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THE OLD NORSE KENNING AS a MNEMONIC FIGURE Bergsveinn

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THE OLD NORSE KENNING AS a MNEMONIC FIGURE Bergsveinn THE OLD NORSE KENNING AS A MNEMONIC FIGURE Bergsveinn Birgisson Skaldic Poetry—Introduction Old Norse skaldic poetry is an interesting genre within Old Norse lit- erature when it comes to the study of memory. Th e artistic qualities of this poetry once praised and practised by the old Scandinavians are not easily detected by us modern people. Unfortunate metaphors have been used to describe this poetry, which is oft en referred to as riddles, puzzles or even crosswords.1 Apparently such metaphors mostly illus- trate the reception of this poetry in our times; it is at least easy to get the impression that the complexity and bizarreness of this poetry stems from a fundamentally diff erent socio-cultural context, namely that of oral society. Albert Bates Lord, the main protagonist of Oral Th eory, has commented on Skaldic poetry as a stable text form, and argues further that complexity in oral poetry is a sign of a long life under oral circumstances.2 Skaldic poetry is “old” in the sense that the oldest stanzas do not seem to be imbued with Greco-Roman or classical learning and aesthetics. Th ese poems have possibly preserved a somewhat diff erent worldview and aesthetics that one could refer to with some humour as “Made in the North.” Th is homemade aspect, and the fact that this genre pre- serves a corpus from both heathen and Christian skalds, gives these poems great potential in connection to the theory of memory and not least when it comes to topics such as the memorization of texts. From our point of view it would be natural to ask if the poems of the old- est skalds can be said to reveal some “oral” characteristics not found in the poetic expression of later skalds. Th is poetry has been referred 1 John Lindow, “Riddles, Kennings, and the Complexity of Skaldic Poetry,” Scandinavian Studies 47 (1975): 315–327; Margaret Clunies Ross, A History of Old Norse Poetry and Poetics (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2005), 112. 2 Albert Bates Lord, Epic Singers and Oral Tradition (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1991), 20. 200 bergsveinn birgisson to by some as “the most original literary contribution” of the North,3 while most scholars from the thirteenth to the twentieth century have referred to its aesthetical character as “monstrous” and “barbaric.” Th e genre of skaldic poetry seems to have been developed in some courtly milieux of Norway in the ninth century, but it is mostly promoted by Icelandic poets, the so-called skalds, aft er the conversion in Scandinavia around 1000 AD. Th e Old Norse skald was highly valued in society, primarily because of his skills in making poems on the heroic deeds of kings and royalty, thereby rendering them persistent in the memory of the Scandinavian oral society. Th e skald is frequently shown as the king’s closest adviser, both in personal and political aff airs. Th e oral circumstances of skaldic poetry can easily lead one to regard it as a poetry that was meant to be learned by heart. Th e most common metre, which was termed dróttkvætt in Old Norse, implies certain prescriptive rules for rhyme, alliteration and the amount of syllables in each line, and it has been pointed out by scholars that this highly advanced metre must have been a great help in memorizing the stanzas by heart, thus rendering the stanzas stable during their oral transmission.4 Th e Imagery of Kennings In the present paper I wish to focus on another aspect of this poetry that indeed could have helped it to prevail under oral circumstances no less than its advanced form. Th is is its visual imagery, oft en referred to by scholars when speaking of the “barbaric” and the “primitive” nature of the oldest skaldic poetry.5 Imagery is usually associated with meta- 3 Preben Meulengracht Sørensen, “Norrønt Aktuelt—Om norrønfagets framtid,” Bøygen 2 (1996): 11–13. 4 Roberta Frank, Old Norse Court Poetry. Th e Dróttkvætt Stanza (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1978), 25; Preben Meulengracht Sørensen, Saga and society—An Introduction to Old Norse Literature (Odense: Odense University Press, 1993), 76–77; Bjarne Fidjestøl, “Skaldekvad og Harald Hårfagre,” in Rikssamlingen og Harald Hårfagre, ed. Bjørn Myhre (Karmøy: Karmøy kommune, 1993), 7; Hans Kuhn, Das Dróttkvætt (Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1983), 253. 5 Wolfgang Krause, “Die Kenning als Typische Stilfi gur der germanischen und keltischen Dichtersprache” in Schrift en der Köningsberger Gelehrten Gesellschaft , 7. Jahr—Heft 1 (Halle: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1930), 10; Finnur Jónsson, Den oldnor- ske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. Anden udgave. Første bind (København: G.E.C. Gads Forlag, 1920), 385 f..
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