ABSTRACT
The title Lokasenna conveys its genre more particularly than most Eddic titles: a senna or verbal duel between Loki and the other gods. (On the genre, see the article by Carol Clover reprinted in this volume.) A prose introduction links the poem with the one preceding it in the Codex Regius, Hymiskviða; now that Þόrr has obtained a cauldron from the giant Hymir, Ægir brews ale for a feast attended by all the gods with the exception of Þόrr who will not arrive until the end of the poem. Loki has killed one of Ægir’s serving-men and been chased away. The poem begins with him speaking to Ægir’s other serving-man; he inquires about the feast and announces his attention to intrude upon it ‘to mix mischief with mead’. Bragi denies Loki a place but Loki reminds Óðinn of a past obligation. Víðarr serves Loki who then toasts everyone except Bragi, who says he will compensate Loki with a ring if he refrains from making trouble. Loki says Bragi is the most ‘wary of war’ of all the ‘gods and elves’ in the hall. Bragi blusters and Loki insults him with worse. Iðunn intervenes and Loki calls her the most ‘man-crazed’, thus setting a pattern for the rest of the poem, in which the following all intervene and are insulted in turn: Gefjon, Óðinn, Frigg, Freyja, Njǫrðr, Týr, Freyr, Byggvir (‘Barley,’ a servant of Freyr), Heimdallr, Skaði (Njǫrðr’s wife, a giantess), Sif and Beyla (Byggvir’s wife). Finally Þόrr arrives and threatens Loki with violence. Loki insults him for a few interchanges but then retreats, saying, ‘because I know you will strike [or kill]’. A prose epilogue, probably drawn from Snorri’s Edda, details Loki’s subsequent fate. The Æsir bind him and place a snake over him that drips venom. His wife Sigyn holds a basin to catch the venom but when she has to empty it, Loki shudders violently, thus causing earthquakes.
