i e wi h glossa ies and
commen s o eade s, he e is only a sho p e ace i led “The Fable,” and a single
comp essed oo no e a e he i s s ophe. He s a es ha despi e he epe i i e
na u e o he ansla ion e ealing he No seman’s ude poe ics, he poem
ne e heless s ill “exhibi s a species o sa age g ea ness, a ie ce and wild kind o
sublimi y, and a noble con emp o dange and dea h” ( i). This adi ional
s e eo ype o he No seman is accen ua ed when he ocuses ou a en ion on he
ac ion by emo ing any expec ed pa a ex . In s ophe nine, o example, he
iolence o he ba le is compounded by he lack o no es:
D ench’d in blood ou shields we ea ,
The oil o blood anoin s ou spea .
In he Bo ingholmian bay
Making i s quick empes uous way,
The cloud o da s was onwa d bo ne,
Ou a ge s we e in sunde o n.
The bows hei i on showe expel,
In he ie ce con lic Volni ell.
No king on ea h could him exceed,
In alou and he oic deed.
Wide o’e he land he slaugh e ’d lay,
The howling beas s emb ac’d hei p ey.
(16)
The epe i ion and alli e a ion o “blood / blood / Bo ingholmian bay / bo ne /
bows / beas s,” d aws eade s h ough he bloodba h om beginning o end. I is
go y and isce al, p esen ing Ragna as a elen less bu e icien wa io . Al hough
he ba le akes place “In he Bo ingholmian bay,” he e is no indica ion as o
whe e his is in he English o La in, which eads “An e Bo ingholmum” (16),
whe eas Johns one’s no es p o ide he Icelandic “Fy i BORG-UNDAR-HÓLMI”
36 Hugh Downman, The Dea h-Song o Ragna Lodb ach, o Lodb og, King o Denma k.
T ansla ion om he La in o Olaus Wo mius (London: Fielding and Walke , 1781), .
Subsequen e e ences o his edi ion a e gi en in pa en heses in he ex .
