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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 23 OF THE
HAVAMAL
Auden & Taylor:
Foolish is he who frets at night, And
lies awake to worry' A weary man when morning comes, He
finds all as bad as before,
Bellows:
The witless man | is awake all
night, Thinking of many things; Care-worn he is | when the
morning comes, And his woe is just as it was.
Bray:
The unwise man is awake all night, and
ponders everything over; when morning comes he is weary in mind,
and all is a burden as ever.
Chisholm:
The stupid man lies awake all night and
thinks about everything and is tired in the morning though all
is as it was.
Hollander:
The unwise man waketh all night, thinking
of this and that- tosses, sleepless, and is tired at morn: nor
lighter for that is load.
Terry:
A stupid man stays awake all
night pondering his problems; he's worn out when morning
comes and whatever was, still is.
Thorpe:
A foolish man is all night
awake, pondering over everything; he than grows tired; and
when morning comes, all is lament as before.
DISCUSSION AND
ANALYSIS OF STANZA 23
I think this stanza is probably one of the
most brilliant in the whole collection of wisdom we call the
Havamal. But, I may think that because I use this stanza
so much.
The fool stays awake all night worrying about
his problems, and in the morning he's tired...and his problems have
not changed
at all.
At the most basic level, this could be taken
as advice about getting some good sleep, and not allowing your
problems to keep you awake. Because, the stanza is
true...losing sleep worrying is not going to make your problems
go away.
Looking a little deeper though, the stanza is
talking about how problems actually get solved. Problems are
only solved by facing them and doing something about them.
Fretting, worrying, and wringing your hands does
absolutely nothing.
I think any problem can be faced and you can
do something about every problem. You maybe can't
completely solve every problem, but there is at least something you
can do about
any situation.
Example: A friend betrays you.
Now, you may not be able to make the betrayal go away...or salvage
the friendship. So some may say you can't really solve that
problem. But, when you decide that you don't want to be
friends with someone that betrayed you...and take action on that
decision in order to protect yourself and your family, you are
doing something.
Now, that's just my perspective. I
don't like the idea that there is anything in this world you can't
face and do something about if you choose to
do so.
At least once a week I remind myself of this
stanza...and at least once with each of my children, I've had to
give them the advice in this stanza. It is incredibly
practical advice.
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