Balder Dead is a narrative poem with powerful tragic themes, first published in 1855 by Matthew Arnold.
[1] The evil Loki was quickly punished for murdering Balder by being exiled from Asgard.
Still, it remains for the gods - the Æsir and the Vanir dwelling in Asgard - to bury and to mourn their dead.
Partly out of desperate grief - and partly in defiance of the harshness of the Norns or fates: Odin begs Hermod to ride his own steed, Sleipnir, down to Hell and beg Hela to release Balder.
Loki himself undertakes to frustrate the Æsir's hopes: appearing as an ugly hag in Middle Earth, he refuses to mourn for Balder - thus breaking Hela's stipulated conditions.