Yggdrasil Library

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Garden s of th e Old Gods:Ecocriticism of Yggdrasil in th e Edda s By James Renger Precariously perched straddling the three planes of existence, the great tree Yggdrasil binds the worlds together. The heaven, the earth and "Hel" all serve as the mooring for the ancient tree; however, the connection between Ygdrasil to the environment is most clearly demonstrated through the careful construction of the Norse mythology in which it is depicted. The gods and mythology are represented by the heavens, the underworld being the home to all that has come before and middle earth representative of the world which we now know. Yggdrasil transcends and roots itself in them all as a representation of nature, biological processes and the environment. Through this metaphor, the Prose Edda and Poetic Edda depict the great connection across metaphysical and historical planes with Ygdrasil, "the Ash- tree of Existence" (Nixon). The Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda serve as the primary texts from which we draw our modern understanding of ancient Norse mythology. Central in these myths is the role of nature, which is depicted in a ways that are closely associated with contemporary understandings of the world in which we live, and there is no better demonstration in of the ecological concepts in these tales then Ygdrasil. By understanding the ecological connections in ancient Norse mythology through the Ygdrasil imagery, it is possible to make the eco- critical analysis of the mythology while shedding light on the very real contemporary environmental threats to the basis of one of the central images of their mythology. While the Eddas are ideal for eco-critical examination, it is crucial to establish the scope of this eco- critical view. The role of eco-critics is explained in Greg Gerrard's Ecocriticism: The New Critical Idiom, "Ecocritics seek to offer a truly transformative discourse, enabling us to analyze and criticize the world in which we live, attention is increasingly given to the broad Renger 2 range of cultural processes and products in which, and through which, the complex negotiation of nature and culture take place" (Gerard 5). That is exactly the intent of this study, to understand the values attributed to nature through one of the few remaining elements of ancient Norse Culture, the mythology. The Poetic Edda and Prose Edda are two separate collections of tales that catalogue the mythology of pre- Christian Scandinavia (Larrington 11). The Prose Edda is believed to have been written by Snorri Sturleson, an Icelandic Chieftain, who lived from 11 78 to 12 41 C E. During his life as a law speaker, Snorri had access to previous works of history and poetry that he recorded through his travels (Prose Edda 11 to 12). The Poetic Edda is apocryphal, but believed to have been written in 12 70 C E, and is contained in the larger work The Codex Regius (Larrington 11). Nearly all of the primary source documents are incomplete. As a result, the contemporary understanding of the Prose Edda and Poetic Edda are both supplemented by cross referencing one another, as well as drawing reference from the Codex Upsaliensis, Codex Trajectinu and the Codex Wormianus (Prose Edda 34). In the prelude of the Prose Edda, we are presented with an insightful commentary on the Norse views of the earth. Snorri Sturleson wrote: [The Norse] understand that the earth is alive and has a life of its own... It gives birth to all living things and claims ownership over all that dies. For this reason, they gave it a name and traced their origins to it. (Prose Edda 2) The Icelandic people serve as an excellent example of a culture that had evolved and practiced a polytheistic religion with a critical link to the environment, prior to their Christian conversion. While they recognized the significance of the earth, it serves primarily as a representation and an allusion to their greater appreciation for the natural world. Renger 3 There is no better demonstration in the Eddas of the reverence for the natural world then the world tree, Ygdrasil. Not only does Ygdrasil serve as one of the central reoccurring figures, but it serves to frame many of the most significant events. Thomas Carlyl describes this representation of Ygdrasil in the Eddas best when he wrote, "Its boughs, with their budding and disleafings, - events, things suffered, things done, catastrophes, stretch through all lands and times. Is not every leaf of it a biography, every fiber there an act or word? Its boughs are Histories of Nations"(Nixon.) This speaks to the role of Yggdrasil as the source of the greatest feats of learning in the Norse mythologies. The actual importance of Ygdrasil is clearly demonstrated in the Gylfaginning, the second section of the Prose Edda where it explicitly stated as the most sacred of places, and the court of the gods (Prose Edda 25). However, the theme of being linked to pivotal points of the eddic stories goes far beyond Ygdrasil's pronounced title as the most sacred of places. There are three major roles that Ygdrasil serves in the mythologies beyond the court of the gods. The first is that of the site of two of the sacrifices of Odin. At the base of Ygdrasil, at the well of Mimir, Odin sacrifices his eye for a sip from the well of knowledge (Prose Edda 24). Odin's second sacrifice, is told by Odin in the Poetic Edda's "Song of the High Ones," "I know that I hung on a windy tree nine long nights "(Larrington 34). By being a crucial element in two of the most character defining moments of the central deity of the Norse mythology, it can be inferred that Ygdrasil is of great significance. The Second major role of Ygdrasil is in defining itself as a location of ecological processes. This is seen through the description of Ygdrasil itself. Ygdrasil is defined as spanning the realms of the heavens, the living and the dead. It supports a vast array of life: the eagle, The squirrel, Ratatosk, the four harts, Dain, Dvalin, Duneyr and Durathor. Most Renger 4 specificall y it is site d a s bein g th e mooring s o f th e world , th e foo d fo r th e animal s an d strongl y tie d t o th e origi n o f all fres h water . Thi s is see n i n "Grimnir' s Sayings " o f th e Poetic Edda, Heidru n is th e goat' s name , wh o stand s o n Fathe r o f Hosts ' hal l An d graze s