Heather O'Donoghue
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199267323
- eISBN:
- 9780191708305
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267323.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This book is a study of the various relationships between verse and prose in a series of Old Norse-Icelandic saga narratives. It shows how the interplay of skaldic verse, with its metrical intricacy ...
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This book is a study of the various relationships between verse and prose in a series of Old Norse-Icelandic saga narratives. It shows how the interplay of skaldic verse, with its metrical intricacy and cryptic diction; and saga prose, with its characteristic spare clarity, can be used by saga authors to achieve a wide variety of sophisticated stylistic and psychological effects. In sagas, there is a fundamental distinction between the use of verses ostensibly to corroborate what is stated in the narrative, and the use of verses to represent the speech of characters in the narrative. Corroborative verses are typical of — but not confined to — historical writings, the verses acting like footnotes. Dialogue verses, creating the illusion that saga characters break into verse at crucial or dramatic points in the narrative, belong to the realm of fiction. This study, which focusses on historical writings such as Ágrip and Heimskringla, and three of the major family sagas, Eyrbyggja saga, Gísla saga, and Grettis saga, shows that a close reading of the prosimetrum in the narrative can be used to chart the complex and delicate boundaries between history and fiction in the sagas.Less
This book is a study of the various relationships between verse and prose in a series of Old Norse-Icelandic saga narratives. It shows how the interplay of skaldic verse, with its metrical intricacy and cryptic diction; and saga prose, with its characteristic spare clarity, can be used by saga authors to achieve a wide variety of sophisticated stylistic and psychological effects. In sagas, there is a fundamental distinction between the use of verses ostensibly to corroborate what is stated in the narrative, and the use of verses to represent the speech of characters in the narrative. Corroborative verses are typical of — but not confined to — historical writings, the verses acting like footnotes. Dialogue verses, creating the illusion that saga characters break into verse at crucial or dramatic points in the narrative, belong to the realm of fiction. This study, which focusses on historical writings such as Ágrip and Heimskringla, and three of the major family sagas, Eyrbyggja saga, Gísla saga, and Grettis saga, shows that a close reading of the prosimetrum in the narrative can be used to chart the complex and delicate boundaries between history and fiction in the sagas.
Heather O'Donoghue
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198117834
- eISBN:
- 9780191671074
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117834.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature, Mythology and Folklore
The origins of many of the Icelandic sagas have long been the subject of critical speculation and controversy. This book demonstrates that an investigation into the relationship between verse and ...
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The origins of many of the Icelandic sagas have long been the subject of critical speculation and controversy. This book demonstrates that an investigation into the relationship between verse and prose in saga narrative can be used to reconstruct how Icelandic sagas were composed; to this end it provides a detailed analysis of the Kormáks saga, whose hero Kormákr is one of the most celebrated of Icelandic poets. Over 60 of his passionate, cryptic skaldic stanzas are quoted in the saga, and the way they and the saga prose are fitted together reveals that the Kormáks saga, far from being a seamless narrative of either pre-Christian oral tradition or later medieval fiction, is in fact a patchwork of different kinds of literary materials. This book offers a way of understanding not only the compositional method and distinctive aesthetic qualities of the Kormáks saga, but also the genesis of many other Icelandic saga narratives.Less
The origins of many of the Icelandic sagas have long been the subject of critical speculation and controversy. This book demonstrates that an investigation into the relationship between verse and prose in saga narrative can be used to reconstruct how Icelandic sagas were composed; to this end it provides a detailed analysis of the Kormáks saga, whose hero Kormákr is one of the most celebrated of Icelandic poets. Over 60 of his passionate, cryptic skaldic stanzas are quoted in the saga, and the way they and the saga prose are fitted together reveals that the Kormáks saga, far from being a seamless narrative of either pre-Christian oral tradition or later medieval fiction, is in fact a patchwork of different kinds of literary materials. This book offers a way of understanding not only the compositional method and distinctive aesthetic qualities of the Kormáks saga, but also the genesis of many other Icelandic saga narratives.
