Indeed Matt, I would love to read that pdf. I've PMed you. Many thanks.
Obviously I will never convince anyone who is determined not to be convinced, and please note that I am not here for a holmgang. On my part this remains conjecture, but here are some further thoughts.
It is a commonplace that a blackbird sings a joyful (blithe) song while it is still dark.
It is unusual that an uncitified Corvus will make a racket in the dead of night (even more unusual that it "sings") and when something unusual occurs in a poem it has significance. Like the scholar quoted in Post #4 and the one Matt mentioned in #28, I would expect an unusual occurrence in an epic work of this kind to be interpreted as an omen, although in my reasoning it would be not be a good omen but a bad omen. Unlike them I do not think it is literary or logical that the raven cry "reinforces the edwenden in the condition of the Danes". This is pretzel-like reasoning; surely a turn for the better would be symbolized by a bird or animal known to represent good fortune. (Note, I haven't yet read the full line of reasoning of either.)
If the bard intended a bad omen, I would expect him to exploit it further with a line or two to set up some suspense for the listener. (On such tricks is poetry built.) Something like:
That great heart rested. The hall towered,
gold-shingled and gabled, and the guest slept in it
until the black raven with raucous glee
shattered the joy and his hurry of darkness
reined in the bright globe's rising.
or
Beneath golden gables the great-hearted guest
dozed until dawn in the high-roofed hall,
when the black raven blithely foretold
how Daeghrefn haggled for Hygelac's dark fate.
Hell lies under heaven.
Or something more poetic, but you get my drift.
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