This study examines the references to Norse mythology in Charles Leconte de Lisle’s Poèmes Barbares, with particular regard to two poems: La Légende des Nornes and La Vision de Snorr. Through a linguistic comparison with the original Norse sources (the Poetic Edda, Snorri’s Edda, skaldic poetry), the study highlights the particular ways in which the author re-elaborates the mythical material.
In Leconte de Lisle’s work, myth becomes dramatic action, a representation of the everlasting struggle between light and darkness that ends with the tragic contemplation of the ineluctable final conflagration. The ancient world of the Æsir and the Vanir, ‘quand les Skaldes chantaient sur la harpe des Nornes’1 is doomed to destruction.
The sources of La Légende des Nornes are the Poetic Edda (cf. Annex 1) and Snorri Sturluson’s Edda (cf. Annex 2). In the Vǫluspá,2 the first poem of the Poetic Edda, the origin of the world is narrated, along with the ordering of the cosmos by the supreme deities and the birth of men, whose destiny is established by the three norns, who sit near the cosmic tree, the backbone of the universe. In the poem, we also read about the original conflict between the lineage of the Æsir and that of the Vanir and the death of Odin’s son, Baldr. The final part is dedicated to the clash between the gods and the lineage of Loki, which will lead to the final destruction. It will be followed, however, by the rebirth and the beginning of a new cosmic cycle.3
The prophetess, at Óðinn’s request, tells ‘the ancient histories of men and gods, those which I remember from the first’.4 The female being draws on the supreme knowledge of the cycle of life, which manifests itself in fertility, and in this cyclical perspective, the linear concept of time moving from the past into the future in a straight line is deleted. The seeress knows the events of the future but is also the keeper of the ancient tradition; she has the original wisdom, which allows her give an account of the origin of the universe.
In Old Norse literature, the vǫlva is the most frequently recurring figure with the power to predict the future. The term is believed to refer to the noun m. vǫlr,5 ‘rounded wand’, with reference to the instrument used in divination rites, or to the noun f. vala,6 ‘rounded bone’, also referring to a tool used for predictions.7
It is a female skill, which appears as unbecoming and inconvenient for men, as can be seen from the words with which Loki addresses Óðinn in Locasenna,8 a poem from the Poetic Edda: Enn þic síða kóðo Sámseyo í, oc draptu á vétt sem vǫlor; vitca líki fórtu verþióð yfir, oc hugða ec þat args aðal.9 In the Ynglinga saga, however, Óðinn has the power to know future events and is endowed with an ancient magical wisdom. Thus he knows that his offspring will settle in the northern part of the world.10
The first difference between Leconte de Lisle’s poetic creation and its main source is the first-person narrative. In La Légende des Nornes it is not the seeress who tells the past and predicts the future but the norns: ‘Elles sont assises sur les racines du frêne Yggdrasill’.11 It is a pivotal choice, which highlights, from the very beginning, Leconte de Lisle’s interpretation of the myth. The norns are presented as follows in Vǫluspá:
Þaðan koma meyjar, margs vitandi
þrjár ór þeim sæ, er und þolli stendr;
Urð héto eina, aðra Verðandi
– scáro á scíði, – Sculd ina þriðjo;
þær lǫg lǫgðo, þær líf kuro
alda bornom, ørlǫg seggia.12
The norns dwell near the cosmic tree as we read in Snorri’s Edda:
Þridja rót asksins stendr á himni, ok undir þeiri rót er brunnr sá er mjǫk er heilagr er heitir Urðar brunnr […] Þar stendr salr einn fagr undir askinum við brunninn, ok ór þeim sal koma þrjár meyjar þær er svá heita: Urðr, Verðandi, Skuld. Þessar meyjar skapa mǫnnum aldr. Þær kǫllum vér nornir […] Nornir ráða ørlǫgum manna.13
Norns are the goddesses of destiny, the embodiment of a superior and ineluctable fate that dominates everything: Nornir heita þær es nauð skapa.14 The fate fixed by the norns is indicated both in the Vǫluspá, and in Snorri’s Edda with the noun ørlǫg,15 formed by lǫg16 and by a prefix that signals provenance or origin. It is very difficult to detect the exact semantic value of the term lǫg, which cannot be merely understood as ‘law’, as in the current meaning of the term.