Carolyne Larrington
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198119821
- eISBN:
- 9780191671210
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198119821.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
This is a comparative study of Old Icelandic and Old English wisdom poetry. It examines problems of form, unity, and coherence, and how the genre responds to social change, both reflecting and ...
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This is a comparative study of Old Icelandic and Old English wisdom poetry. It examines problems of form, unity, and coherence, and how the genre responds to social change, both reflecting and shaping the thinking of the communities that originate it. The author analyses the differences between the pagan wisdom of Norse, ranging through everyday practical advice, rune magic, and spells, and the Christian, socially oriented ideals of Old English wisdom poetry, strongly rooted in Christian concepts of ‘natural’ order and hierarchy in God’s Creation. Close reading in primary texts, both runic and magical, lays bare the skilful, structural integration of pragmatic, social wisdom with other kinds of knowledge. The book explores the possibility of Christian influence on Norse texts and demonstrates the impact of Christian learning on the ancient pagan genre. The existence of a gnomic ‘key’ in Norse and English narrative verse is also shown. Far from being platitudinous moralizing, the wisdom poets of the two literatures reveal themselves as comic, ironic, dramatic, and grandiose by turns, exploring a gamut of themes unequalled in any other genre of the period.Less
This is a comparative study of Old Icelandic and Old English wisdom poetry. It examines problems of form, unity, and coherence, and how the genre responds to social change, both reflecting and shaping the thinking of the communities that originate it. The author analyses the differences between the pagan wisdom of Norse, ranging through everyday practical advice, rune magic, and spells, and the Christian, socially oriented ideals of Old English wisdom poetry, strongly rooted in Christian concepts of ‘natural’ order and hierarchy in God’s Creation. Close reading in primary texts, both runic and magical, lays bare the skilful, structural integration of pragmatic, social wisdom with other kinds of knowledge. The book explores the possibility of Christian influence on Norse texts and demonstrates the impact of Christian learning on the ancient pagan genre. The existence of a gnomic ‘key’ in Norse and English narrative verse is also shown. Far from being platitudinous moralizing, the wisdom poets of the two literatures reveal themselves as comic, ironic, dramatic, and grandiose by turns, exploring a gamut of themes unequalled in any other genre of the period.
Stephen R. Anderson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199279906
- eISBN:
- 9780191707131
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279906.003.0007
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter poses the question of whether or not it was correct for Jakob Wackernagel — whose classic discussion of second-position clitics in the earliest Indo-European languages has been so often ...
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This chapter poses the question of whether or not it was correct for Jakob Wackernagel — whose classic discussion of second-position clitics in the earliest Indo-European languages has been so often cited — to suggest a connection between these clitics and another set of second-position phenomena, the verb-second regularities of Modern German and a number of other languages. It argues that while Wackernagel's own notion of the explanatory connection was undoubtedly incorrect, there is indeed a deep link, and the morphosyntactic apparatus used to describe second-position clitics can provide an account of verb second in German, Icelandic, Breton, and other languages.Less
This chapter poses the question of whether or not it was correct for Jakob Wackernagel — whose classic discussion of second-position clitics in the earliest Indo-European languages has been so often cited — to suggest a connection between these clitics and another set of second-position phenomena, the verb-second regularities of Modern German and a number of other languages. It argues that while Wackernagel's own notion of the explanatory connection was undoubtedly incorrect, there is indeed a deep link, and the morphosyntactic apparatus used to describe second-position clitics can provide an account of verb second in German, Icelandic, Breton, and other languages.
þorbjörg Hróarsdóttir
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199570959
- eISBN:
- 9780191721786
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199570959.003.0011
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics
Chapter 11 ‘Information Structure and OV order’ by Þorbjörg Hróarsdóttir studies the change from object‐verb order to verb‐object order. A number of European languages have undergone such a change ...
