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Scroll down to read the article. and Society: Aspects of Shona, Old English and

Hazel Carter School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 4 One of the most interesting and stimulating the themes, and especially in the use made of developments of recent years in African studies certain poetic techniques common to both. has been the discovery and rescue of the tradi- Compare, for instance, the following extracts, tional poetry of the Shona peoples, as reported the first from the clan praises of the Zebra 1 in a previous issue of this journal. In particular, (Tembo), the second from Beowulf, the great to anyone acquainted with Old English (Anglo- Old English epic, composed probably in the Saxon) poetry, the reading of the Shona poetry seventh century. The Zebra praises are com- strikes familiar chords, notably in the case of plimentary and the description of the dragon the nheternbo and madetembedzo praise poetry. from Beowulf quite the reverse, but the expres- The resemblances are not so much in the sion and handling of the imagery is strikingly content of the poetry as in the treatment of similar:

Zvaitwa, Chivara, It has been done, Striped One, Njunta yerenje. Hornless beast of the desert. Heko.ni vaTemho, Thanks, honoured Tembo, Mashongera, Adorned One, Chinakira-matondo, Bush-beautifier, yakashonga mikonde Savakadzu decked with bead-girdles like women, Mhuka inoti, kana yomhanya Beast which, when it runs amid the mumalombo, rocks, Kuatsika, unoona mwoto kuti cheru And steps on them, you see fire drawn cfreru.2 forth.

Hoard-joy (treasure) Hord-wynne fond, he found, eald uht-sceadha, opene standan, the ancient dawn- se dhe byrnende biorgas secedh, ravager, standing open, nacod nidh-draca, nihtes fieogedh, he that burning seeketh caves, fyre befangen; hyne fold-buend the naked dragon-foe, by night he flieth, swidhe ondraedadh. He geseacan sceall compassed with fire; him the fold-dweller hord on hrusan, thaer he haedhen gold greatly dreadeth. He must needs seek waradh wintrum frod; ne bydh him wihte the hoard in the dhy sel. earth, where he heathen gold guardeth, old in years; nor is he one whit the better for it. -I Beowulf, 11. 2270-6.3 II 11 Both languages make much use of imagery and Old Norse are related Germanic languages, expressed descriptively, frequently in the form and the cultures similar, including religious of compounds: chinakira-matondo (bush-beauti- development and to some extent political fier for zebra) and uht-sceadha (dawn-ravager organization. Both flourished in about the same for dragon). Both forms of poetry employ the period of time: Old English from about 650 technique of variation, repeating the same or A.D. to the Norman Conquest of the eleventh similar information in different words, and century, and Old Norse skaldic verse from often with structural parallelism of various the eighth or ninth century to the fourteenth. kinds: biorgas secedh . . . nihtes fleogedh is an Moreover, the two cultures were for a time instance from the excerpt above, with which juxtaposed and even intermingled, through the one should compare the examples given by invasions of Britain, so that much Fortune for the Shona nhetembo of the Hera, mutual influence might be expected. The fact and madetetnbedzo (okupfimbana, courtship remains that the differences between the two praises).4 poetries are deep and significant, and it is possible to find parallels in Shona literature There is a further point which strikes the for the points at which Old English differs reader when he comes to consider from her sister poetry. One such feature is that which are generally classed as related to that of variation, described and exemplified above; of Old English, in particular that of the there is no trace of this in skaldic poetry. Scandinavian countries. Another is in the nature of the descriptive flourished at about the same time as Old terms used, and this will be more fully dealt English, was composed in a closely related with in the sketch of Norse verse below. language or group of languages, and by peoples Since literature is the product of a society, sharing a considerable common heritage of this seems an obvious place to look for the traditional material and poetic techniques. Yet variables. In seeking to discover a correlation despite all this, , and especi- between certain aspects of the society, and ally the large body of skaldic poetry, is in certain characteristics of the literature, one many ways less like Old than does not of course look so much at the rela- is Shona. tively trivial features of content and allusion The divergence of the two Germanic poetries which are clearly culture-based or dependent has been noted before, as for instance by upon the environment. The mention of frost Gordon: in Beowulf and of salt-gathering expeditions In general style the Old Norse poems in the nhetembo are of this kind. What is at are very different from the Anglo-Saxon. issue here is less obviously 'cultural' features, They ... set forth their matter with a which are generally classed as literary charac- lyrical conciseness and abruptness which teristics, such as the use of devices like is nearer to the medieval ballad than to imagery, in its various forms of expression. the splendid epic fullness of Beowulf . . . Equally, one must leave out of account The Norse poems have not the epic poetic devices so dependent on language struc- dignity or the fine scenic effects of ture that they can only occur in languages of Beowulf, but ... are vivid and dramatic 3 a particular structural type. For instance, . . . [with a] fierce power. although one does not minimise the features The further perception that Shona poetry common to English and Norse poetry as against resembles Old English, in ways in which neither Shona, it is found that most such features have their origin in the exploitation of linguistic re- resembles Old Norse, prompts one to ask the 6 question, what factors can be called upon to sources at fairly low levels. The two Germanic account for the curious agreement between languages have a clear strong/weak stress Shona and Old English? distinction, whereas Shona has not, apart from the pre-pausal stress and lengthening (in normal For at first sight it certainly does seem speech) on the penultimate syllable. Thus the curious. Shona is divided from Old English stress-based metre of Old Germanic poetry is by many hundreds of years and thousands of not available to Shona. Similarly alliteration in miles; the cultures are vastly different, and the Shona is intimately bound up with the gramma- languages unrelated. Conversely, Old English tical structure, whereas with Germanic langu-

