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The
discussion and analysis presented after these
translated stanzas is our
opinion. Read the translations for yourself and our analysis, but also seek
out varied sources and come to your own conclusions.
STANZA 18 OF THE
HAVAMAL
Auden & Taylor:
He who has seen and suffered much, And
knows the ways of the world, Who has traveled', can tell what
spirit Governs the men he meets,
Bellows:
He alone is aware | who has wandered
wide, And far abroad has fared, How great a mind | is guided
by him That wealth of wisdom has.
Bray:
He knows alone who has wandered wide, and
far has fared on the way, what manner of mind a man doth own
who is wise of head and heart.
Chisholm:
He alone knows, who has wandered
widely and has fared over the fells what mind stirs in each
man if he himself has wits.
Hollander:
Only he is aware who hath wandered
much, and far hath been afield; what manner of man be he whom
he meets, if himself be not wanting in wit.
Terry:
A man must go to many places, travel
widely in the world, before he is wise enough to see the
workings of other men's minds.
Thorpe:
He alone knows who wanders wide, and
has much experienced, by what disposition each man is
ruled, who common sense possesses.
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
OF STANZA 18
Coulter's translation of the Havamal is not
shared on our website due to copyright protection. But, here
is his translation of
Stanza 18:
Only he who has been many places, and
seen many things Knows how to judge the people he meets- If
he himself
isn’t dull-witted.
Basically, only those who have traveled many
places and seen many things, learn to judge other men's minds
(intentions, character), unless you are a total fool. I think
it is pretty clear that the Havamal has very little good to say
about fools. LOL. If you are a fool or dull-witted, you
could travel around the world ten times...and see a life-time's
worth of travel...and still have
no clue.
Now, it might be tempting to interpret this
stanza to be talking about learning about other cultures, and
learning to appreciate them. In a modern sense, you could
interpret it in this way. Learning about other cultures and
learning to appreciate them is good and positive. That's sort
of the modern multicultural point of view. And that is a good
modern meaning to take from the stanza. I think from a
historical standpoint, that was not an original meaning for the
stanza. I think our ancestors were all about home...all about
innangarth...all about gaining wisdom that would help you advance
your families interest's forward. They did experience other
cultures and learn from them, and saw value in this. But, the
purpose was not to appreciate other cultures. It was to borrow
and steal and learn from everything they did and everywhere they
went, and then this wisdom was brought home to bolster and improve
their own culture...their own way
of life.
It has also been suggested that this stanza
is about gaining street-smarts, as opposed to book-smarts. In
modern heathenry, there is a certain segment of our numbers that
seem to have forgotten that our ancestors didn't have books.
These modern heathens I'm talking about put more stock in books,
than they do in experience. They put more stock in their
interpretation of an obscure stanza in the Eddas, or their
understanding of a contemporary source, or their interpretation of
something from a scholarly work...than they do in actual human
interaction, religious expression, and
practical experience.
Even though the archaeological record is very
limited. Even though the contemporary sources are limited as
well, and very open to interpretation and bias. Even though
our ancestors put more stock in deeds than in words. Despite
all of this, they put more stock in their personal interpretation of
these sources...than they do than learning from actual practice of
our Folkway.
They are certainly welcome to feel that
way. But, this segment of our numbers, has among them a small
subset that attack anyone that doesn't do things exactly like they
do. After all, they have all the answers...because of their
reported "book smarts." I've never met one of these people at
a gathering here in the Midwest, but you can certainly see their
trollish behavior on-line on any
given day.
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