The Mead of Poetry
In the Norse myth, the god Odin becomes an eagle after
stealing and swallowing magic mead, made by cunning
dwarves of honey and the blood of the wise Kvasir. The
mead grants poetic powers to those deigned to drink it
from Odin’s lips.
Spit upon me, Odin, for I dare
To sip the Dwarven mead you drip and spill;
I stand with mouth upraised and open: spare
Me nothing; give me everything; instill
Mead in my thoughts, combining melody
With words which blend with heart-mind intertwined;
And then perhaps I’ll create poetry,
When, Eagle, as you soar, I’ll soar in kind.
Oh, blood of Kvasir, come, and bleed on me,
Seep into me, intoxicate me, there
Empower me beyond propriety,
That mead-drunk I may stretch words as I dare.
Of honey, blood, and spit your mead is wrought;
Such draught drives my poetic juggernaut.
Theresa Werba (formerly known to the SCP community as Theresa Rodriguez) is the author of eight books, including What Was and Is: Formal Poetry and Free Verse, and Sonnets, a collection of sixty-five Shakespearean, Spenserian, and Petrarchan sonnets. Her work appears in numerous journals, websites, and online publications, including the SCP Journal. She has been featured on Classical Poets Live where she discusses musicality and elocution in formal poetry. She is a contributing writer for Classical Singer Magazine. Werba’s background as a Classical singer informs her dramatic poetry readings which are available on Youtube @thesonnetqueen. Her website is www.theresawerba.com.
Excellent work and very ‘Romantic’ in a good sense: the springs of poetry deriving from inexhaustible, divine sources!
Thank you, James, I appreciate the insight very much!!
You’ve obviously been at the poetic mead, Theresa.
Loved the phrase ‘…which blend with heart-mind intertwined,…’ with its imagery and internal rhyme.
Thanks for the read.
Thanks very much Paul for your comments and observations, I love a good draught from the mead of poetry! And I didn’t even know I made that internal rhyme— thanks for pointing it out!!!
Kvasir (the wise) goes back as far as the 13th century and the mead as you described it was considered to produce poetry and likely (in my mind) strange alcoholic-induced speech patterns. Kvas in Russian and Kvass in Eastern Europe is generally fermented from rye bread or berry juice. Kvase is the Norwegian word for fermented berry juice. I mention this because it is interesting how far the Nordic tales influenced other neighboring languages. By the way, Kvasir’s advice was also used by the gods to ensnare Loki in a fishing net. Your well-wrought poem is both accurate and historically based.
Wow Roy, that is so interesting about the word “Kvasir”– I love the interconnections of cognates in related languages so much!! I’ve been reading the Poetic Edda in a translation by Lee M. Hollander; it re-creates the forms and alliterative patterns of Old Norse skaldic poetry. I never knew much about Norse mythology before recently, so this exploration and study is opening up all kinds of new avenues of knowledge and creativity for me!! Thank you for the super-fascinating information and kind comment!
There is something about Norse mythology that is irresistibly attractive to the average Europhile. If I had known that fermented berry juice….
I’ve actually been to several liquor stores in my area to find some authentic European mead, and they didn’t have any!! I would really like to know what real honey wine tastes like!!
Real mead is hard to find, because there isn’t much of a demand for it here in the States. It’s still made in Scandinavia. Mead was the original alcoholic beverage of the Indo-Europeans, long before beer and wine were made.
A very nice sonnet!
Thank you for the compliment, Dr. Salemi, it means a lot to me. Interesting that mead parallels the history of the Indo-European peoples. Maybe I can try finding Scandinavian mead online. Definitely a project to pursue!!
I think, Theresa, that almost all of us would like to know what it tastes like. Honey isn’t hard to find, so maybe we just need a good recipe.
Okay C.B., pass along any mead recipes that you find, and I will do likewise. In the meantime, Andrew Benson Brown has piqued my curiosity about “Viking Blod”… definitely need to experience that!!
I really enjoy the raw plea to Odin here. I bet many of us have written to the gods in this context, as well.
There’s something especially humbling about the mere spit of a god imbuing its recipient with majestic poetical powers. This is a big reason for why I’m fascinated by ancient myth; those who sang and wrote it had a very good idea of our paltry mortal capacity next to wondrous that of their gods.