12 ages this is not so; alliteration makes an An acquaintance is assumed with Shona aesthetic impact in English and Norse, and can traditional poetry, as described in the articles be used in a metrical scheme, in a way which (already cited) by Fortune, but a short account does not hold good for Shona. These differences is given of Old English and Norse poetry in spring from the different phonological and mor- general, as well as of the genres selected for phological systems of Bantu and Germanic study. respectively, and it is not suggested that langu- age structure and society are related in the OLD ENGLISH POETRY manner implied here. Very little of the poetry composed before Conversely, all three languages allow com- the Norman Conquest of 1066 has come down pound nominals — however much the speci- to us. We possess in all some 30 000 lines, of fic constructional patterns may vary — and which by far the greater part is preserved in one may then compare the use made of this four manuscripts, all written about 1 000 A.D.7 feature in their literatures. The literature had to run the gauntlet, first Ideally for such an investigation we require of the censorship of monkish scribes, who knowledge of the whole literature of each would not have wasted precious writing society, and the place of particular genres with- materials on, say, drinking or love songs — in it; of the circumstances under which the though they did include some rather pagan genre was composed and recited, by whom and charms, and riddles of doubtful morality. for whom; the relationship of the composer Secondly there were the chances of time, as (and performer, if different) to the audience, of war and natural disaster, particularly fire. the relationships of both to the rest of the A great deal was lost in the fire at the Cottonian society. A similar body of knowledge is needed Library in 1731, and in the 1807 bombard- for other cultural phenomena, the relationship ment of Copenhagen. Much of what had been of the community to others neighbouring, the written down before 1066 had already been physical environment and its effect on ease of destroyed during the Viking raids, when communication, and indeed, countless other monastic libraries were ravaged. What does aspects of human life and what affects it. remain of the poetry composed from about the seventh to the tenth centuries shows strongly Set out in this fashion, the task appears marked characteristics, which we may suppose formidable, if not impossible. Such information to have developed during the period when regarding the traditional society of the Shona English poetry was still truly oral literature. is, thanks to the researches of recent years, fairly readily available. We know very much There are two stages discernible. The first less about Old Norsemen, and even less belongs to the 'heroic age', when society was about Old Englishmen. Indeed, most of the organized chiefly for war. In the case of the relevant facts about Old English must be de- English, the wars were at first offensive, during rived from the poetry itself, and conclusions the fifth and sixth century invasions of Britain; must therefore be tentative. later, when the onslaughts of the began, Equally important, for both English and there was more need for defence. The central Norse, is the fact that we do not know for figure in this society was the hlajord (lord), certain whether what has survived in written with his retinue of warriors living communally records is typical of the genre represented, nor in a hall and held together by bonds of loyalty what other genres remain unrepresented. and hope of reward. The entourage of a lord Nevertheless, with all these unpromising condi- usually included a scop, or minstrel, whose tions, I think one may still come to some rea- duty was to entertain the lord and warriors sonably well-supported assessment of the re- with song and harp-playing. Most of the epic lationship between society and literary and heroic poetry, such as Beowulf itself, was characteristics. Because of limitations of space, probably composed in this, the pre-Christian consideration is confined to the nhetembo period, although in the eventual writing down dzorudzi (clan praises) of the Shona, the it almost certainly suffered considerable change. narrative and meditative poetry of Old After the introduction of Christianity into English (excluding gnomic verse, charms and England in the late sixth century, an attempt riddles), and the skaldic poetry of . was made to 'christen' the poetry, with some

