Old Norse poetry encompasses a range of verse forms written in
Old NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
, during the period from the 8th century (see
Eggjum stoneThe Eggja stone is a grave stone that was ploughed up in 1917 on the farm Eggja in Sogn og Fjordane in Norway....
) to as late as the far end of the 13th century. Most of the Old Norse poetry that survives was preserved in
IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...
, but there are also 122 preserved poems in Swedish
rune inscriptionsThe runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages prior to the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter...
, 54 in Norwegian and 12 in Danish
http://skaldic.arts.usyd.edu.au/db.php?table=poems.
Poetry played an important role in the social and religious world of the
VikingA Viking is one of the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century. These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far...
s. In
Norse mythologyNorse, North Germanic, or Scandinavian mythology comprises the myths of North Germanic pre-Christian religion.Most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled in medieval Iceland in Old Norse, notably as the Edda....
,
SkáldskaparmálThe second part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda the Skáldskaparmál or "language of poetry" is effectively a dialogue between the Norse god of the sea, Ægir and Bragi, the god of poetry, in which both Norse mythology and discourse on the nature of poetry are intertwined...
(1) tells the story of how
OdinOdin , is considered the chief god in Norse paganism and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon Wōden and the Old High German Wotan, it is descended from Proto-Germanic *Wōđinaz or *Wōđanaz.The name Odin is generally accepted as the modern translation; although, in some cases, older...
brought the
mead of poetryIn Norse mythology, the Mead of Poetry , also known as Mead of Suttungr , is a mythical beverage that whoever "drinks becomes a skald or scholar" to recite any information and solve any question. This myth was reported by Snorri Sturluson ...
to
AsgardIn Norse mythology, Asgard is the country or capital city of the Norse Gods surrounded by an incomplete wall attributed to a Hrimthurs riding the stallion Svadilfari, according to Gylfaginning...
, which is an indicator of the significance of poetry within the contemporary Scandinavian culture.
Old Norse poetry is characterised by
alliterationAlliteration is a literary or rhetorical stylistic device that consists in repeating the same consonant sound at the beginning of several words in close succession...
, a poetic vocabulary expanded by
heitiA heiti is a synonym used in Old Norse poetry in place of the normal word for something...
, and use of kennings. An important source of information about poetic forms in Old Norse is the
Prose EddaThe Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda or simply Edda, is an Old Norse language Icelandic collection of four sections interspersed with excerpts from earlier skaldic and Eddic poetry containing tales from Norse mythology...
of
Snorri SturlusonSnorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...
.
Old Norse poetry is conventionally, and somewhat arbitrarily, split into two types;
Eddaic poetryThe Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends.Codex Regius was written in the...
(also sometimes known as
Eddic poetry) and skaldic poetry. Eddaic poetry includes the poems of the
Codex RegiusCodex Regius is an Icelandic manuscript in which the Poetic Edda is preserved. It is made up of 45 vellum leaves, thought to have been written in the 1270s. It originally contained a further 8 leaves, which are now missing...
and a few other similar ones. Skaldic poetry is usually defined as everything else not already mentioned.
Metrical forms
Old Norse poetry has many metrical forms. They range from the relatively simple fornyrðislag to the deeply complex dróttkvætt, the "courtly metre".
In Eddic poetry, the metric structures are generally simple, and are almost invariably ljóðaháttr or fornyrðislag. Ljóðaháttr, (known also as the "metre of chants"), because of its structure, which comprises broken stanzas, lends itself to dialogue and discourse. Fornyrðislag, "the metre of ancient words", is the more commonly used of the two, and is generally used where the poem is largely narrative. It is composed with four or more syllables per line. Other metrical forms include
- Málaháttr
Málaháttr is a poetic metre in Old Norse poetry, which is usually described as "conversational style". It is similar to fornyrðislag except in that there are more syllables in a line, usually five....
is similar to fornyrðislag, but with a fixed metrical length of five syllables.
- Hrynhenda, a variant of dróttkvætt, which uses all the rules of dróttkvætt, with the exception that the line comprises four metrical feet rather than three.
- Kviðuháttr, another variant of fornyrðislag with alternating lines of 3 and 4 syllables
- Galdralag, the "magic spell metre", which contains a fourth line which echoes and varies the third line
Eddaic poetry
Main article: Poetic EddaThe Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends.Codex Regius was written in the...
The Eddaic poems have the following characteristics.
- The author is always anonymous.
- The meter is simple, fornyrðislag, málaháttr or ljóðaháttr.
- The word order is usually relatively straightforward.
- Kennings are used sparingly and opaque ones are rare.
Skaldic poetry
Main article: Skaldic poetry
The skaldic poems have the following characteristics.
- The author is usually known.
- The meter is ornate, usually dróttkvætt or a variation thereof.
- The syntax is ornate, with sentences commonly interwoven.
- Kennings are used frequently.