Slow Havamal: 11

In the eleventh verse, wisdom is described as the best burden a traveler can carry. The worst burden is alcohol.

As with verses 8 and 9, verse 11 begins with a repetition of the first half of the preceding verse. Repetition means we should pay careful attention to this advice. It’s a strong technique in poetry, but not so much in essays, so I’ll refer back to my piece on verse 10 for that portion.

The second half is very straightforward. In contrast with wisdom, the worst burden is a pack full of alcohol. I don’t want to rail on the dangers of drinking too much, but it’s clear that Odin wants to get the point across that the more you imbibe, the less wisdom you have at your disposal. I’ll also point out that it doesn’t say, “don’t drink at all.” The vice is drinking to excess. When one’s faculties are impaired, all the other fine practices we read about begin to deteriorate. We are less capable of reading the context and making wise choices with regards to our actions, which is essentially wisdom. And our functions as a benevolent guest get short shrift. There is little to learn when you’re drunk, other than why it might have been a bad idea to drink so much.
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