Balder Dead
Balder Dead is a narrative poem with powerful tragic themes, first published in 1855 by Matthew Arnold. This poem draws upon Norse mythology: retelling the story of the murder of Odin's son, Balder, as brought about by the wicked machinations of Loki, blood brother to Odin.[1]
Synopsis
The evil Loki was quickly punished for murdering Balder by being exiled from Asgard. Still, it remains for the gods - the Æsir and the Vanir dwelling in Asgard - to bury and to mourn their dead.
Partly out of desperate grief - and partly in defiance of the harshness of the Norns or fates: Odin begs Hermod to ride his own steed, Sleipnir, down to Hell and beg Hela to release Balder. Hermod executes the seemingly hopeless task: and receives from Hela the unexpected promise that she would release Balder should everything in the upper worlds mourn Balder's death. Before returning to Asgard, Hermod speaks with Balder's shade: Balder warns him that Hela's "promises" are never what they seem - and will only bear bitter fruit. Loki himself undertakes to frustrate the Æsir's hopes: appearing as an ugly hag in Middle Earth, he refuses to mourn for Balder - thus breaking Hela's stipulated conditions.
Hermod returns to Hell to acquaint Balder with the gods' failure. Balder accepts what has happened without surprise, and they soon part: after Balder relates his vision of the end of the worlds in the approaching conflagration of Ragnarök.[2]
References
External links
- Balder Dead - from the Internet Archive
- Balder Dead public domain audiobook at LibriVox
- v
- t
- e
- On Translating Homer (1861)
- Culture and Anarchy (1869)
- Literature and Dogma (1873)
- "The Forsaken Merman" (1849)
- Tristram and Iseult (1852)
- Empedocles on Etna (1852)
- "To Marguerite: Continued" (1852)
- "The Scholar Gipsy" (1853)
- Sohrab and Rustum (1853)
- Balder Dead (1855)
- "Thyrsis" (1865)
- "Dover Beach" (1867)
- Tom Arnold (brother)
- Thomas Arnold (father)
- William Delafield Arnold (brother)
This article related to a poem is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- v
- t
- e