Interesting perspective, Scott! When it comes to writing (and for me, singing as well) I do believe that inspiration is a divine gift; what we make of it, is what becomes artistry.
I was delighted to find a myth such as this relating to poets and poetry in the Poetic Edda! I plan to read Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda next!
This is about as enjoyable an invocation to one’s Muse as I have yet heard! The pagan imagery and use of the heart-mind kenning are highly evocative. Inspiration? You’ve obviously received it in the asking. I’m fascinated by the drama in how your speaker approaches her Muse. It makes me feel rather dull just sitting here boringly in front of a blank screen.
Wow, Brian, I truly love your appreciative comment!, thank you! I did take the daring step (for me) in invoking a deity of the Norse pantheon– how could I not, when it is Odin who (in this particular cosmology) grants poetic powers to poets? I am by no means a pagan, but I really can understand why people used to worship various gods and goddesses, and why many still do. And as for your poetic powers, you are by no means dull, boring, or blank!!!
Wow! There are more highlights than I can highlight in one comment! “hear-mind intertwined,” “Eagle, as you soar, I’ll soar in kind,” and “Empower me beyond propriety,” among them.
Beyond propriety? Perhaps or not! But, in any case, like Odin, your sonnet soars!
Jim, thank you so much for your comment, it means so much to me! I was really meaning a kind of “mental propriety”– my hope is that I can be daring and inventive and beyond the “pleasant and polite” norm, so to speak, in my poetry. Not wanting to be wanton or anything like that!! (Quite the assonant phrase!) But a little ambiguity is fun here!! Thanks again!!!
I think this is my favorite poem of anything you’ve ever written, Theresa. An epic contained within the sonnet form. Truly remarkable!
There’s a great mead brand called ‘Viking Blod’ that claims to be based on the oldest written mead recipe. Whether that’s true, it’s the best I’ve had. I get it wherever I find it (which is not very often).
Oh, Andrew, thank you so much! I really do feel this particular subject of “the mead of poetry” was the perfect vehicle for capturing and expressing everything that I am and hope to be as a poet.
I will definitely have to find “Viking Blod”. Sounds dangerous and exciting!! Gotta try it!!
All you need are honey, water, and yeast — but to make the really good stuff the process is lengthy and complex, and involves a long fermentation.
Well I am primed now to at least try to make some kind of mead at home– maybe I can try to make the really good stuff and go for a long fermentation, with at least some of it! Either way this whole thread has definitely piqued my mead-ish curiosity!!
I was going to suggest that mead is most likely to be available at Christmas time–but I went shopping and found that what’s available right now is mead-making kits. And if you don’t want to keep bees, you can choose among many honey varieties. This is beginning to sound like a project for the lady of the manor, which might take you away from reading and writing!
Something else came to mind, though. I recall stories having to do with oath-making in the Anglo-Saxon versus Scandinavian conflicts. When they needed a treaty to keep the peace for a while, the Anglo-Saxons found it very difficult to trust the Scandinavians, who would swear to anything on anything and break the pact as soon as convenient for themselves. There was drinking involved, though, and apparently the kind of drink was important, as was drinking it over “the bracelets and the blood.” If the ritual were done in a way that impressed the Scandinavians, the Anglo-Saxons might get peace for several years. Wonder if that treaty drink might have been Odin’s mead to make the oath effective? From the description in your poem, Theresa, it sounds more like war whiskey. But then the skalds had plenty of battles to narrate as warrior entertainment!
Well Margaret, I took your advice and checked Amazon and, lo and behold! there are tons of mead-making kits, averaging about 40 bucks each. Nice Christmas present to myself methinks! If I can’t find it, I will definitely make it!! I honestly would love to go back in time and hear a skald read lays from what became the Poetic Edda in Old Norse– sitting in a mead-hall drinking ancient mead– with the added bonus of being able to understand Old Norse thrown in. What an experience that would be!!! I am sure such mead would indeed have made an excellent treaty drink between the Norse and the Anglo-Saxons!!
Theresa, your exquisite poem reminds me of these words: “No poems can please for long or live that are written by water-drinkers.” You have taken me back to my brackish, sea-splashed Cornish holidays of Scrumpy by day and mead by night, and I thank you wholeheartedly for this delightful poetic trip. I just love the line: “mead-drunk I may stretch words as I dare”… I must try that!