The noun lag means ‘laying in order, due place, right position’17 and these particular characteristics are reflected in the plural lǫg. It is no coincidence that only Óðinn, the supreme deity, knows the destiny of men and sets the rules that govern their lives: mátti hann vita ørlǫg manna […] Óðinn setti lǫg í landi sínu.18 The fate is, therefore, the primal law, fixed from the beginning and, as such, it cannot be changed; even gods and heroes are subject to it.19
Leconte de Lisle’s choice to identify the narrating voice with the three norns highlights in an extraordinarily effective way the most original and archaic philosophy of destiny which is permeated with gloomy pessimism, an amor fati that finds full correspondence in Old Norse literature: Nu er enn sem fyr þoeir verða at falla er fæigir ero oc engum manne gefr lif goð vapn eða mikit afl ef þo skal hann deyia.20
There is no possibility of a prediction. However, the prophecy ensures knowledge of what has not yet happened but does not change the course of events. Present, past and future have already been determined: ‘mais nul ne peut briser ta chaîne, ô destinée!’.21
This approach is highlighted by the description of the norns. In the sources they are meyiar,22 but in La Légende des Nornes they represent the sunset of life: ‘spectres aux cheveux blancs, aux prunelles glacées Sous le suaire épais des neiges amassées!’.23
Their lids are ‘rigides’ and their eyes are ‘sans flamme’,24 lacking in vital energy, since heat, as we will see, is one of the elements that will give rise to life. This frame is revived at the end of the narration, when the eye of Urðr is ‘cave’,25 empty, just as, in the myth, the whole universe was born from the cosmic void.
Consistent with this representation is the absence, in the poem, of a possible rebirth of the cosmic cycle, as happens, on the other hand, in the final stanzas of Vǫluspá, and in the concluding part of Gylfaginning,26 in which a Christian influence is detectable. Here Leconte de Lisle’s poetic creativity bears significant connections with another nineteenth-century reinterpretation of Nordic myth—that of Richard Wagner in the Ring des Nibelungen.
In La Légende des Nornes it is Urðr who narrates the origin of the gods, the world and men: ‘Je suis la vieille Urda, l’éternel Souvenir’ (cf. Annex 3). In Old Norse language Urðr is corradical to the verb verða27 and means ‘destiny’.28 It appears in the compound Urðabrunnr, the place where the Norns dwell:
Enn er þat sagt at nornir þær er byggja við Urðar brunn taka hvern dag vatn í brunninum ok með aurinn þann er liggr um brunninn, ok ausa upp yfir askinn til þess at eigi skyli limar hans tréna eða fúna.29
The first lines of the poem describe the spatial context in which the narration takes place: ‘La neige, par flots lourds, avec lenteur, inonde, Du haut des cieux mutes, la terre plate et ronde’.30 It is not a simple, and perhaps hackneyed description but a constitutive element of the mythical universe:
Over the whole poem brood not only the Norns but also the forces of an implacable Nature of ice, mist and snow, of wind and darkness. This is, indeed, typical of Leconte de Lisle’s treatment of barbarian subjects; whatever the race or country of his barbarians, he depicts them as very closely in touch with the natural forces of their environment, from which their beliefs take an imprint of primitive grandeur or wild menace.31
In the sources, there are many references to the wild power of nature: svort verða sólscin of sumor eptir, veðr ǫll válynd.32 The winter season will soon herald the conclusion of the cosmic cycle:
Þau in fyrstu at vetr sá kemr er kallaðr er fimbulvetr. Þá drífr snær ór ǫllum áttum. Frost eru þá mikil ok vindar hvassir. Ekki nýtr sólar. Þeir vetr fara þrír saman ok ekki sumar milli. En áðr ganga svá aðrir þrír vetr at þá er um alla verǫld orrostur miklar.33
A similar setting is found at the beginning of the second Norn’s account: ‘Tombe, neige sans fin! Enveloppe d’un voile Le rose éclair de l’aube et l’éclat de l’étoile!’.34
The linguistic elements that depict the action of the norns have significant references in the sources: ‘Et, sur ce cuivre dur, avec nos ongles blêmes, Nous gravons le destin de l’homme et des Dieux mêmes […] Moi Skulda dont la main grave les destinées’.35
In the Vǫluspá, the norns determine men’s fate,36 while in Leconte de Lisle’s verse they also have power over the gods, which emphasises the determinism that pervades the poem. The norns’ action is expressed, in the Poetic Edda, by the verb skera,37 which indicates the material act of carving a surface, as does the verb ‘graver’38 in Leconte’s poem. Poetic creation, as well as the determination of destiny, is depicted in the poetic sources with reference to a material activity, that of the blacksmith: the poet is bragar hagsmiðr.39 This equivalence brings the poet closer to the deities, whose creative power is also indicated with the verb smíða.40 Óðinn created, by forging them, ‘heaven and earth and the skies and everything in them’.41