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Chapter 11 ‘Information Structure and OV order’ by Þorbjörg Hróarsdóttir studies the change from object‐verb order to verb‐object order. A number of European languages have undergone such a change and here the focus is on the change in Icelandic. Morphological triggers, or the absence thereof, have often been related to clustering of syntactic properties in both diachronic change and acquisition. As seen from the English viewpoint inflectional morphology may express the relevant cue for parameters, and hence the loss of inflection may lead to a grammar change. This paper argues that this analysis does not carry over to Icelandic, as the loss of OV in Icelandic took place despite rich case morphology. Instead, it is argued that the relevant cue may be expressed differently among languages: While it may have been expressed through morphology in English, it was expressed through information structure in Icelandic. In both cases, external effects led to fewer expressions of the relevant (universal) cue and a grammar change took place. It is also shown how Object Shift in Modern Icelandic supports the claim that the placement of the object in Older Icelandic is connected to information structure.Less
Chapter 11 ‘Information Structure and OV order’ by Þorbjörg Hróarsdóttir studies the change from object‐verb order to verb‐object order. A number of European languages have undergone such a change and here the focus is on the change in Icelandic. Morphological triggers, or the absence thereof, have often been related to clustering of syntactic properties in both diachronic change and acquisition. As seen from the English viewpoint inflectional morphology may express the relevant cue for parameters, and hence the loss of inflection may lead to a grammar change. This paper argues that this analysis does not carry over to Icelandic, as the loss of OV in Icelandic took place despite rich case morphology. Instead, it is argued that the relevant cue may be expressed differently among languages: While it may have been expressed through morphology in English, it was expressed through information structure in Icelandic. In both cases, external effects led to fewer expressions of the relevant (universal) cue and a grammar change took place. It is also shown how Object Shift in Modern Icelandic supports the claim that the placement of the object in Older Icelandic is connected to information structure.
Ruth H. Sanders
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226493893
- eISBN:
- 9780226493923
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226493923.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
Five Germanic languages--Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Faroese--along with two Finno-Ugric languages--Finnish and Sami--have lived in neighboring territory in the North for millennia. ...
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Five Germanic languages--Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Faroese--along with two Finno-Ugric languages--Finnish and Sami--have lived in neighboring territory in the North for millennia. Though the first five languages belong to a different linguistic family than the second two, their long life together has influenced them all in sometimes surprising ways. This book investigates archaeological, cultural, and genetic evidence from deep history, beginning in the immediate post-Ice Age, to reveal where the languages and their speakers came from. The book's focus is on the crucial intersections, sometimes actually collisions, among the seven languages and their speakers. The conclusion reports on the languages of Scandinavia today and some linguistic trends that will likely affect their future.Less
Five Germanic languages--Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Faroese--along with two Finno-Ugric languages--Finnish and Sami--have lived in neighboring territory in the North for millennia. Though the first five languages belong to a different linguistic family than the second two, their long life together has influenced them all in sometimes surprising ways. This book investigates archaeological, cultural, and genetic evidence from deep history, beginning in the immediate post-Ice Age, to reveal where the languages and their speakers came from. The book's focus is on the crucial intersections, sometimes actually collisions, among the seven languages and their speakers. The conclusion reports on the languages of Scandinavia today and some linguistic trends that will likely affect their future.
Heather O'Donoghue
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199267323
- eISBN:
- 9780191708305
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267323.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This introductory chapter examines the history of literary prosimetrum in Old Norse-Icelandic literature. It explains the distinction between corroborative verses and dialogue verses, and sets out ...
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This introductory chapter examines the history of literary prosimetrum in Old Norse-Icelandic literature. It explains the distinction between corroborative verses and dialogue verses, and sets out how this distinction can be used to track the boundary between history and fiction in saga narratives.Less
This introductory chapter examines the history of literary prosimetrum in Old Norse-Icelandic literature. It explains the distinction between corroborative verses and dialogue verses, and sets out how this distinction can be used to track the boundary between history and fiction in saga narratives.
Heather O'Donoghue
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199267323
- eISBN:
- 9780191708305
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267323.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter considers the role of verses in Old Norse-Icelandic historical sagas including Ágrip, Heimskringla, Fagrskinna, Morkinskinna, and the Legendary saga of St Óláfr. It shows that while the ...
