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The mead of poetry

skáldskapar mjaðar

The mead brewed from the blood of the wise Kvasir: whoever drinks it becomes a poet or a scholar. Odin steals it from the giant Suttungr and gives it to the gods and to poets.

In Norse myth, poetry is a drink. Snorri tells the full story to Ægir at the start of Skáldskaparmál Skáldskaparmál 1, and Hávamál has Odin recall his part in it Hávamál 104-110. This page is about the drink itself; the story is retold step by step on the myth page of the same name.

Where it came from

When the Æsir and Vanir made peace, both sides spat into a vat. The gods made a man from the spittle: Kvasir, wise enough to answer any question. The dwarves Fjalarr and Galarr killed him and ran his blood into a kettle, Óðrerir, and two vats, Són and Boðn. They mixed it with honey, "and the outcome was that mead by the virtue of which he who drinks becomes a skald or scholar" Skáldskaparmál 1. They told the gods that Kvasir had choked on his own learning.

The mead then changed hands twice. The dwarves gave it to the giant Suttungr to pay for killing his parents. Odin took it from Suttungr's mountain by seducing the giant's daughter Gunnlöð and drinking all three vessels dry. He flew home as an eagle and spat the mead into vats set out in Ásgard. A little went out behind him in his hurry, and Snorri calls that "the poetaster's part", free to any bad poet who wants it Skáldskaparmál 1.

The mead in poetry

The story is the source of a family of Kennings. Snorri lists the names a poet may use for poetry: Kvasir's blood, the dwarves' ship (because it saved them from the reef), the giants' father-ransom, the liquor of Óðrerir, Boðn and Són, Odin's booty, find and gift Skáldskaparmál 3. Skalds he quotes call their verse "Odin's Mead", "Gunnlöd's Liquor" and "the Gift of Grímnir" Skáldskaparmál 3. The kennings show that poets of the 10th century already knew the story.

The well-earned beauty well I enjoyed,Little the wise man lacks;So Othrörir now has up been broughtTo the midst of the men of earth.Hávamál 107

Hávamál also has Odin win "a drink … of the goodly mead poured out from Othrörir" in the stanzas on his self-sacrifice Hávamál 141, which suggests other traditions about how the mead reached him.

In the sources

Quoted from the hosted translations; each line is checked against the text when the site is built. Select a reference to read it in context.

they blended honey with the blood, and the outcome was that mead by the virtue of which he who drinks becomes a skald or scholar
Skáldskaparmál 1 The dwarves brew the mead from Kvasir's blood.
In the first draught he drank every drop out of Ódrerir; and in the second, he emptied Bodn; and in the third, Són
Skáldskaparmál 1 Odin drains all three vessels in Suttungr's mountain.
But Odin gave the mead of Suttungr to the Æsir and to those men who possess the ability to compose.
Skáldskaparmál 1 Poetry becomes Odin's gift to gods and poets.
So Othrörir now has up been brought To the midst of the men of earth.
Hávamál 107 Hávamál celebrates the mead's arrival in the world of men.
Kvasir's Gore and Ship of the Dwarves, Dwarves' Mead, Mead of the Æsir, Giants' Father-Ransom
Skáldskaparmál 3 Snorri lists the poetic names for poetry that come from the story.

Where the sources disagree or fall silent

  • Kvasir is killed to make the mead in Skáldskaparmál 1, yet in Gylfaginning 50 he is alive and helps the gods catch Loki. Snorri does not reconcile the two.
  • Snorri makes Óðrerir the kettle; in Hávamál (havamal 107, havamal 141) 'Othrörir' seems to name the mead itself.

Myths with The mead of poetry

Odin on the tree: how the runes were won In Hávamál Odin tells how he hung for nine nights on a windswept tree, wounded with a spear and given to himself, without food or drink, until he seized the runes and fell back. It is the most famous passage in Old Norse poetry, and one of the most mysterious. The war of the Æsir and the Vanir The first war in the world, fought between the two families of gods. The surviving texts give only fragments — a witch burned three times, Odin's spear, a broken wall, a truce sealed with spittle and hostages — but they add up to the story of how the Vanir came to live among the Æsir.

Related

Kvasir The wisest of beings, made from the spittle of the Æsir and Vanir at their peace-making. Two dwarves killed him and brewed his blood with honey into the mead of poetry. Fjalar and Galarr Fjalarr ok Galarr Two murderous dwarf brothers who kill Kvasir and brew the mead of poetry from his blood, then kill the giant Gillingr and his wife, and give up the mead to save their own lives. Óðrerir In Snorri, the kettle into which the dwarves drained Kvasir's blood to brew the mead of poetry; in Hávamál, apparently the name of the mead itself. Suttungr The giant who takes the mead of poetry from the dwarves as compensation for his father's murder, hides it inside a mountain with his daughter Gunnlöð, and loses it to Odin. Gunnlöð Suttungr's daughter, set to guard the mead of poetry inside a mountain. Odin spends three nights with her and leaves with all the mead; Hávamál remembers her as a woman he wronged. Baugi Suttungr's brother, who hires the disguised Odin to replace nine dead farmhands, then bores into the mountain where the mead of poetry is hidden and tries to cheat him. Odin Óðinn Chief of the Æsir: a one-eyed god of wisdom, poetry, magic, war and the dead, who gave an eye and hanged himself on a tree for knowledge, and who dies at Ragnarök. Kennings kenningar The compressed poetic riddles of skaldic verse, such as 'Ymir's skull' for the sky or 'Kvasir's blood' for poetry, which only make sense if you know the myths; Snorri wrote Skáldskaparmál to explain them.