A SELECTION OF SKALDIC POEMS
Journal Title: Studia Litterarum - Year 2016, Vol 1, Issue 3
Abstract
Rendering skaldic poetry into another language is a challenge for translators. The main feature of this poetic system is its highly intricate form governed by rigid rules. Skaldic poetry emerged in Norway in the pre-written period and existed for more than half a millennium, from the middle of the 9th Сentury to the end of the 14th; from the 10th Сentury onwards it was composed almost exclusively by the Icelanders. Skaldic art was highly valued at the Scandinavian court: by glorifying the exploits of the kings in praise-poems, skalds immortalized their deeds in human memory. Taking its origin from the Old Norse epic verse, skaldic poetry differs from the former in terms of subject matter (contemporary and often momentary events as opposed to mythological and heroic past), formal properties (a highly complex poetic technique as opposed to an unsophisticated form), and attitude to authorship. Whereas epic poems were created and transmitted by anonymous singers, skaldic verses were produced by authors who often made their personal skills a poetic theme. The introduction to the current selection of Russian translations of skaldic poems contains a description of metrical and syntactical structure of the basic poetic unit, vísa (stanza), composed in the main skaldic metre, dróttkvætt (‘court meter’). It also discusses the most important element of skaldic language, i.e. simple and multi-member kenning (periphrasis substituted for the nouns of common speech). The selection includes examples of praise poems and of lausavísur (‘loose stanzas’) composed by Icelandic skalds of the 11th and 12th Centuries which have been preserved in the þættir, short stories incorporated into the sagas of Norwegian kings.
Authors and Affiliations
Elena A. Gurevich
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP26121
- DOI 10.22455/2500-4247-2016-1-3-4-340-356
- Views 283
- Downloads 15
GOGOL AND THE WESTERN SLAVOPHILIA IN CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE
The essay examines Gogol’s heritage from a new and somewhat “unusual” perspective: the writer is seen as one of the main Russian ideologists of the Slavic unity. Gogol’s views are therefore placed in the context of dif...
PETER THE GREAT REVISED: ON THE HISTORY OF THE TEXT OF ALEXEY TOLSTOY’S NOVEL
The article examines Alexey Tolstoy’s incomplete revisions (1944– 1945) of the frst book of his novel Peter the Great. These revisions were taken into account in the course of the text’s preparation for the frst Collec...
RUSSIAN FOLKLORE AS A REFLECTION OF NATIONAL CHARACTER IN THE WORK OF BORIS VYSHESLAVTZEV
The essay is focused on the spiritual crisis of Russian culture at the beginning of the 20th Century and on the search of philosophical alternatives to overcome the crisis within the framework of Russian philosophical...
“Prayer to the Archangel Michael” and “The Dream of Our Lady” in the Records of Petr G. Bogatirev (On the Archival Materials)
This is the first publication of “The Dream of Our Lady” and “The Prayer to Archangel Michael,” two pieces recorded by Petr G. Bogatirev in 1914–1915 in the village Bavykino of the Moscow region with a commentary. The pu...
Gamiani, or Two Nights of Excess by Alfred de Musset: Construction of Subjectivity in French “Black” Romanticism
This essay examines Gamiani, or Two Nights of Excess, erotic novel by Alfred de Musset written at the beginning of the 1830s and widely popular in France until up to the 1920s. When writing the novel that belongs to th...