The Norns engrave with their ‘ongles blêmes’.42 This is an extremely relevant detail denoting the presence, from the very beginning, of the inescapable fate of death:
Naglfar losnar
Kióll ferr austan, koma muno Muspellz
um lǫg lýðir, enn Loki stýrir.43
At the end of the cosmic cycle, a ship, whose name is Naglfari, will appear and lead the forces of evil in the battle against the gods. This ship embodies the frightening identity of the powers that arise from the realm of darkness and chaos and ‘it is made of dead people’s nails’.44
The power of the norns over destiny is confirmed by the presence of runes (cf. Annex 4) on their nails,45 even if in the Vǫluspá there is no explicit reference to them, as well as in the poetic representation of Leconte de Lisle.46
The norn’s account begins with the origin of the cosmos: the void, characterized by the absence of any material element, is the initial condition from which everything takes form: ‘Du vide fécond s’épandit l’univers ! […] Où rien n’était encor, ni les eaux, ni les sables, Ni terre, ni rochers, ni la voûte du ciel, Rien qu’un gouffre béant, l’abîme originel’.47 ‘Vide fécond’ is an oxymoron of extraordinary power and the idea of the cosmic vacuum, the abyss, as the initial and final condition of the universe, is a constant element in other mythical and poetic representations contained in the Poèmes Barbares48 and in the Poèmes Antiques.49 The ‘abîme originel’ is the ‘gap ginnunga’50 mentioned in the sources, and in Leconte de Lisle it is not only the place where the interaction of the fundamental forces will give rise to life, but it becomes the primary creative element.
Here the poet takes up the text of the Vǫluspá transmitted in the manuscripts of Snorri’s Edda:
Ár var alda
þat er ekki var.
Vara sandr né sær
né svalar unnir.
Jǫrð fansk eigi
né upphiminn,
gap var ginnunga
en gras ekki.51
The text in the Poetic Edda is different, as the primal being, Ymir, is already present52:
| Ár var alda | þat er Ymir bygði, |
| vara sandr né sær | né svalar unnir; |
| iorð fannz æva | né upphiminn, |
| gap var ginnunga, | ens gras hvergi. |
The aquatic element is at the origin of life: ‘le premier jaillissement des âges D’une écume glacée a lavé nos visages […] Par bonds impétueux, quatre fleuves d’écume Tombèrent, rugissants, dans l’antre du milieu’.53 The poet does not mention the water, but, twice, mentions foam, generated by a rushing movement of water. Life is a wild flow that breaks through from the ‘abîme originel’.
In this reinterpretation, Leconte de Lisle follows Snorri’s Edda:
Fyrr var þat mǫrgum ǫldum en jǫrð var skǫpuð er Niflheimr var gǫrr, ok í honum miðjum liggr bruðr sá er Hvergelmir heitir, ok þaðan af falla þær ár.54
The universe and all life forms are created by the meeting of two opposite polarities:
Svá sem kalt stóð af Niflheimi ok allir hlutir grimmir, svá var þat er vissi námunda Muspelli heitt ok ljóst, en Ginnungagap var svá hlætt sem lopt vindlaust. Ok þá er moettisk hrímin ok blær hitans svá at bráðnaði ok draup, ok af þeim kvikudropum kviknaði með krapti þess er til sendi hitann, ok varð manns líkandi, ok var sá nefndr Ymir.55
This polarity between heat and cold is clearly depicted by Leconte de Lisle: ‘Le sombre Ymer naquit de la flamme et du givre’.56 In the poetic reworking of the myth, however, Leconte de Lisle extends the perspective of the sources and identifies two other types of polarity as constitutive elements of the universe: that which exists between sound and silence and light and darkness. These elements are also present in the sources that the poet uses to outline fully the cosmic picture of the origins. Sound is a creative act: ‘Et le silence errait sur le vide dormant, Quand la rumeur vivante éclata brusquement’.57 The scream as a creative act is also present in La genèse polynésienne: ‘le grand Taaroa se lève. Il se lève, et regarde: il est seul, rien ne luit. Il pousse un cri sauvage au milieu de la nuit’.58 A wild sound characterises the flowing of the primordial waters: ‘Du Nord enveloppé d’un tourbillon de brume, Par bonds impétueux, quatre fleuves d’écume Tombèrent, rugissants, dans l’antre du milieu’.59
Following a rigorous symmetry, the narrative of the norns begins when the skies are silent (‘du haut des cieux muets’).60 In their prediction the end of the cosmic cycle will be dominated by silence (‘Brouillards silencieux, ensevelissez-nous! […] Par delà ce silence où nous sommes assises’)61 and the third norn will be ‘sourde aux voix de l’avenir’.62 Baldr, god of light and, therefore, of life, will also be the god of harmonious sound : ‘Puisque le chœur du ciel et de l’humanité Autour de ce berceau vénérable a chanté!’63 Each entity, however, always has a negative polarity and so at the moment of the final conflagration there will be sounds of death: ‘Voici que j’entends monter comme des flots Des cris de mort mêlés à de divins sanglots. Pleurez, lamentez-vous, Nornes désespérées ! […] Sur le centre du monde inclinez votre oreille’.64
