Darraðarljóð
Old Norse poem / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Darraðarljóð is a skaldic poem in Old Norse found in chapter 157 of Njáls saga. It consists of 11 stanzas recounting the vision of a man named Dörruð, in which twelve valkyries weave and choose who is to be slain at the Battle of Clontarf (fought outside Dublin in 1014). Their loom uses human entrails as warp and woof, swords as treadles, an arrow as the batten and men's heads as weights.[1] Of the twelve valkyries weaving, six of their names are given: Hildr, Hjörþrimul, Sanngriðr, Svipul, Guðr, and Göndul. Stanza 9 of the song has been translated:
- Now awful it is to be without,
- as blood-red rack races overhead;
- is the welkin gory with warriors' blood
- as we valkyries war-songs chanted.[2]
The poem may have influenced the concept of the Three Witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth.[3]
Dörruð's vision is located in Caithness and the story is a "powerful mixture of Celtic and Old Norse imagery".[4]