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KENNING The word kenning is derived from the
Old Norse expression kenna eitt við (“to express rela-
tionally” or “to make known by”). As a literary device,
kenning is found predominantly in ANGLO-SAXON
POETRY, particularly heroic verse, as well as OLD NORSE/
ICELANDIC EDDAS AND SAGAS. The technique is used
abundantly in BEOWULF, from which all these examples
are drawn.
The simple defi nition of kenning is a metaphorical
compound word or short phrase that replaces a name
or noun, in which the object of the metaphor is implied
but not stated. These compounds may consist of noun/
noun combinations (“whale-road” or “swan-way” for
the sea), or noun/verb combinations (“heath-stepper”
for deer). Some scholars believe that a pure kenning
must involve a simile, implied or stated, and not mere
description. Thus, “battle-friend” would be a kenning
for sword, but “battle-iron” would not. Other scholars
allow for phrasal kennings as well as compound ones
(e.g., “storm of swords” for “battle”).
Kennings were particularly important to a culture
with a limited lexicon. As embedded metaphorical
devices, kennings have the potential to create multilay-
ered effects. For example, they may be used to convey
irony or humor (“shield-play” for “battle”) or to assign
honor and prestige (“gold-friend” for “lord”). In Old
Norse poetry, kennings themselves can be used in lay-
ers (e.g., “storm of battle-friends” meaning “storm of
swords” or “battle”), a technique employed only rarely
in Old English.

FURTHER READING

Gardner, Thomas. “The Old English Kenning: A Character-

istic Feature of Germanic Poetical Diction?” Modern Philol-

ogy 67, no. 2 (1969): 109–117.

Godden, Malcolm R. “Literary Language.” In The Cambridge

History of the English Language, edited by Richard M.

Hogg, 490–535. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1992.

Ogilvy, J. D. A., and Donald C. Baker. Reading Beowulf: An

Introduction to the Poem, Its Background, and Its Style. Nor-

man: University of Oklahoma Press, 1983.

KING HORN ANONYMOUS (ca. 1275) King

Horn, written by an unknown author, is probably the

oldest extant English ROMANCE. It may derive from an

earlier and longer ANGLO-NORMAN poem, Horn et

Rimenhild, although some scholars have argued that

both works instead draw on a common source. King

Horn exists in three manuscripts that contain signifi -

cantly different textual variations. The poem consists

of over 1,500 lines that tend to have two or three

stresses, are paired in rhymed COUPLETs, and often use

ALLITERATION. Originally it was probably sung or

chanted when performed.

The plot takes place in four separate kingdoms that

are connected by sea journeys. The poem opens in

Suddene, the location of which is uncertain, ruled by

King Murry. His son, Horn, is 15 and the fairest in the

land: “Fairer nis non thane he was” (l. 13). Murry is

killed by invading SARACENs whom he discovers land-

ing on the beach; they proceed to overrun the king-

K