REVIEWER: Patrick Killough (killswan@charter.net), in search of Walter Scott's later poetic echoes, March 3, 2007,

REVIEWER'S RATING: * * * * FOUR STARS (Recommended)

Review TITLE: Why and How a wild medieval Anglo-Dane became Christian


I recently read a two sentence summary of Sir Walter Scott's Six Canto narrative poem, HAROLD THE DAUNTLESS (1817). It ran something like this:
A Danish girl named Aivir dresses like a boy, calls herself Gunnar and becomes the page of Harold the Dauntless. When he learns she is a girl, Harold marries her.

To unpack that capsule: Aivir's mother had been Harold's childhood nurse. She had powers of good magic. Foreseeing that the fates of Aivir and Harold were intertwined, she cast a spell that made everyone think her daughter was a boy. The girl as boy could then travel the world with a Viking hero without impropriety.

Harold sprang from a long line of Viking raiders of Scotland, Ireland, France and especially northeast England. His father Count Witikind the Waster had seized land south of Scotland, burned churches and terrorized his neighbors. A weak Anglo-Saxon king had ceded him land in exchange for peace. As he aged, Witikind repented his sins and agreed with the Bishop of Durham to be baptized in return for acknowledging the bishop as his liege lord.

That betrayal of Danish heritage and the old gods irritated enormously the Count's young son Harold the Dauntless, already famous for his berserker rages, cruelty and devotion to the war gods Odin and Zernebock. So Harold leaves home in a huff. He is followed by a notably girl-like boy named Gunnar who persuades the older man to take him on as a page. Together they roam the world as far as Greece and the Holy Land, with Harold the Dauntless wading through blood and Gunnar primly averting his gaze. Eventually, they head home to England and the rivers Tyne and Wear.

Not too long before, Count Witikind the Waster had died. His ghost is doomed to wander between the worlds until his son repents and accepts baptism. His shade (without revealing who he is) appears twice to Harold in the form of a pilgrim or palmer and blames Harold's lifestyle for making the dead miserable.

Meanwhile, Durham has a new bishop and he gives away Witikind's feudal holdings to two Christian nobles.

Newly arrived at home, Harold has encountered Metelill, the most beautiful and gentle Saxon girl who ever lived. He immediately decides to marry her. She, however, is in love with the Saxon Baron William. So her archer father and witch mother (Jutta) slow Harold's rush to marriage by provoking a quarrel with the church about his inheritance. Harold bursts into a meeting at the cathedral, throws down the heads of the two knights to whom the bishop had granted the lands of Witikind and demands the bishop ratify his claim. Once again delaying tactics are proposed:
 
-- give a banquet and try to get Harold drunk and imprison him,

-- or slip him three drops of poison

-- or send him to the Castle of Seven Shields to survive one night in a chamber where 200 years earlier a good king had slain seven evil sisters.

Harold endures the banquet, carries off with him a poisoned flasklet of 'medicine' which he is told will bring the dead back to life and sets off on his quest.

En route he sees the ghost of the pilgrim, who says Harold will soon be given his last chance to repent and show mercy. If he doesn't take it, he is doomed to hell.

Shortly afterward Harold and Gunnar see below them the wedding procession of Metelill and Baron William. Enraged, Harold crushes Metelill's archer father with a giant boulder, disarms William and is about to kill him. But Gunnar recalls to his lord the ghost's words and begs Harold to show mercy. Harold is taken up short, makes the sign of the cross and walks away from future slaughter. But he has dropped his flasklet. Jutta the witch takes it up and dies a horrible death.

Harold and Gunnar spend a night in the enchanted castle. Harold sees the pilgrim ghost in a dream, learns it is his father Witikind the one time Waster and that Gunnar is really Aivir, a girl who loves him. Leaving the castle, Harold remembers that he has left his gauntlet behind in the murder chamber. He sends Gunnar/Aivir to fetch it. He hears her scream and rushes back to find her in the clutches of the Norse god Odin who demands Harold's loyalty. Harold remains loyal to his new Christian God and dissolves the old pagan god with his mace.

Harold and Aivir return to Durham where he will be baptized and marry on the same day. He tells Aivir that this is only fair: she had adopted his life, now he chooses her for her Christian after-life.

HAROLD THE DAUNTLESS was Sir Walter Scott's last long poem. He felt that he had been dethroned by Lord Byron as Europe's most popular narrative poet. From now on Scott devoted himself to his wildly popular novels.

The poem's verses are very musical. Some of their content and manner, in my opinion, echo later in John Henry Newman's THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS and Stephen Vincent Benet's JOHN BROWN'S BODY.

You can skim through HAROLD THE DAUNTLESS in an hour or less. Afterwards, savor it at leisure. Go back and read favorite passages aloud. -OOO-

Also recommended: Sir Walter Scott, THE PIRATE.
John Henry Newman, THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS.
Also Edward Elgar's THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS (as directed by Sir John Barbaroli).
Stephen Vincent Benet, JOHN BROWN'S BODY.
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II.  Review for amazon.com

Here is your review the way it will appear:

Reviewer's Recommendation **** (FOUR STARS: RECOMMENDED)

Review Title: Sir Walter Scott's 1817 Farewell to Long Narrative Poetry

In 1817 Sir Walter Scott bade farewell to long narrative poems. He lowered his flag before Byron's CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE. Perhaps, through his title, paying subconscious tribute to his admired rival, Scott penned HAROLD THE DAUNTLESS.

