Some brief remarks on the different types of poems I write are also in order. They vary in form and purpose, and here I give descriptions of the various types. Any of the types can use any of the meters described above.
Drápur. A drápa is poem with one or more refrains. Usually, it is also a praise poem. In the Old Norse period, it would generally be chieftains, jarls, or kings who would be the recipient of the praise. These could be as long as the intended recipient could bear. A poem by Thjóðólfr Arnórsson was called “Sexstefja,” meaning literally “Six Refrains.” The fragment of it that survives is only thirty some stanzas, and probably ran much longer than that in its entirety. Drápur were often written in the difficult and prestigious dróttkvætt meter but could be written in any of the traditional Old Norse meters. The most famous drápa today from the Viking Age is “Head Ransom” by Egill Skallagrímsson. It is twenty stanzas with two different refrains. It was written in runhent as mentioned above. Most of my drápur in this book have the word drápa in their titles. Following a tradition I encountered in some translations and editions of Old Norse poetry, the refrains are italicized in my poems.
Flokkar. A flokk (meaning “group, company, host” and cognate with English flock) is distinguished from a drápa simply by a lack of refrains. Like a drápa, it can be written in any of the traditional Old Norse meters. According to Lee Hollander, Egill Skallagrímssson’s “Lay of Arinbjörn,” in praise of Egill’s dear friend, was a flokk, probably in the 40 to 60 stanza range. In my modern usage, I will probably restrict the label of flokk to praise poems only, as the vast majority of my poems don’t have refrains, and specifically labelling them as flokkar seems redundant.
Hallowings. Although many Asatruar no longer practice the hallowing of the ritual space, some still do, and I have written a couple hammer hallowings of various lengths in both ljóðahátt and fornyrðislag, as well as other hallowings that make use of different ritual tools such as swords, spears, fire, etc.
Lore narratives. In this group are those poems I write which retell a story from the Old Norse mythology. Generally, my writing efforts are directed to those stories that do not have poetic versions in the Poetic Edda. My poems “The Six Treasures,” “Mead Quest,” “The Binding of Fenrir,” and so forth fall into this group. If one is doing a blót (“blessing”) to a particular god or goddess, reading a story about him or her would be appropriate during the rite. For instance, one might read the “Six Treasures” during a blót to either Thor or the Dwarves. The lore narratives that I have written are generally in either fornyrðislag or ljóðahátt.
Calls to gods and others. In a blót, it is customary to include a call to the particular being or beings one is honoring. I have written a vast number of two-stanza calls in ljóðahátt that make use of the existing lore. For the major gods and goddess about whom we have a significant amount of lore, calls of much greater length can be written, and I have written a few of these. Although fornyrðislag would be a perfectly fine meter for a call, all the calls I’ve written are in ljóðahátt. It just turned out that way.
Praise poems. Simply put, a poem in praise of a god, goddess, wight, or something else entirely. These are distinguished according to whether they are drápur or flokkar. Such praise poems could be used as sumbel toasts, but are often suitable for being read as part of the centerpiece of a rite. For instance, “Vetrartímadrápa,” which is a poem in praise of Wintertime, was first recited as part of a Winter Nights blessing by the Hearth of Yggdrasil.
Ritual dramas. To give just two examples, Skírnismál and Lokasenna from the Poetic Edda are poems with multiple characters and dialogue. On reading them, one could very easily get the impression that they were meant to be recited in front of an audience by multiple people who were perhaps doing some acting along with it. Inspired by that possibility (which is explored in scholarly detail by Terry Gunnell in The Origins of Drama in Scandinavia), the short ritual dramas that I write have a narrator who speaks in fornyrðislag and various characters who speak in ljóðahátt. These are also quite suited for use in ritual (hence the name) with different people reciting each role. The one that I wrote based on Snorri’s tale of the abduction of Iðunn was performed by the Hearth of Yggdrasil at one of their Midsummer blessings.
Sumbel toasts. The most usual format for a sumbel is to have three rounds: the first is dedicated to the gods, the second to heroes and ancestors, and the third to participant’s choice — boasts, toasts, or even oaths on occasion. In each round, each participant will usually speak some words of praise, honor, or remembrance, followed by a drink from the sumbel horn. Sumbel toasts can be as short as “Hail Thor!” or longer and more involved. Most are usually spoken in an impromptu fashion. However, poetry or song is also quite appropriate. Generally, the sumbel toasts I’ve written are one or two stanzas in ljóðahátt or galdralag, although I have written a few in fornyrðislag. The longest poems I’ve written specifically as sumbel toasts are a trio of seven-stanza drápur in ljóðahátt. (They are combined into a single drápa in this book.) Many of my sumbel toasts were deliberately written as sequences that I recited in the three successive rounds of a single sumbel, so those sequences usually contain three toasts, one for each round. Some of the sequences contain multiple toasts per round.
Prayers. This is perhaps a provocative category to include, as many would feel that prayer gets a bad name from the various monotheistic religions. Yet the polytheists of old had prayers, whether Greek, Roman, Celtic, Vedic, and so forth. Unfortunately, heathen Germanic liturgy didn’t survive the conversion. So, I have written some modern prayers to the gods. All of the prayers in this book are written in the Anglo-Saxon meter with nine lines each. This includes “Eirik’s Hymn,” which is my loose, heathenized translation/interpretation of a piece of Old English poetry known as Cædmon’s Hymn. Though it is quite different from the other prayers, I have included it with them nonetheless.
Charms. The charms in this book are short pieces of poetry intended for frequent ritual use with daily activities such as waking, sleeping, eating, etc. One of them, “For Pouring Out a Blót Bowl,” is a poetic expansion of a modern heathen custom — the pouring out of an offering with what are now traditional words: “From the gods to the earth to us, from us to the earth to the gods — a gift for a gift — hail!” Once I realized that the first part of it was a valid galdralag couplet of full lines, I simply had to write a stanza for it.
Here are some final notes for those who would recite and use the poems. Generally, one may change things from plural to singular in the calls and prayers without damaging the meter (such as replacing us with me, and we with I). I have generally left the Old Norse names as they are, with the accent marks and strange characters (as I find most anglicizings to be rather ugly), although with some changes to make things easier for those not familiar with the language. In word-initial position, I use th instead of þ (that is, Thrúð instead of Þrúð), ae instead of æ, and oe instead of œ. I have dropped the nominative -r ending in places where it is difficult to pronounce (such as Heimdall instead of Heimdallr) but have retained it where it will not cause problems (such as in Freyr). That particular change makes the names easier to use with English grammar. A few names (such as Thor, Midgard, and Asgard) are rendered in the familiar anglicized forms (instead of Þórr, Miðgarðr, and Ásgarðr). One may use a pronunciation guide for Old Norse or Modern Icelandic according to preference.