Lokasenna (Old Norse: 'The Flyting of Loki', or 'Loki's Verbal Duel')[1][2] is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda. The poem presents flyting between the gods and Loki. It is written in the ljóðaháttr metre, typical for wisdom verse. Lokasenna is believed to be a 10th-century poem.[3]
Loki, amongst other things, accuses the gods of moralistic sexual impropriety, the practice of seiðr (sorcery), and bias. Not ostensibly the most serious of allegations, these elements are, however, said ultimately to lead to the onset of Ragnarök in the Eddic poem Völuspá. However, Lokasenna does not directly state that Loki's binding is as a consequence of the killing of Baldr. This is explicitly stated only in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda.
Lee M. Hollander, in his introduction to his translation of the poem, claims that it was in no sense a popular lay and suggests we should not necessarily believe that the accusations of the "sly god" were an accepted part of the lore.
- ^ Orchard 1997, p. 104.
- ^ Lindow 2002, p. 214.
- ^ Norse Mythology A-Z p. 112