The comments section has been most interesting. On the strength of ABB’s recommendation, Mike and I are journeying to Corpus Christi this week to buy a bottle of Viking Blod at Total Wine & More. If they have it in Texas, it must be available at this chainstore all over the US.
Thanks for the kind comment Susan, and for giving me a reason to look up “Scrumpy”– sounds like the kind of hard cider I would absolutely love– strong, cloudy, and ulfiltered!!! I’m very interested to know if you find Viking Blod at Total Wine & More– maybe we SCP imbibers are creating a mead-drinking counterculture!! I looked online and one store in Phoenix (where I am staying for the next 6 weeks at least) is out, but at least three stores in Scottsdale (where my daughter is undergoing her leukemia treatment) has it. Hopefully I can get some Thursday when I take her to her next outpatient appointment! I will be sure to report back on this thread if I manage to procure a bottle!!
Well folks, I was able to procure a bottle of Viking Blod, made in Denmark… the only one they had has hibiscus and ginger added, makes it a little spicy but still very sweet… I like it a lot! I’m interested in any one else’s experience with Viking Blod!
Dear Theresa:
What an artful poem you have written! Wonderful work! Note: My apologies for my delay in posting this comment.
The form is a Shakespearean sonnet in second person, that is, the speaker is sipping mead, and invoking Odin to give him/her the gift of poetic invention. The Norse myths that explain poetic inspiration are deftly intertwined:
• Odin’s spit
• Kvasir’s blood drained by dwarfs;
• Odin as an eagle who steals mead by drinking it
The speaker creates two kennings, that is, compound words that describe an object metaphorically. Kennings are a favorite device of Norse skald poets:
• “heart-mind” (line 6) which is “intertwined” with melody and words to create poetry;
• “mead-drunk” (line 12), which is the state of poetic inspiration.
Also, the speaker uses alliteration (for example, “empower me beyond propriety” in line 11) The speaker therefore nods toward the “flavor” of skald poetry because alliteration is a fundamental element in the structure of skald poetry.
The speaker repeats key words: mead (4x); spit (2x); blood (2x) (plus the verb “bleed”); soar (2x); and the repetition of “poet” in its noun and adjective forms: poetry/poetic. This density reinforces the mythic explanation of the origins of poetic inspiration. That myth employs concrete objects and observations common to the experience of the pre-Christian Norse peoples. The repetition also intensifies the “invocation” effect, that is, a religious supplicant repeating key words as part of an urgent request to a deity for favors.
I especially enjoy the skillful wordplay in the final couplet: wrought/draught (but pronounced “draft”/juggernaut.
Most sincerely
Mary Jane
Thank you very much for your kind and detailed comments, Mary Jane. Overall, I don’t generally repeat words throughout a poem, but in this case, I did feel the need to repeat certain words: mead, spit, blood/bleed, poetry/poetic… I am very gratified that you noticed. If it is done intentionally (instead of out of laziness), repetition can be very powerful and moving. I am not even sure how intentional I was about the repetitions when I was writing this particular sonnet, because I was writing from some really elemental place, but I was happy to see the results when I was done– the repetitions made so much sense. Thanks again for your reply!
There are many figures of speech (in both prose and poetry) that use some form of repetition to create an effect. Scholars have thought up all sorts of Greek names for them, but they are just different patterns for repeating words of phrases. Sometimes it’s just for emphasis, and sometimes to be comical or witty. The rhetoric books are filled with examples and descriptions of them: anaphora, epizeuxis, antanaclasis, epistrophe, and a helluva lot more.
Thank you very much for pointing this out, Dr. Salemi– I’d certainly like to study anaphora, epizeuxis, antanaclasis, epistrophe, and other ones I also just found out about: anadiplosis, antimetabole, chiasmus, polyptoton, diacope, symploce, epanalepsis, isocolon– it would no doubt enrich anyone’s poetic arsenal to know more about these forms of repetition and to put them to good use! I probably have used many of these types of repetition in the past after all, I just didn’t know they existed as such, or that I was doing it! Thank you for very much for the information, I truly appreciate it!!