The Viking World (Routledge Worlds)

its more-or-less accurate preservation in an oral tradition, until the advent of literacy enabled the text to be fixed in a diff ...

lines and half-rhyme in the odd-numbered). It makes use of poetic tropes such as ‘the wolf’s mouthful’, and descriptive adjectiv ...

Neckel, G. and Kuhn, H. (eds) ( 1983 ) Edda. Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkm- älern, Heidelberg: Carl Winter. ...

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO ( 1 ) THE PERFORMANCE OF THE POETIC EDDA Terry Gunnell T here are a number of central facts that should be bo ...

have been different in one way or another, at least in terms of audience and accompany- ing atmosphere. Indeed, this fact would ...

actually contains two very different types of poetic work, written in two quite different metres. The former metre, fornyrðislag ...

whether harps were commonly used in Scandinavia in the early Middle Ages), while those in ljóðaháttr (including the monologues) ...

Harris, J. ( 1979 ), ‘The Senna: from description to literary theory’, Michigan Germanic Studies, 5 ( 1 ): 65 – 74. ——( 1983 ) ‘ ...

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE THE ICELANDIC SAGAS Lars Lönnroth S aga in the Old Norse language simply meant a story – any story. The wor ...

A precondition for the amazing literary output of the Icelanders was the unique cooperation that existed in their country betwee ...

‘Bookprose theory’. According to the first theory, the sagas were essentially oral texts transmitted from generation to generati ...

the Icelander finally tells this saga during the Christmas holidays while men are drinking. On the thirteenth day, when the stor ...

It would appear from this account that mythical-heroic sagas could also be used as entertainment at large weddings on Icelandic ...

meaning ‘strands in a rope’. While each individual episode or strand may have originated in oral tradition, plaiting them togeth ...

these texts have therefore remained important sources for ethnologists, folklorists and historical anthropologists studying hist ...

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE ( 1 ) SNORRI STURLUSON: HIS LIFE AND WORK Anthony Faulkes S norri Sturluson is the first major writer of Ol ...

Skallagrímsson, and Snorri went to live at Borg in 1202 on the death of his father-in- law. He went on to acquire, by inheritanc ...

married). Hallveig was said to be the richest woman in Iceland, and Snorri himself now became the richest, and probably the most ...

Sturlunga saga, in the summer of 1230 , Snorri’s nephew Sturla Sighvatsson spent much time in Reykholt having Snorri’s histories ...

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE ( 2 ) THE SAGAS OF ICELANDERS Guðrún Nordal T he sagas of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur) are often mentioned ...