Hardly any poem or tale can be by Walter Scott without also being "framed," i.e., with an outline drawn around its main text as a baffle between Scott as real narrator and his published words. In the case of HAROLD the frame is thematic: "Ennui, -- or, as our mothers call'd thee, Spleen."

Scott presents his poem as a trifle, a little nothing to be read to while away idle boredom of an evening. He uses that notion of ennui or spleen to pay tribute to other writers, especially Maria Edgeworth, author of her own novel ENNUI, and Alexander Pope's bored wandering hero Paridel. Scott uses the offhand nature of his poem as being nothing more than simple relief from boredom to justify his not having attached to it his customary massive apparatus of notes and glossary.

Would that he had! There is a lot of history and folklore in HAROLD that awaits a modern critical edition to make this poem easily intelligible to busy readers.

The story is about Harold, a young Anglo-Dane in northeastern England. He comes from a long line of pagan Danish seafarers and pirates. Harold's father, Witikind the Waster, had extorted lands in north England near Scotland from a weak Saxon king. In old age he had turned Christian and now held his lands as a fief of the Saxon bishop of Durham.

Harold despised his father for turning Christian and stormed off into a life of adventure and rapine that led him as far as the Holy Land. Attached to him was a young girl-like page named Gunnar, the child of Harold's childhood nanny.

Witikind died but could not rest in peace so long as Harold was a murderous, sinful pagan. In the guise of a pilgrim he began to appear to his son and chided him for his bad life. Harold and Gunnar returned home, where he fell in love with a Saxon girl who did not love him. The church made it almost impossible for Harold to reclaim his father's lands. But he did so in the end, turning Christian after his father revealed himself to him and persuaded him to repent and show mercy in a dream in the evil Castle of the Seven Shields.

Harold and Gunnar were there on a quest the Bishop had imposed upon Harold. In that dream Harold visited the realms of the dead, saw some of his recent victims and learned from his father that his young, faithful page Gunnar was really a girl named Aivir. Her mother, a good witch, had known that the fates of Aivir and Harold were intertwined. So she cast a spell making Aivir appear the boy Gunnar to preserve the proprieties when man and master shared outdoor bunks and lived together for years of adventuring.

Aivir persuades Harold to spare the lover of the Saxon girl. Harold does so, making the sign of the cross and resolving to follow Christ. He has a final encounter, however, with the Norse war god Odin, is tempted to resume his old life as a berserker but attacks and dissolves Odin.

Harold and Aivir return to Durham. On the same day Harold is baptized and they are married. She once followed Harold's life; now he follows her

" ... in the line
Of after-life ..."

HAROLD THE DAUNTLESS is more fairy tale than history. It is surprising that among the composers of 85 operas derived from Sir Walter Scott, there has yet to appear a British Wagner to tackle HAROLD. -OOO-

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III. Review for epinions.com

TITLE OF THIS REVIEW: In England a Rampaging Danish Berserker forsakes Odin for Jesus

by aohcapablanca, Mar 3 '07

Readers of Sir Walter Scott generally find editions with glossaries of the lowland Scots language of Scott, Robert Burns, James Hogg and others. Readers often come across, as well, editions with elaborate notes explaining the history and geography of the settings of Scott's poems or novels.

Not so for Scott's last long poem, HAROLD THE DAUNTLESS, published in 1817. The text, fortunately, is in standard English, not Scots, but is studded with a fair number of archaisms such as eld, palfrey and aroint.

The tale unfolds in six cantos of fast moving iambic pentameter or tetrameter verse. The age depicted is long ago, yet not a "real" time. Saxons are still ruling England. But the Norman Durham Cathedral is already completed. England has a generally Christian population. There are, however, also scattered tumultuous Danes to whom Saxon kings too weak to expel them have granted permanent settlement as peaceful vassals.

The story is about Harold, son of Count Witikind the Waster of noble Danish strain, grandson of royal Eric, none of them people you would invite to tea.

CANTO ONE: Rampaging Count Witikind made peace with a bishop of Durham and accepted land more or less in return for being baptized. When son Harold learned of the conversion from their ancestral religion, he renounced his father and left home. His faithful page "flaxen-hair'd Gunnar" stole a horse and rode after his master.

{NOTE: Reader, keep your eye on that girlish page!}

Gunnar's mother Ermengarde had been Harold's nurse. Ermengarde possessed magical powers (including "glamour" or the power to make a person misperceive another person's shape). Her last command to Gunnar was to follow Harold everywhere. And that pair wandered the world together for years.

Count Witikind died as did the old bishop of Durham. The new "haughty Saxon" Bishop Aldingar told his cathedral chapter that he would not confirm title to Witikind's lands on his pagan son Harold.