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This chapter considers the role of verses in Old Norse-Icelandic historical sagas including Ágrip, Heimskringla, Fagrskinna, Morkinskinna, and the Legendary saga of St Óláfr. It shows that while the characteristic use of skaldic verses in such writings is corroborative, there is a significant degree of litterarité in the use of verses to represent the dialogue of characters in the narrative.Less
This chapter considers the role of verses in Old Norse-Icelandic historical sagas including Ágrip, Heimskringla, Fagrskinna, Morkinskinna, and the Legendary saga of St Óláfr. It shows that while the characteristic use of skaldic verses in such writings is corroborative, there is a significant degree of litterarité in the use of verses to represent the dialogue of characters in the narrative.
Heather O'Donoghue
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199267323
- eISBN:
- 9780191708305
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267323.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter analyses the interplay between corroborative and dialogue verses in the prosimetrum of Eyrbyggja saga. Although the majority of verses are introduced as the dialogue of saga characters, ...
More
This chapter analyses the interplay between corroborative and dialogue verses in the prosimetrum of Eyrbyggja saga. Although the majority of verses are introduced as the dialogue of saga characters, there is a small but significant number of verses which are presented as corroborative. It is argued that these verses track with apparent objectivity the history of the community in the saga, while the dialogue verse serve to mark out their speakers as individuals who, for various, reasons stand out as social anomalies.Less
This chapter analyses the interplay between corroborative and dialogue verses in the prosimetrum of Eyrbyggja saga. Although the majority of verses are introduced as the dialogue of saga characters, there is a small but significant number of verses which are presented as corroborative. It is argued that these verses track with apparent objectivity the history of the community in the saga, while the dialogue verse serve to mark out their speakers as individuals who, for various, reasons stand out as social anomalies.
Heather O'Donoghue
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199267323
- eISBN:
- 9780191708305
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267323.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter analyses the use of verses as dialogue in the prosimetrum of Gísla saga. It shows how crediting a saga character with a verse may be a literary device to make manifest that character's ...
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This chapter analyses the use of verses as dialogue in the prosimetrum of Gísla saga. It shows how crediting a saga character with a verse may be a literary device to make manifest that character's inner life, something not accessible through the usual external focalization of saga narrative, through soliloquy, and how the attribution of verse dialogue can mark out a character as a dominant, controlling voice in the narrative.Less
This chapter analyses the use of verses as dialogue in the prosimetrum of Gísla saga. It shows how crediting a saga character with a verse may be a literary device to make manifest that character's inner life, something not accessible through the usual external focalization of saga narrative, through soliloquy, and how the attribution of verse dialogue can mark out a character as a dominant, controlling voice in the narrative.
Heather O'Donoghue
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199267323
- eISBN:
- 9780191708305
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267323.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter explores the complex interplay of diagetical and extra-diagetical, or soloiloquizing, dialogue verses in the prosimetrum of Grettis saga. Its hero, Grettir, is both ostensibly the author ...
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This chapter explores the complex interplay of diagetical and extra-diagetical, or soloiloquizing, dialogue verses in the prosimetrum of Grettis saga. Its hero, Grettir, is both ostensibly the author of some of the text (the verses) and the subject of its biographical narrative. The attribution of verses marks him out as an isolated protagonist, a dominant voice in the narrative, and a voice from the past. The verses chart the pace and rhythm of the narrative, but also function reflexively, characterizing the saga itself as a late product of Old Norse literary tradition.Less
This chapter explores the complex interplay of diagetical and extra-diagetical, or soloiloquizing, dialogue verses in the prosimetrum of Grettis saga. Its hero, Grettir, is both ostensibly the author of some of the text (the verses) and the subject of its biographical narrative. The attribution of verses marks him out as an isolated protagonist, a dominant voice in the narrative, and a voice from the past. The verses chart the pace and rhythm of the narrative, but also function reflexively, characterizing the saga itself as a late product of Old Norse literary tradition.
Heather O'Donoghue
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199267323
- eISBN:
- 9780191708305
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267323.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This epilogue shows how the hero of Hrafnkels saga, to whom no verses are attributed, is presented as an inscrutable, distant figure whose autocracy in the saga is insusceptible of explanation. With ...
