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"The Descent of Odin"

    • Archive Work ID: poems.dooo
    • Uniform Title: "The Descent of Odin" [e-text]
    • First Line: Uprose the King of Men with speed,
    • Language: English
    • First Published: 1768
    • References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 32-34; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 220-228
    • Summary: Written at London in 1761, the paraphrase of the original Icelandic is based largely on a Latin translation from Bartholinus. First published in Poems (1768).

    5 Manuscripts:

      • Archive MS ID: mss.0036 (Source: EAD/XML)
      • Title: "Ode (from the Norse-tongue) in Bartholinus, de causis contemnendae mortis. Hafniae. 1689. 4to"
      • Date: [1?] February 1768
      • Physical Description: 3 pages, 324 mm x 200 mm; autograph fair copy
      • Language: English
      • Location: Add. MS 38511, ff. 5v-6v, Manuscripts Collection, British Library, London, UK <http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/bldept/manuscr/>
      • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 28, 81; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 414; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=140501>
      • Contents: Autograph fair copy, here entitled "Ode (from the Norse-tongue) in Bartholinus, de causis contemnendae mortis. Hafniae. 1689. 4to", followed by the first line of the original poem "Upreis Odinn allda gautr &c:", including explanatory notes, used as printer's copy for Poems (1768), in MS instructions to Dodsley, sent in a letter, [1?] February 1768.

      • Archive MS ID: mss.0037 (Source: EAD/XML)
      • Title: [untitled]
      • Date: 1 February 1768
      • Physical Description: [3?] pages, 324 mm x 200 mm; autograph
      • Language: English
      • Location: Modern (Bound) Manuscripts, Vol. 52, Robert H. Taylor Collection of English and American Literature, Princeton University Library, Princeton, NJ, USA <http://rbsc.princeton.edu/>
      • Alternate Form: Facsimile, showing the beginning (37 lines) of the autograph, on page six of the MS Instructions, the upper three-fourths of which are reproduced, in Smith (ed.), Index (1989), no. 5, following p. xvii, where it is described
      • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 29, 81; Heist, Michael, "RE: Modern (Bound) Manuscripts, vol.52, Robert H. Taylor Collection". E-mail to the editor, 11 January 2007
      • Contents: Autograph, untitled but numbered 8. and identified from the table of contents as "8. The Descent of Odin (from the Norse-tounge)", and headed "From Bartholinus, De causis contemnendae mortis. Hafniae. 1689. 4to. Upreis Odinn Allda gautr &c:", beginning "Up rose the King...", and including a note, in MS Instructions to Beattie for the 1768 Glasgow edition, originally sent in a letter, 1 February 1768.
      • Separated Material: The letter in which these instructions were originally sent is now at Historic Collections, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.

      • [MS image]Archive MS ID: mss.0038 (Source: EAD/XML)
      • Title: [untitled]
      • Date: 1761
      • Physical Description: 2 pages; autograph fair copy
      • Language: English
      • Location: GBR/1058/GRA/1, Commonplace Book, Vol. III, 1069-1070, College Library, Pembroke College, Cambridge, Cambridge, UK <http://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/>
      • Alternate Form: Microfilm copy available in Poetic Commonplace Books and Manuscripts of Thomas Gray, 1716-1771, from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1999), reel one
      • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 30, 81; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 30; Martin, Chronologie (1931), 147
      • Contents: Autograph fair copy, here beginning "Up rose the King...", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. III, 1069-1070. The Latin text of Vegtams Kvitha from Bartholinus is on p. 1043.
      • Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.


      • Archive MS ID: mss.0224 (Source: EAD/XML)
      • Title: "The Descent of Odin, an Ode. (from the Norse-Tongue) in Bartholinus de causis contemnendae mortis; Hafniae, 1689, Quarto"
      • Date: 1780[?]
      • Physical Description: 10 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
      • Language: English
      • Location: MS Add. 439, "Poems" section, 83-92, The Archives, York Minster Library & Archives, York, UK <https://yorkminster.org/treasures-and-collections.html>
      • Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "The Descent of Odin, an Ode" (p. 83) ("Ode. IX." [p. 85]), followed by the first line of the original poem. The poem, which includes Gray's notes to ll. 4 and 90 (with Mason's addition), is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.

Contents

Manuscripts