In the sources, the sound element is present from the very beginning: hlióð is the word with which the Seeress’s Prophecy begins, a term in which silence, primordial sound and the sound of poetry are synthetised. The noun presents a very complex semantic spectrum since it simultaneously means ‘listening’ and, therefore, ‘silence’, and the sound event that is heard. 65
This polarity takes on a demiurgic meaning in the Vǫluspá, where hljóð indicates the silence that stays ahead of the narrative about the origin of the world (Hlióðs bið ec allar helgar kindir)66 and, at the same time, the sound that heralds the final conflagration: Veit hon Heimdalar hliod um folgit undir heiðvǫnom helgom baðmi […] hátt blæss Heimdallt, horn er á lopti.67
The third and most important polarity that Leconte de Lisle identifies within the Norse cosmogony is that between light and darkness: ‘À peine avions-nous vu, dans le brouillard vermeil, Monter, aux jours anciens, l’orbe d’or du soleil, Qu’il retombait au fond des ténèbres premières’.68 In the sources, the struggle between light and darkness is the hallmark of the final catastrophe: þá verðr þat er mikil tíðindi flykkja, at úlfrinn gleypir sólna, ok þykkir mǫnnum þat mikit mein. þá tekr annarr úlfrinn tunglit, ok gerir sá ok mikit ógagn. Stjǫrnurnar hverfa af himninum.69
The birth of life is the victory of light over darkness, in ‘ces jours d’ombre couverts’, when begins ‘le matin des temps intarissables’.70 The Æsir are gods of light: ‘Les purificateurs du chaos ténébreux’ who ‘répandent d’en haut la lumière bénie’,71 especially Óðinn: ‘L’Aurore primitive en son œil bleu brilla’.72 The gods are lords of the universe: ‘Embrassent l’univers immense d’un regard!’73 Odin’s gaze is said to embrace the whole world: þá er Óðinn settisk þar í hásæti þá sá hann of alla heima ok hvers manns athoefi ok vissi alla hluti þá er hann sá.74 They are ‘Modérateurs du monde et source d’harmonie’:75 this statement is pivotal in Leconte de Lisle’s poetic representation and in its relationship with the sources. The gods are not creators but establish order in the universe, as we read in the Vǫluspá and in Snorri’s Edda:
Sól varp sunnan, sinni mána,
hendi inni hœgri um himinjoður;
sól þat né vissi, hvar hon sali átti,
stjornor þat né visso hvar þær staði átto,
máni þat né vissi, hvat hann megins átti.
Þá gengu regin ǫll á rǫcstóla,
ginnheilog goð, ok um þat gættuz;
nótt ok niðiom nǫfn um gáfo,
morgin héto oc miðian dag,
undorn oc aptan, árom at telja.76
Þeir gáfu staðar ǫllum eldingum, sumum á himni, sumar fóru lausar undir himni, ok settu þó þeim stað ok skǫpuðu gǫngu þeim. Svá er sagt í fornum vísindum at þaðan af váru doegr greind ok áratal.77
The noun ‘modérateur’78 finds another important echo in Old Norse poetry, where kings and rulers are defined as stillir79, agent noun from the verb stilla: ‘control, moderate, regulate’.80
In the light-darkness polarity, the god Baldr, Óðinn and Frigg’s son, embodies the positive energy of light, which is opposed to the forces of chaos and darkness, with brightness as his distinctive feature: Hann er beztr ok hann lofa allir. Hann er svá fagr álitum ok bjartr svá at lýsir af honum.81 This description finds a significant reinterpretation in Leconte de Lisle’s verse: ‘Toute chose a doué de splendeur et de grâce Le plus beau, le meilleur d’une immortelle race: L’aube a de ses clartés tressé ses cheveux blonds, L’azur céleste rit à travers ses cils longs, Les astres attendris ont, comme une rosée, Versé des lueurs d’or sur sa joue irisée’.82 Baldr is surrounded by ‘Alfes lumineux’:83 in the mythical universe, the ljósalfar, or ‘light elves’, are opposed to the døkkálfar, the ‘black elves’:
Sá er einn staðr þar er kallaðr er Álfheimr. Þar byggvir fólk þat er ljósálfar heita, en døkkálfar búa niðri í jǫrðu, ok eru þeir ólíkir þeim sýnum en myklu ólíkari reyndum. Ljósálfar eru fegri en sól sýnum, en døkkálfar eru svartari en bik.84
The poet does not refer to the story of Baldr’s death as it is found in the sources (cf. Annex 5). In Leconte de Lisle’s reworking, Baldr becomes the sacrificial victim of an ineluctable fate: ‘Celui que l’univers baignera des ses larmes, Qui, de sa propre flamme aussitôt consumé, Doit vivre par l’amour et mourir d’être aimé! Il grandit comme un frêne au milieu des pins sombres, Celui que le destin enserre de ses ombres’.85 Baldr grows like an ash tree, and the cosmic tree consists of ash wood : both are doomed to destruction. There is no trace of Christian faith,86 and no redemption will follow Baldr’s death,87 in the description of which we find the elements of the primary polarity: the liquid element (the tears) and the heat (the flame).
