%0 Journal Article
%T Life-Cycles of Men and Trees in Sonatorrek
%A Michael D.J. Bintley
%J Opticon1826
%D 2009
%I Ubiquity Press
%R 10.5334/opt.060902
%X According to Snorri Sturluson¡¯s Egils saga Skalla-Gr¨ªmssonar, the warrior poet Egill Skallagr¨ªmsson composed Sonatorrek (¡®On the Loss of Sons¡¯) in response to the death by drowning of his son B evarr (c.960), who was shipwrecked off the coast of Iceland during a sudden storm. Egill found B evarr¡¯s lifeless body washed up on the shores of Iceland, and bore it to be buried within the mound where his own father Skallagr¨ªmr lay at rest.1 Two strophes of the poem are devoted to another of Egill¡¯s sons, Gunnarr, who had fallen victim to a s¨®ttar br¨ªmi (¡®burning sea-fever¡¯, Sonatorrek 20; Nordal 1933, 246-56) a little while before. In Sonatorrek, Egill appears to make a subtle allusion to an enigmatic tradition also preserved in the Old Norse V lusp¨¢, in which wooden figures are found upon the seashore and brought to life through the endowment of human gifts.
%U http://www.opticon1826.com/article/view/62