CANTO TWO: Returned to his English homeland "on the Tyne and the Wear," Harold encounters in the woods the beauteous Saxon Metelill. She loves Lord William of Wilton. Harold proposes marriage through her parents, the great archer Wulfstane of Rokehope and his witch wife Jutta. Jutta's eyes hurl a curse on Harold that bounces off. She then invokes the Norse god Zernebock. That god urges involving  Harold in a dispute with the church: an earthy combat paralleling the much higher battle now going on for Harold's soul.

CANTO THREE: One day Harold is calm and open to reason. His gentle page Gunnar makes the case in song for less rage and fury in Harold's approach to life. He also suggests that Metelill is not the right mate for Harold. Gunnar suggests instead a Danish maid for Harold.

CANTO FOUR: Harold the Dauntless appears uninvited at the Bishop's chapter and demands his father's lands. He throws down the severed heads of his two Christian rivals for the lands. Varied counsel is offered the bishop; all are tried and all fail.

CANTO FIVE: Harold accepts the bishop's challenge to spend one night in the accursed Castle of Seven Shields. If he survives, Harold will take possession of massive treasure there, where 200 years ago a good king had slain seven evil sisters who lusted for him. En route, Harold beholds a wraith in the shape of a pilgrim. Harold is told that his unrepentance is disturbing the slumber of the dead.

Harold replies that he acts like a wolf to sheep because is the way all good Danes act. The phantom says that Harold will be given one last chance to repent and save both himself and his father. When next tempted to rage and slaughter, Harold must hold his hand.

Then Harold sees a wedding procession. Metelill, accompanied by mother, father and lover Baron William, is on her way to be married. Harold goes berserk. He heaves a giant boulder and crushes Metelill's father.  Poised to kill Baron William, Harold is restrained by his page Gunnar who reminds him of the specter's words and begs mercy for William.

This is the crisis of repentance the Palmer had foretold. Harold calms himself, makes the sign of the cross and walks away, sparing lives. He glares however at those he has spared.
 
CANTO SIX: Harold and Gunnar enter the fiend-built towers at evening. In the seventh chamber they find the remains of the lustful seven brides. The two sleep through the night unscathed. At dawn Harold makes them leave the castle in haste. His sleep had been disturbed.

He reports that he had seen the recent dead being brought into hell, including the parents of the fair Metelill. Three  armed knights had then come on to welcome him in Odin's name.  They fled, however, when the spectral pilgrim made another appearance. Harold tells his page that the pilgrim revealed that he was Harold's father and that the page is really a girl, Eivir, whose mother had framed a disguise for her daughter which would allow the page never to be parted from Harold's side.

Then the war god Odin himself appeared and defied Harold to turn his back on the only gods who could give him the pleasure of drinking an enemy's blood from his skull. But Harold remains true to Christ and drives Odin into the mists.

Harold realizes that he loves Eivir. He tells her that she had faithfully followed Harold's way of "life." So it is only fair that Harold now follow Eivir's way of "after-life." Tomorrow at Durham Cathedral he will be christened and then marry Eivir.

That may be more plot than you need. But it makes you wonder why no one made an opera of it. There are, after all, 85 operas based on Walter Scott stories. If you haven't yet acquired a taste for Viking tales, you might want to warm up for HAROLD THE DAUNTLESS by reading THE KING OF VINLAND'S SAGA (1998) by Stuart W. Mirsky.
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COMMENTS: There are striking literary echoes here, I think.

The ghost of Harold's father explicitly recalls the ghost of Hamlet's father.

Later literary echoes of HAROLD THE DAUNTLESS include:

--John Henry Newman (who in youth had rated Scott's IVANHOE the greatest work since Shakespeare) in THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS presents a 900+ verse account of a soul's movement from death through brief but searing beatific vision to a cooling spell in purgatory. Harold versus the knights of hell and in arms against the god Odin foreshadows Gerontius's final encounter with the laughing devils just outside heaven. Be sure to listen to the 300 verse abbreviation set to music by Edward Elgar. Any performance conducted by Sir John Barbaroli will do.

--in Evelyn Waugh's BRIDESHEAD REVISITED, on his deathbed the hitherto unrepenting sinner Lord Marchmain signifies contrition by a silent sign of the cross.

--And it is hard to miss in JOHN BROWN'S BODY, his epic of the American civil war, Stephen Vincent Benet's admiration for Scott's rhythms.

Read HAROLD THE DAUNTLESS for its rhymes, varied rhythms, images, reflections and imaginative effort to capture an age when Europe was climbing out of superstition and the Dark Ages. -OOO-

Pros:
Fast moving verses. Sheer delight to read aloud. Snappy, memorable two-liners about life and fate.

Cons:
More fantasy than history. The edition needs but lacks textual notes. An offbeat romance.

The Bottom Line:
Read HAROLD for its rhythm, color and reflections on life, fate and why one religion gives way to another. An introduction to the "Viking Revival" now flowing all around us.

Overall Product Rating:
* * * *   Above Average

Recommended:
Yes

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