This polarity characterizes also the birth of the supreme deity, Óðinn: ‘Le roi des Ases, frais et rose, Qui dormait, fleur divine aux vents du pôle éclose. Baigné d’un souffle doux et chaud il s’éveilla’.88 Here the poet diverges from the sources, since in La Légende des Nornes it is the cow Auðhumla who nourishes Óðinn,89 while in Snorri’s Edda we read that four rivers of milk flow from Auðhumla’s teats, which feed the giant Ymir.90 Even though the poet is not faithful to the sources, he reveals a deep poetic coherence in the reinterpretation of the myth: the god of light and the giant—the progenitor of the gods’ enemy race—draw life from the same animal entity, which symbolises the earth mother, the first source of life.
The giant will be dismembered by the gods:
Þeir tóku Ymi ok fluttu í mitt Ginnungagap, ok gerðu af honum jǫrðina, af blóði hans sæinn ok vǫtnin. Jǫrðin var gǫr af holdinu en bjǫrgin af beinunum, grjót ok urðir gerðu þeir af tǫnnum ok jǫxlum ok af þeim beinum er brotin váru.91
Leconte de Lisle’s lines provide a similar description: ‘Ymer, dompté, mourut entre leurs mains augustes; Et de son crâne immense ils formèrent les cieux, Les astres, des éclairs échappés de ses yeux, Les rochers de ses os. Ses épaules charnues Furent la terre stable, et la houle des nues Sortit en tourbillons de son cerveau pesant’.92
The reference to the clouds is not present in Snorri’s Edda but is found in the Grímnismál, a poem from the Poetic Edda,93 just as the creation of the stars from the giant’s eyes refers to another mythical tale, contained in the Skáldskaparmál.94 Ymir’s blood gives rise to the sea, in which the line of giants drowns: ‘Le déluge envahit l’étendue et la mer Assiégea le troupeau hurlant des fils d’Ymer […] Ils s’engloutirent tous avec des cris sauvages. Puis ce rouge Océan s’enveloppa d’azur; La Terre d’un seul bord reverdit dans l’air pur’.95 Leconte de Lisle’ s description of earth’s greening has a chromatic identity with the fourth stanza of the Vǫluspá,: þá var grund gróin grœnom lauki.96 The earth will be green after the rebirth that will follow the end of the cosmic cycle, the rebirth fatally denied in Leconte de Lisle: Sér hon upp koma ǫðro sinni iorð oc ægi, iðiagrœna.97
The gods’ demiurgic power further manifests itself in the creation of human beings: Gengu með sævar strǫndu, fundu þeir tré tvau, ok tóku upp tréin ok skǫpuðu af menn […] Hét karlmaðrinn Askr, en konan Embla.98 In Snorri’s Edda the human race draws life from logs, while, more precisely, in Leconte de Lisle’s verse the ash tree is indicated as the source: ‘Le couple humain sortit de l’écorce du frêne’.99 This is an extremely significant element, because in this way the poet establishes an indissoluble link between men,100 gods101 and the cosmic tree Yggdrasill,102 the backbone of the universe: Askrinn er allra tréa mestr ok beztr. Limar hans dreifask yfir heim allan ok standa yfir himni.103
The cosmic perturbation is expressed in the sources by the vibration of the tree: Scelfr Yggdrasills ascr standandi.104 The sacred ash is the hypocentre of a seismic wave, which becomes a huge gravitational wave, destroying space and time: ‘Yggdrasill ébranlé ploie et se déracine’.105 The cosmology outlined by Leconte includes a further dynamic element: ‘Yggdrasill, à sa plus haute cime, Des neuf sphères du ciel porte le poids sublime […] Yggdrasill, le frêne aux trois racines, Ne fait-il plus tourner les neuf sphères divines!’106