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This epilogue shows how the hero of Hrafnkels saga, to whom no verses are attributed, is presented as an inscrutable, distant figure whose autocracy in the saga is insusceptible of explanation. With no verses to his name, Hrafnkell is a man of action rather than of reflection, and he is presented as a character who has severed his links with the past, both diagetically within the world of the saga narrative, and extra-diagetically as a part of Old Norse-Icelandic literary tradition.Less
This epilogue shows how the hero of Hrafnkels saga, to whom no verses are attributed, is presented as an inscrutable, distant figure whose autocracy in the saga is insusceptible of explanation. With no verses to his name, Hrafnkell is a man of action rather than of reflection, and he is presented as a character who has severed his links with the past, both diagetically within the world of the saga narrative, and extra-diagetically as a part of Old Norse-Icelandic literary tradition.
Julie Anne Legate
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780262028141
- eISBN:
- 9780262320559
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262028141.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
Voice and v investigates the syntactic structure of voice, using Acehnese as the empirical starting point. A central claim is that voice is encoded in a functional projection, VoiceP, which is ...
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Voice and v investigates the syntactic structure of voice, using Acehnese as the empirical starting point. A central claim is that voice is encoded in a functional projection, VoiceP, which is distinct from, and higher than, vP. The book further claims that VoiceP may be associated with phi-features that semantically restrict the external argument position but do not saturate it. Through minor variations in the properties of VoiceP, a wide range of non-canonical voice constructions are explained, including: agent-agreeing passives, grammatical object passives, impersonals, object voice constructions, and applicative voice in causatives. The analysis draws on data from a typologically diverse set of languages, not only Malayo-Polynesian, but also Celtic, Scandinavian, and Slavic. Voice and v provides a detailed investigation into the syntactic structure of an understudied Malayo-Polynesian language, and thereby reveals important insights for the theoretical analysis of voice and the verb phrase. Moreover, the work applies and broadens these insights to a range of related passive-like constructions crosslinguistically. Voice and v thus joins a handful of model volumes that enlist typological depth and breadth to further our development of modern linguistic theory.Less
Voice and v investigates the syntactic structure of voice, using Acehnese as the empirical starting point. A central claim is that voice is encoded in a functional projection, VoiceP, which is distinct from, and higher than, vP. The book further claims that VoiceP may be associated with phi-features that semantically restrict the external argument position but do not saturate it. Through minor variations in the properties of VoiceP, a wide range of non-canonical voice constructions are explained, including: agent-agreeing passives, grammatical object passives, impersonals, object voice constructions, and applicative voice in causatives. The analysis draws on data from a typologically diverse set of languages, not only Malayo-Polynesian, but also Celtic, Scandinavian, and Slavic. Voice and v provides a detailed investigation into the syntactic structure of an understudied Malayo-Polynesian language, and thereby reveals important insights for the theoretical analysis of voice and the verb phrase. Moreover, the work applies and broadens these insights to a range of related passive-like constructions crosslinguistically. Voice and v thus joins a handful of model volumes that enlist typological depth and breadth to further our development of modern linguistic theory.
David Clark
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199654307
- eISBN:
- 9780191742071
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654307.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
The Introduction introduces both Old Norse-Icelandic literature and gender and sexuality studies, and situates the book's approach in its critical context while providing an overview of the book's ...
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The Introduction introduces both Old Norse-Icelandic literature and gender and sexuality studies, and situates the book's approach in its critical context while providing an overview of the book's structure.Less
The Introduction introduces both Old Norse-Icelandic literature and gender and sexuality studies, and situates the book's approach in its critical context while providing an overview of the book's structure.
Martin Chase (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780823257812
- eISBN:
- 9780823261598
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823257812.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
This collection of essays on Old Norse-Icelandic poetry is concerned with the blurring of boundaries between genres and periods. Many of the texts and topics taken up have been difficult to ...
