Audio for Gunnlaðarljóð

Today brings my tenth audio recording to this blog. This time, it is Gunnlaðarljóð, which was posted as text last November. My recitation uses the original Norse pronunciations of the names instead of the anglicized versions.

Here is the downloadable file of me reciting the poem:
Eirik Westcoat – Gunnlaðarljóð

And here is the inline player:

Enjoy! Feel free to share the file. For details, see the Creative Commons link below.

This post is:
Copyright © 2014 Eirik Westcoat.
All rights reserved.

The linked audio file of Gunnlaðarljóð is:
Copyright © 2014 Eirik Westcoat.
Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives License.

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Wrath of a Tiny Etin?

In his book Runelore (on page 188), Edred Thorsson notes that etins don’t have to be of great size, although Ymir certainly is. Sometimes they can be small, and he notes that, “the name of a certain beetle in Old Norse is jötunuxi [etin-ox].” He also reckons them to be non-evolving beings. I found myself wondering if viruses can be seen as etins after a fashion, especially after I got stricken with one this past week. They certainly have no consciousness, at least not any that would be remotely familiar to humans, as they occupy a sort of borderland between life and non-life. Unfortunately for us, they do evolve somewhat to thwart efforts to wipe them out entirely. Nonetheless, they remain viruses despite the changes they undergo, and so in another sense, they don’t evolve.

The particular virus that struck me was a cold, or at least I thought so at first. It was rather nasty, as if it were in tryouts to be the flu. The worst of it for me has past, however. So for this update, I wrote a short verse about it. It is two stanzas of fornyrðislag.

Audio for Building Asgard’s Wall

Today I present an audio recording of another eddic tale that I’ve set in verse. This time, it is Building Asgard’s Wall, which was posted as text last March. In this spoken version, the words are different in a few places from what I posted, and the original post has not been edited.

Here is the downloadable file of me reciting the poem:
Eirik Westcoat – Building Asgard’s Wall

And here is the inline player:

Enjoy! Feel free to share the file. For details, see the Creative Commons link below.

This post is:
Copyright © 2014 Eirik Westcoat.
All rights reserved.

The linked audio file of Building Asgard’s Wall is:
Copyright © 2014 Eirik Westcoat.
Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives License.

Wrath of Frost Giants?

Continuing the trend of poems that are a bit different from what’s usually on this blog, I’ve written a poem about the extreme cold that much of the United States experienced at the time of this post. It is in four stanzas of ljóðaháttr. Its title is “Wrath of Frost Giants?”

The Cold has come
to our Commonwealth;
the Freeze is pouring forth.
Is it focused wrath
from frost giants?
Or something else thats seeps?

New Year’s Renewal

Continuing my holiday theme from last week, I present a short poem in honor of the New Year. It is in three stanzas of fornyrðislag. Its title is “New Year’s Renewal.”

With dark tide’s passing
the dullness departs,
and the dawning day
deems a new year.
The seeds open
and seek to sprout
as new possibilities
in the naked air.