The cosmic tree is the Primum Mobile from which the movement of the nine worlds that form the universe, originates, a representation that structurally has an affinity with the cosmology present in Dante’s Divine Comedy. The cosmic perturbation is determined by the ending of the kinetic energy caused by the tree: ‘se heurtent en éclats tombent et disparaissent; Veuves de leur pilier les neuf Sphères s’affaissent’107 In this representation, in which the dynamic element is the determining factor, Leconte de Lisle fully conveys the idea of the cosmic cycle contained in the sources. The rotational motion originated by the tree trunk is transmitted to nine spheres and there are nine worlds mentioned in the Vǫluspá: nío man ec heima.108
The number nine expresses the completeness of the cycle,109 because the three dimensions of time (past, present, future) and space (underworld, earth, sky) are merged in it. In Leconte’s work it also becomes a numerical symbol of destruction: ‘Le Mal, sous les neuf110 sceaux de l’abîme, est scellé’.111
Loki112 breaks the seals and releases the negative energies that will precipitate the final catastrophe: ‘Loki brise les sceaux: le noir Surtr s’éveille; Le Reptile assoupi se redresse en sifflant; L’écume dans la gueule et le regard sanglant, Fenris flaire déjà sa proie irrévocable’.113 Loki is ‘le dernier fils d’Ymer’114 and belongs to the lineage of giants which is also found in Snorri’s Edda.115 Loki is the last survivor of the giants’ lineage: ‘Échappé du naufrage des siens’.116 Here the poet identifies Loki with Bergelmir, the giant who in Snorri’s Edda survives the flood caused by Ymir’s blood.117 The evil god has been imprisoned: ‘enchaîné dans les antres anciens, Loki […] tordant sa bouche, S’agite et se consume en sa rage farouche’.118 In the Locasenna, we read that Loki, during a banquet, insults all the gods and, for this, is punished.119 The same punishment, according to Snorri’s Edda, is inflicted on Loki for Baldr’s death.120
In Leconte de Lisle’s verse, Loki is named together with the masters of the final destruction: Surtr is ‘noir’121 and this is the meaning of his name.122 He is Muspell’s guardian: Hann hefir loganda sverð, ok í enda veraldar mun hann fara ok herja ok sigra ǫll goðin ok brenna allan heim með eldi.123 The serpent who ‘de ses nœuds convulsifs, Étreint, sans l’ébranler, la terre aux rocs massifs’124 is Miðgarðsormr125 who is described by the poet in the same way as he appears in the sources: kastaði hann orminum í inn djúpa sæ er liggr um ǫll lǫnd, ok óx sá ormr svá at hann liggr í miðju hafinu of ǫll lǫnd ok bítr í sporð sér.126 The wolf Fenrir ‘Hurle et pleure, les yeux flamboyants de famine’127 as in Snorri’s Edda: brenna ór augum hans ok nǫsum.128 Fenrir will murder Óðinn, an event not expressly mentioned by Leconte de Lisle but only hinted at in a very significant line: ‘Fenris flaire déjà sa proie irrévocable’.129 The supreme deity’s death has been established by fate, it is in the poet’s words ‘irrévocable’.