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This collection of essays on Old Norse-Icelandic poetry is concerned with the blurring of boundaries between genres and periods. Many of the texts and topics taken up have been difficult to categorize and have received less attention than they deserve. The boundaries between genres (skaldic and eddic), periods (Viking Age, medieval, early modern) or cultures (Icelandic, Scandinavian, English, Continental) may not have been as clear to medieval authors and audiences as they seem to modern scholars. When questions of classification are allowed to fall into the background, it becomes easier to appreciate the poetry on its own terms, rather than focus on its ability or failure to live up to anachronistic expectations. Some of the essays in this collection present new material for consideration, while others revisit assumptions about authors and texts and challenge or suggest revision of them. They reflect the idea that poetry with “medieval” characteristics continued to be produced in Iceland well beyond the fifteenth century, the traditional end of the medieval period of Scandinavian literature, and even beyond the Reformation in Iceland (1550). These studies point out the need for more work: research has focused on the “best” skaldic poetry (that which follows Snorri Sturluson’s definitions most closely) and the most purely Nordic and Germanic of the eddic poems, but poetry that slides across the boundaries of genre or periodization or cultural origin has been left by the wayside. These essays present new evidence, offer new interpretations, and hope to awaken new appreciation for undervalued poetry.Less
This collection of essays on Old Norse-Icelandic poetry is concerned with the blurring of boundaries between genres and periods. Many of the texts and topics taken up have been difficult to categorize and have received less attention than they deserve. The boundaries between genres (skaldic and eddic), periods (Viking Age, medieval, early modern) or cultures (Icelandic, Scandinavian, English, Continental) may not have been as clear to medieval authors and audiences as they seem to modern scholars. When questions of classification are allowed to fall into the background, it becomes easier to appreciate the poetry on its own terms, rather than focus on its ability or failure to live up to anachronistic expectations. Some of the essays in this collection present new material for consideration, while others revisit assumptions about authors and texts and challenge or suggest revision of them. They reflect the idea that poetry with “medieval” characteristics continued to be produced in Iceland well beyond the fifteenth century, the traditional end of the medieval period of Scandinavian literature, and even beyond the Reformation in Iceland (1550). These studies point out the need for more work: research has focused on the “best” skaldic poetry (that which follows Snorri Sturluson’s definitions most closely) and the most purely Nordic and Germanic of the eddic poems, but poetry that slides across the boundaries of genre or periodization or cultural origin has been left by the wayside. These essays present new evidence, offer new interpretations, and hope to awaken new appreciation for undervalued poetry.
Orri Vesteinsson
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207993
- eISBN:
- 9780191677885
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207993.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History, History of Religion
In this historical study of High-Medieval Iceland, the author investigates the influence of the Christian Church on the formation of the earliest state structures in Iceland, from the conversion in ...
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In this historical study of High-Medieval Iceland, the author investigates the influence of the Christian Church on the formation of the earliest state structures in Iceland, from the conversion in 1000 to the union with Norway in 1262. In the history of mankind, states and state structures have usually been established before the advent of written records. As a result historians are rarely able to trace with certainty the early development of complex structures of government. In Iceland, literacy and the practice of native history writing had been established by the beginning of the twelfth century; whereas the formation of a centralized government did not occur until more than a hundred years later. The early development of state-like structures has therefore been unusually well chronicled, in the Icelandic Sagas, and in the historical records of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Based on this material, this book contributes to the discussion on the formation of states.Less
In this historical study of High-Medieval Iceland, the author investigates the influence of the Christian Church on the formation of the earliest state structures in Iceland, from the conversion in 1000 to the union with Norway in 1262. In the history of mankind, states and state structures have usually been established before the advent of written records. As a result historians are rarely able to trace with certainty the early development of complex structures of government. In Iceland, literacy and the practice of native history writing had been established by the beginning of the twelfth century; whereas the formation of a centralized government did not occur until more than a hundred years later. The early development of state-like structures has therefore been unusually well chronicled, in the Icelandic Sagas, and in the historical records of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Based on this material, this book contributes to the discussion on the formation of states.
Heather O’Donoghue
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263952
- eISBN:
- 9780191734083
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263952.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This chapter examines the works of British Old Norse-Icelandic scholars. It explains that from the start, British interest in Old Norse studies was closely bound up with contemporary Old ...
