ABSTRACT

H ÁvamÁl, a poetic presentation of 164 stanzas, exists in the Codex Regius as a poem spoken by Óðinn. This attribution of speaker, as Lindow points out,"adds unity to what otherwise appears to be a compilation." 1 This"unity," however, tends to strike readers as one imposed by the compiler, an aspect of compilation rather than an aesthetic fact, and critics agree that Hávamál is a pastiche. 2 Criticism of the poem, therefore, has traditionally concentrated on recovering"original" poetic segments and forms, but the Codex Regius presentation, with its proclaimed oratorical unity, still may be treated as a poetic entity. 3