Both the serpent Jǫrmungandr and the wolf Fenrir are Loki’s children, and so is Hel:130‘La sombre Héla, comme un oiseau nocturne, Plane au-dessus du gouffre, aveugle et taciturne’.131 The three adjectives that describe Hel have a deep cosmogonic meaning: Hel is ‘sombre’ and Surtr is ‘noir’. She is blind, and therefore opposed to the gods, who are deities of light and the source of life. She is silent and silence, the lack of sound, defines the condition before the world came into existence. In this context, the rhyme ‘nocturne—taciturne’ takes on a meaning that goes far beyond metric coherence. Leconte de Lisle succeeds in penetrating the deepest essence of the myth through linguistic elements that are not descriptive, but which decipher the symbolic value of the mythical tale, as a universal representation of the world and its (fatal) becoming. In Leconte de Lisle’s poem Hel takes on the features of Niðhǫggr:132 Þar kømr inn dimmi dreki fliúgandi naðr fránn, neðan frá Niðafiollom; berr sér í fioðrom flýgr vǫll yfir Niðhǫggr nái.133
Loki and his sons will cause the end of the cosmic cycle: ‘les jours des épreuves sacrées’.134 In the prediction of the final fight between the gods and the negative powers, the seeress heralds ragna rǫk135where ragna is gen. from regin (subst. n. pl. ‘the gods’) and rǫk is acc. from rǫk (subst. n. pl. ‘origin, reason, proof, event, circumstance’).136Ragna rǫk is not the twilight of the gods137 but defines pivotal events for the gods, that is ‘épreuves sacrées’, as the struggle between the deities and forces of evil depicted in several stanzas of the Vǫluspá and in Snorri’s Edda.138
Significantly, this part of the mythical tale is completely absent from La Légende des Nornes, where the cosmic apocalypse is not the result of a conflict, but the ultimate fate of the universe, the eternal return into the abyss from which everything originated: ‘Vieille Urda, ton œil cave a vu l’essaim des choses Du vide primitif soudainement écloses, Jaillir, tourbillonner, emplir l’immensité… Tu le verras rentrer au gouffre illimité’.139 As we read in another poem by Leconte de Lisle, the world becomes ‘difforme, abrupt, lourd et livide, Le spectre monstrueux d’univers détruit Jeté comme une épave á l’Océan du vide, Enfer pétrifié, sans flammes et sans bruit, Flottant et tournoyant dans l’impassible nuit’.140
In this way the poet seals a deterministic representation that mirrors the innermost essence of the myth, as comparison with the sources shows: ‘Les astres flagellés tourbillonnent au vent, Se heurtent en éclats, tombent et disparaissent […] Et dans l’océan noir, silencieux, fumant, La terre avec horreur s’enfonce pesamment!’.141
verold steypiz […]
griótbiorg gnata, enn gífr rata,
troða halir helveg, enn himinn klofnar […]
sól tér sortna sígr fold í mar,
hverfa af himni heiða stiornor;
geisar eimi við aldrnara,
leicr hár hiti við himin siálfan.142
The occurrence of the verb ‘tourbillonner’ must be pointed out: it defines a rotational vortex, similar to the Malstrøm or Moskenstraumen, which is renowned as one of the world’s strongest tidal currents at the Lofoten archipelago in Nordland county, Norway, between the Norwegian Sea and the Vestfjorden.143 A mythical background to the Malstrøm can be found in the Gróttasǫngr.144
In La Légende des Nornes there is no reference to the clash with the Christian faith, as grounds for the end of the ancient mythical universe, while in Le Massacre de Mona, Le Barde de Temrah and in Le Runoïa,145 the Celtic religion and Finnish paganism are destroyed by Christianity. This pivotal aspect is the subject of another poem, La Vision de Snorr, and Leconte de Lisle’s source here is Sólarljóð,146 a poem composed in the thirteenth century, whose French translation was published by F.G. Bergmann.147
Pessimism constitutes the structural element that indissolubly binds La Légende des Nornes and La Vision de Snorr: both tell of the end of the ancient wisdom of myth, which in La Légende des Nornes is the effect of an immanent cosmic law, and in La Vision de Snorr is the consequence of the overbearing affirmation of the Christian faith.
The linguistic analysis demonstrates that La Vision de Snorr represents the metaphysical counterpoint of La Légende des Nornes. Hel’s underworld becomes a place of suffering, an element absent from the sources. The constitutive elements of the mythical cosmogony describe here the Christian hell, so as to testify to the diametric opposition between the ancient worldview and the new faith. The nine worlds ruled by the cosmic tree are ‘les neuf maisons noires […] les antres de Hel’148 and the foam, a creative element evoked by the Norns,149 becomes ‘une bave qui fume’150 in the hall of the Evil One. The toast151 becomes a hideous rite performed by demons:
Sur des quartiers de roc toujours en fusion, Muets, sont accoudés les sept Convives mornes, Les sept Diables royaux du vieux Septentrion. Ainsi que les héros buvaient à pleines cornes l’hydromel prodigué pour le festin guerrier […] Les sept Démons […] En des cruches de plomb qui corrodent leurs bouches, Puisent des pleurs bouillants au fond d’un noir cuvier.152
