old norse poetry

Old Norse poetry encompasses a range of verse forms written in a number of Nordic languages, embraced by the term Old Norse, during the period from the 8th century to as late as the far end of the 13th century. Poetry played an important role in the social and religious world of the Vikings. The story of Odin bringing the mead of poetry to Asgard in the Hvaml is an indicator of the significance of poetry within the contemporary Nordic cultures. Old Norse poetry is generally found in three forms; Eddic, skaldic and the later saga form which contained poetic forms such as drpa. It is characterised by a number of specific metrical styles, a particular poetic vocabulary (i.e. words which would only be found in poetic form and not in prose), complex and often self-referential linguistic structures such as e.g. kennings or heiti, and is a form often rich in alliteration. One of the main sources of information about poetic forms in Old Norse is the work of Snorri Sturluson, and most of the poetry extant is derived from a primarily oral tradition. In written form it was generally the work of Christian scholars who were prone, on religious and ideological grounds, to tamper with the substance of the poetry.

Metrical Forms

Old Norse poetry has many metrical forms. They range from the relatively simple (e.g. fornyrislag) to the deeply complex such as, for example, drttkvtt, the "courtly metre". In Eddic poetry, the metric structures are generally simple, and are almost invariably ljahttr or fornyrislag. Ljahttr, (known also as the "metre of chants"), because of its structure, which comprises of broken stanzas, lends itself to dialogue and discourse. Fornyrislag, referred to also as "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 and without a fixed number of syllables per line, usually four. Conversely, skaldic poetry was composed primarily in the florid drttkvtt style. Other metrical forms include

Mlahttr, which is similar to fornyrislag, but with a fixed metrical length of five syllables
Kviuhttr, another variant of fornyrislag 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
Hrynhenda, a variant of drttkvtt, which uses all the rules of drttkvtt, with the exception that the line is comprised of four trochees.