# Epigraph explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by C. S. Lewis.

## What happens

The epigraph quotes the Havamal, describing Odin's self-sacrifice upon the World Tree, setting a tone of suffering, transcendence, and mystical ordeal.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Divine and the Demonic

Odin's self-sacrifice to himself blurs the line between the divine and the mortal, invoking themes of sacred ordeal and mystical transformation.

### Mortality and Transience

The image of hanging on the Tree 'wounded with the spear' emphasizes physical suffering and the transient nature of life in pursuit of higher knowledge.

## Key lines

> Nine nights I hung upon the Tree, wounded with the spear, as an offering to Odin, myself sacrificed to myself.

I hung for nine nights on the sacred tree, pierced by a spear, offering myself to Odin—a sacrifice where I was both the giver and the receiver.

_This paraphrase clarifies the paradoxical self-sacrifice central to Odin's myth._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_3_se/chapters/epigraph
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_3_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_3_se/chapters