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 ...
More
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.