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This chapter examines the works of British Old Norse-Icelandic scholars. It explains that from the start, British interest in Old Norse studies was closely bound up with contemporary Old Norse-Icelandic scholarship in Scandinavia and that the British connection was only established after James Johnstone's translation of extracts from the thirteenth-century historical compilation Heimskringla. This chapter also discusses the trend in Old Norse-Icelandic studies in Britain which involved the recognition of sagas as being informative not in their details of event and character, but in their portrayal of society and culture.Less
This chapter examines the works of British Old Norse-Icelandic scholars. It explains that from the start, British interest in Old Norse studies was closely bound up with contemporary Old Norse-Icelandic scholarship in Scandinavia and that the British connection was only established after James Johnstone's translation of extracts from the thirteenth-century historical compilation Heimskringla. This chapter also discusses the trend in Old Norse-Icelandic studies in Britain which involved the recognition of sagas as being informative not in their details of event and character, but in their portrayal of society and culture.
Heather O’Donoghue
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198117834
- eISBN:
- 9780191671074
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117834.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature, Mythology and Folklore
This chapter discusses the Kormáks saga, an Icelandic saga about the life of one of Iceland's most celebrated poets: Kormákr Ögmundarson. It describes the origin and structure of the saga, its ...
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This chapter discusses the Kormáks saga, an Icelandic saga about the life of one of Iceland's most celebrated poets: Kormákr Ögmundarson. It describes the origin and structure of the saga, its literary aims, and the writing style and methods of Kormákr. It explains the possible relations between the saga's verse and prose and suggests that this saga was created out of a miscellany of original material and traditional elements.Less
This chapter discusses the Kormáks saga, an Icelandic saga about the life of one of Iceland's most celebrated poets: Kormákr Ögmundarson. It describes the origin and structure of the saga, its literary aims, and the writing style and methods of Kormákr. It explains the possible relations between the saga's verse and prose and suggests that this saga was created out of a miscellany of original material and traditional elements.
Carolyne Larrington
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198119821
- eISBN:
- 9780191671210
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198119821.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the principal wisdom poems in Old Icelandic and Old English. This book aims to show the breadth of interests and the rich ...
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This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the principal wisdom poems in Old Icelandic and Old English. This book aims to show the breadth of interests and the rich stylistic variety of these poems and re-evaluate their aesthetic value and continuing validity in their local societies. Some of the wisdom poems analysed include Havamal, Hugsvinnsmal, and Sigurdr.Less
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the principal wisdom poems in Old Icelandic and Old English. This book aims to show the breadth of interests and the rich stylistic variety of these poems and re-evaluate their aesthetic value and continuing validity in their local societies. Some of the wisdom poems analysed include Havamal, Hugsvinnsmal, and Sigurdr.
J. Th. Thór
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780968128831
- eISBN:
- 9781786944818
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780968128831.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, Maritime History
This chapter offers a brief survey of Icelandic vessels in the Middle Ages and discusses Iceland’s commercial links with Europe before 1800. It focuses on the role and employment of Icelandic sailors ...
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This chapter offers a brief survey of Icelandic vessels in the Middle Ages and discusses Iceland’s commercial links with Europe before 1800. It focuses on the role and employment of Icelandic sailors from 900-1800 and explores the relatively new establishment of the sailing profession. Also described in the chapter is the transitional period in the nineteenth century, in which a new class of Icelandic fishermen and sailors emerged. The report additionally contains the diaries of two seventeenth and eighteenth century Icelandic sailors in order to provide a well-rounded sense of the sailing occupation as a whole.Less
This chapter offers a brief survey of Icelandic vessels in the Middle Ages and discusses Iceland’s commercial links with Europe before 1800. It focuses on the role and employment of Icelandic sailors from 900-1800 and explores the relatively new establishment of the sailing profession. Also described in the chapter is the transitional period in the nineteenth century, in which a new class of Icelandic fishermen and sailors emerged. The report additionally contains the diaries of two seventeenth and eighteenth century Icelandic sailors in order to provide a well-rounded sense of the sailing occupation as a whole.
