I suppose I could make the claim that Matthew Arnold is one of my favorite poets, based on the circumstance that "Dover Beach" and "Thyrsis" are two of my favorite poems. I was not however familiar with any of this author's other poetic productions, though I have read several of his famous critical essays over the years, and I generally liked those too (he is a staunch Great Books kind of guy after all). I felt that my readings of the last two longer form Victorian poets that came up on this list, Swinburne and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, were not as satisfactory as might have been hoped. It is possible that the poems in question were not especially great (I don't think that they were, in fact), or that the style in which they are written has become too difficult for my aging 21st century brain to follow (I hope not), but I also made the mistake when reading these of trying to keep on a schedule, even if it meant reading later at night when I was tired, or was otherwise distracted. It was after the Browning book I believe that I decided not to be so ironclad about following the schedule going forward, at least where poems or other more, I don't want to say difficult, books, but books requiring more time or concentration, were concerned. So I determined to take my time with Balder Dead, though my pre-existing affinity for Arnold's poetry also led me to hope that I would be able to get into it more easily.
As is not infrequently the case with the IWE list, this particular poem is something of an eccentric selection, not because it is not a decent poem, but because I feel like it is not very well known, and it is even difficult to find a copy of the full poem in a bound book put out by a major publishing house within the last 100 years. I ended up ordering a 1942 Oxford edition of Arnold's poems from somewhere in Wales, which was the only place I could find selling a copy of this book. I discovered when it arrived that the poem is only 31 pages. The IWE doesn't say anything about Arnold, and only notes that "the story of Balder is a favorite in Norse mythology" and then goes on to relate some of the basic elements of the story. Why Arnold chose this particular story to be the subject of a poem of some ambition and length (in terms of lines) none of the materials I have at hand has anything to say about at all.
As is usual with me, I did not mark any passages until I was a good way into the reading.
II ll. 166-8: "And old men, known to Glory, but their star
Betray'd them, and of wasting age they died,
Not wounds..."
I thought it interesting that even the brave and glorious don't make it to Valhalla if they don't die in battle.
III ll. 162-72. Almost the whole third section of the poem is given over to Balder's funeral.
"...then the corpse
Of Balder on the highest top they laid,
With Nanna on his right, and on his left
Hoder, his brother, whom his own hand slew...
And slew the dogs which at his table fed,
And his horse, Balder's horse, whom most he lov'd,
And threw them on the pyre..."
A lot of living creatures needed to be slain to be tossed on Balder's pyre, including his wife, who had already been taken care of in these lines.
III ll. 190-215. The description of the burning ship is good. Appropriately grim, especially the references to the northern forests, the sound of fires in winter, and the like.
As noted earlier, I had a difficult time discerning Arnold's particular motivation for choosing this story. Obviously he had one. And it is a good poem after his style, I am just not sure what he is so taken by in it. Is it the dramatic and serious manner in which this culture addressed death?
III ll. 509-14. Perhaps this is it? The ghost of Balder is speaking:
"For I am long since weary of your storm
Of carnage, and find, Hermod, in your life
Something too much of war and broils, which make
Life one perpetual fight, a bath of blood.
Mine eyes are dizzy with the arrowy hail;
Mine ears are stunn'd with blows, and sick for calm."
III ll. 565-70. I like this image. It also revisits the theme of storks which is prevalent in a lot of European stories.
"And as a stork which idle boys have trapp'd,
And tied him in a yard, at autumn sees
Flocks of his kind pass o'er his head
To warmer lands, and coasts that keep the sun;
He strains to join their flight, and from his shed,
Follows them with a long complaining cry--"
Is Balder referring to Christianity at the end, from his ghostly perch (of perception)? It is not clear to me.
The Bourgeois Surrender Challenge
The keywords in this one were too source specific to bring up many titles outside the realm of Norse mythology.
1. D'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths..........................................................237
2. H. R. Ellis Davidson--Gods and Myths of Northern Europe...................58
3. Graham Masterson--The House That Jack Built.....................................45
4. Dan McCoy--The Love of Destiny, etc....................................................41
5. Robert J. Mrazek--Valhalla.....................................................................34
6. Snorri Kristjansson--Swords of Good Men..............................................20
7. Urdu to English Dictionary......................................................................19
8. Allen Mawer--The Vikings.........................................................................3
9. A Guide to the Common Epiphytes and Mistletoes of Singapore..............0
This subject does not appear to attract a lot of women authors. I thought Snorri Kristjansson might be one, but he too is a man.
Play-In Game
#8 Mawer over #9 Guide to Epiphytes
Round of 8
#1 D'Aulaires over #8 Mawer
#2 Davidson over #7 Urdu to English Dictionary
#3 Masterson over #6 Kristjansson
These are both genre books, though I would have been inclined to give Kristjansson the edge based on his being from a foreign literary culture, being a native of Iceland, though it looks like he may write and publish primarily in English anyway. Masterson was entitled to an upset however.
#4 McCoy over #5 Mrazek
Because I dread genre fiction so much I always try to make sure it loses when I have a chance.
Final Four
#1 D'Aulaires over #4 McCoy
#2 Davidson over #3 Masterson
Championship
#2 Davidson over #1 D'Aulaires
Published in 1964, which is in the heart of the era wherein I actually trust the intent of much academic scholarship, H (for Hilda!) R. Ellis Davidson's study might be difficult to procure a copy of, but I think it is the clear choice here. I have many of the D'Aulaires' books at home, and I have always been a fan of theirs, but they are essentially children's writers. I'll have to see if I can make this happen.
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