There are seven demons,153 while in Sólarljóð the number seven expresses Christian symbols, contrasting with the number nine which, as we have seen, is significant in Norse myth:154
Ek kenni þér sjau ráð saman […] Ek þóttumz fara utan ok innan alla sjau sigrheima […] Ek sá sonu niðja ríða norðan ok váru sjau saman; þeir drukku inn hreins mjóð ór brunni Baugreyris fullum hornum.155
There are no norns but ‘trois Vierges farouches’ whose fate is similar to that of Fenia and Menia in the Gróttasǫngr:156
Broyant d’épais cailloux sous des meules d’airain, Tournent en haletant […] Leur cœur pend au dehors et saigne de chagrin.157
Sólarljóð: heljar meyjar buðu mér heim hrolla á hverju kveldi […] svipvisar konur moluðu mold til matar mönnum sínum […] Þær inar dökku konur drógu daprliga dreyrga steina; blóðug hjörtu hengu þeim fyr brjóst utan, mædd við miklum trega.158
The polarity between heat and cold from which, in the mythical tale, life originated, becomes a Dantean punishment: ‘Leurs fronts sont couronnés de flambantes verveines; Mais tandis que leur couche échauffe et cuit leurs flancs, L’amer et froid dégoût coagule leurs veines’159 Sólarljóð: Þau skulu ganga meðal frosts ok funa.160 The runes, symbol of arcane and ancient wisdom, are infernal engravings, instruments of death and punishment: ‘Donc chacun porte au front une lettre Runique Qui change sa cervelle en un charbon fumant’.161 Sólarljóð: Blóðgar rúnir váru merkðar meinliga á brjósti þeim.162
In the great poetic fresco dominated by a vivid chromatism, Leconte de Lisle embeds the elements that symbolise the forces of evil in the myth:163 in the hall of the Evil One ‘tombent des nœuds de reptiles moisis’,164 just as Nástrandir’s hall is ‘woven out of snakes’ bodies like a wattled house’.165 Stingy people are ‘Tels que des loups tirant des langues écarlates’166 and the wolf evokes a violent death also in Le cœur de Hialmar: ‘Moi, je meurs. Mon esprit coule par vingt blessures. J’ai fait mon temps. Buvez ô loups, mon sang vermeil’.167 In the mythical tale the wolf Fenrir is one of the architects of the final conflagration and in the Sólarljóð the sinners ‘ran like wolves to the woods’168 and ‘All those who have a changeable heart seem like wolves’.169 The dragon Nídhǫggr,170 who, in the Vǫluspá, carried lifeless bodies,171 is at the service of the devil: ‘Au-dessous du Malin, sur qui pleut cette écume, Tournoie, avec un haut vacarme, un Dragon roux Qui bat de l’envergure au travers de la brume’.172 There is also here a reference to Sólarljóð: Vestan sá ek vánardreka fljúga […] öflgir eitrdrekar rendu í gegnum brjóst þeim brögnum.173
Just as it was a fire that put an end to the cosmic cycle dominated by gods and giants,174 it is fire that dominates the hellish scenery described by the poet (‘Carcans de braise, habits de feu, fourches de flammes, Tout cela, tout cela dure éternellement’)175 as in Sólarljóð : Ek sá margan meiddan mann fara á þeim glæddum götum […] Ek sá menn þá, er af mikillæti virðuz framar vánum; klæði þeira váru kýmiliga um slegin eldi.176 Here we not only have linguistic echoes to the source but also a very important structural correspondence with ancient skaldic poetry, namely the presence of alliteration in line 74 (‘feu – fourches – flammes’).
The other important element is the first-person narrative. Leconte de Lisle’s choice is very significant: Snorri is the witness who, obeying the command of a bloodthirsty Christian God,177 undertakes a journey through hell and comes back to describe the eternity of atoning pains.178 Snorri lived in the thirteenth century, when Christianity had now fully established itself in Scandinavian countries. He was the author of the most important saga about the holy king of Norway, Óláfr Haraldsson, but also the author of Edda,179 which was above all a manual where the mythological metaphors used by the skalds were explained, as the ancient stories from which they originated were narrated, and numerous citations from the poems of the Poetic Edda were included. In this way the work provided a complete representation of the mythical universe.
Snorri was, therefore, the keeper and interpreter of a cultural heritage, which belonged to yesterday’s world, a legacy that he tried to rescue from oblivion, despite being fully aware that it was vanishing, as he wrote in Heimskringla: þá var sú tíð komin, at fyrirdœmask skyldi blótskaprinn ok blótmenninir, en í stað kom heilǫg trúa ok réttir siðir.180
As a man strongly rooted in the reality of the present, as demonstrated by his troubled life,181 but with a mind and, perhaps, a heart, turned towards the past, Snorri was the most faithful witness ‘du vieux Septentrion’.182 He was able to describe the irreversible process initiated by the establishment of Christianity, which, especially in Norway, was a violent act carried out by the first Christian kings, as Snorri himself reported in the sagas about Óláfr Tryggvason and the holy king Óláfr Haraldsson. By choosing Snorri, the man who survived hell, Leconte de Lisle celebrates the eternity of poetry against the oblivion of history: ‘Souvenez-vous de Snorr dans votre éternité!’.183