Laerad's superscript 1 superscript 9 Laerad is an alternate name for Ygdrasil (Larrington 270). branches; She will till a vat of shinning mead, That liquor cannot ever diminish. Eikthyrnir is the hart's name, who stands on Father of Hosts' hall And grazes from Laerad's branches; And from his horns liquid drips into Hvergelmir, From thense all waters have their flowing. (Larrington 55) By demonstrating that Ygdrasil is the root of all of the ecological processes in the Eddas, and the foundation of the world itself, Ygdrasil has become recognized not only as a metaphor for the environment, but a further demonstration to the values attributed to the natural environment. The final role of Ygdrasil is in the Eddas discussion of Ragnarok, the Norse equivalent of the apocalypse. In the Eddas, Ygdrasil will serve as the vehicle of salvation for mankind as the world, Aesir and frost giants die around them (Larrington 47). This could be argued to demonstrate that the Norse mythology argued that the only means of salvation from self imposed destruction is through the environment. With the idea that the great ash, Fraxinus excelsior, is the common representation of Ygdrasil, it can be extrapolated the ash is a representation which serves as both the iconic image of Norse mythology and the representation of the environment itself. However, there is an alarming real world concern for the Ash of northern Europe. In 1992, scientists identified Chalara fraxinea, a fungal disease which was spreading through the forests of northern Europe (Science 586). While its origins are unknown, its effects are very clear. With nearly 90 percent of the native ash population of Denmark infected, Chalara fraxinea stands to nearly remove Fraxinus excelsior from the landscape of one of the countries which used to revere the Ygdrasil imagery Renger 5 (Eppo). An eco- critic could then provoke the conversation, is Ygdrasil a real tree somewhere? Though with pale bark, dark leaves and small black berries, we are presented with a species that feels only slightly removed from the Gods' Wood of George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones (Martin 19); No, when all has been said, we have still been examining a metaphor. While Ygdrasil is represented as Fraxinus excelsior, the ash of today is not the site of Odin's ritualistic supernatural suicide. They are large deciduous trees that are wider than they are tall. They grow quickly, and are appreciated for their landscape uses. They remain merely a tree. So, somewhere on a frozen landscape, the real world representation of the Ygdrasil dies. Thousands of trees dying from a disease that came from human imports are not the whole of the problem. The problem is that we are unaware or simply don't care. We can find a different deciduous tree that will continue the aesthetic, but what will be lost is so much more than that. There is a history, a culture and a religion that surrounds these trees. People huddled in their turf homes, in long ages past, passing centuries old stories on to their children. The purpose of this examination was not with the goal of advocating the ash, but on a much more important note, to advocate for the environment on the whole. Carlyl argued, "The Yggdrasil becomes a trope, a stand-in, a representation, of all things Icelandic ... spiritual, governmental, heroic, historical" (Nixon). I agree, but further extrapolate that it must also be understood that the representation is environmental. The environment is spiritual, governmental, heroic and historical. These trees, these stories and our environment when destroyed can never be replaced. We must study them, understand them, and give them the time, attention and respect they deserve; for, what they can add to a history of the world, a history that demonstrates a respect and understanding for the environment, is worth preserving. Renger 6 Bibliography Bidney, Martin. "Leviathan, Yggdrasil, Earth- Titan, Eagle: Bal'mont's Reimagining of Walt Whitman." The Slavic and East European Journal, Volume 34, Number 2 (Summer, 1990). pages 176 to 191 Brand, Mark H. "Fraxinus excelsior." U Conn Plant Database. University of Conneticut. Accessed: December 8, 2012. angle bracket h t t p colon forward slash forward slash w w w dot h o r t dot u conn dot e d u forward slash plantsforward slashf forward slash f r a e x c forward slash f r a e x c 1 dot h t ml angle bracket. Byock, Jesse. The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology. Penguin Classics, January 31, 2006. Byock, Jesse. "Saga Form, Oral Prehistory, and the Icelandic Social Context." New Literary History 16 1984 to 1985 : 153 to 173. Byock, Jesse. "Social Memory and the Sagas: The Case of Egils saga." Scandinavian Studies." 76 forward slash 3 (2004), 299 to 316. Dodd, Elizabeth Caroline. "The Scribe in the Woods." Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction. Volume 8 Number 1 (Spring, 2006) pages 9 to 23. Eson, Lawrence. "Odin and Merlin: Threefold Death and the World Tree." Western Folklore. Volume 69, Number 1. (2010): 85 to 108. Gerrard, Greg. Ecocriticism. New York, N Y.: Routledge, 2004. Print. Glotfelty, Cheryll. The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. (1996) University of Georgia Press. Haymes, Edward. "The Germanic Heldenlied and the Poetic Edda: Speculations on Preliterary History." Oral Tradition, Volume 19 Number 1 (March, 2004): pages 43 to 62. Johnson, Loretta. "Greening the Library: The Fundamentals and Future of Ecocriticism." Choice. Dec 2009. Renger 7 Martin, George R. R.. A Game of Thrones. New York, Bantham Books. 1996. Book. Nixon, Jude V. "Thomas Carlyle's Igdrasil." Carlyle Studies Annual Volume 25 (2009). pages 49 to 61. Schnurbein, Stefanie. "The Function of Loki in Snorri Sturluson's 'Edda.'" History of Religions, Volume 40, Number 2. (Nov., 2000): pages 109 to 124. Winterbourne, Anthony. When the Norns Have Spoken: Time and Fate in Germanic Paganism, Madison, N J, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2004. "Workshop on Chalara fraxinea." European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization. Editors of website. June 6, 2010. Accessed: November 22, 2012. angle bracket h t t p colon forward slash forward slash archives dot e p p o dot i n t forward slash MEETINGS forward slash 2010 underscore conferences forward slash chalara underscore oslo dot h t mangle bracket.