13 rather incongruous results. Beowulf as it now cluded the recitation of a poem as long as exists shows a strange mixture of the old, Beowulf, of over 3 000 lines. stoic, somewhat gloomy, though invariably courageous, pagan outlook on life, with the From the content of the extant poems of occasional seasoning with Christian ethic. The the 'semi-Christian' type, a large part of the hero Beowulf has a pagan funeral, complete scop's energy was devoted to extolling the with pyre, despite his constant references to virtues of bravery and loyalty to the lord. This 'God, the giver of victories', presumably was indeed a necessity if the community was originally Wotan or Tyr, the ancient gods. to survive the attacks of enemies: as White- lock notes, 'The 's demand of absolute fidelity to a lord was no mere poetic, conven- After the acceptance of Christianity, the old 9 heroic poetry remained alive, but by the side tional standard.' A of it there developed a form, modelled on the As far as the scop's membership of any traditional type, used primarily for transmitting particular social class is concerned, there are the Christian teachings. We find numerous lives considerable gaps in our knowledge, but in- of the saints, couched in terms more appropri- ferences can be drawn from a few scraps of ate to the exploits of heathen warriors, parts evidence. The structure of English society in of Biblical narrative, and even straightforward Anglo-Saxon times seems to have been rather preaching, such as the 'Soul's address to the more complex than that of the Norsemen, for Body'. Old Testament stories, like that of example,10 although both systems included the Judith, had content rather more in tune with two extremes of those of noble blood, and the heroic outlook, but it must be admitted that serfs or slaves. Eorl, from which our modern the Christian poetry is on the whole very dull 'earl' is descended, a term cognate with the stuff; it has however given us one splendid Norse jarl (nobleman), seems to have included piece, the 'Dream of the Rood', where Christian a man noble in spirit, a hero, sometimes simply and heroic elements are fused into a strangely a man, especially a warrior. The term corres- powerful mystic whole. ponding most closely to jarl in semantic cover- age is ealdor and its compounds, as ealdor- We have Christianity to thank for the fact mann (chief, prince, nobleman), though there that the poems were written down at all. Only were a number of other terms for king and tiny fragments remain of the runic writing in prince. Another class of society was that of the use before the introduction of the half-uncial cheorl (churl, common man), above that of script from Ireland, from the seventh century the theow (servant, slave). In addition there was onwards, and in any case, were mostly a class known as laet, and the half-free." used for carving on wood, bone and stone. Which of these classes produced scops, or The scop in Old English society whether all of them did, is not known for cer- tain. Bede's account of the poet Caedmon, who As previously mentioned, the scop or gleo- died in 680, states that he received the gift of mann (glee-man) was a retainer of the lord, a scop-gereord (poetic voice or language) in a warrior chief. There is evidence that at least dream, when he had gone out to the cattle-stall, some of the fraternity were wandering minstrels, it being his turn to watch the beasts that night. attaching themselves to any lord willing to He is thus unlikely to have been of noble birth, employ them, and departing when the wander- and indeed, the next day he betook himself to lust took them again.8 But whether in per- the tun-geref (town-reeve, bailiff), who was his manent or temporary employment, the scop ealdor-mann. Caedmon had gone out to the was utterly dependent on his 'gold-friend', the stall from a banquet he was attending, and lord, and could be replaced if he failed to give which he left largely out of shame at being satisfaction. The minstrel author of 'Deor' unable to participate 'when for the sake of had the unhappy experience of having his 'land- mirth it was decreed that each should in turn right' taken from him and given to 'Heorrenda, sing to the harp'.12 We thus have indications a man skilled in song', after many winters as of a society in which even the lowliest may scop of the Heodenings. His position was no have been acquainted with poetry, and appar- sinecure; he had to be able to fulfil what was ently expected, at least on occasion, to perform expected of him, and this appears to have in- it, whether a fully-fledged scop or not.

14 It seems unlikely that the scop composed could count as two words), and of these stressed his own poetry, apart from selecting and arrang- syllables at least two, and often three, began ing themes, plots and poetic expressions from with an alliterating sound. It is also customary the common stock, although no doubt many to assume a break or caesura between the added expressions of their own, on traditional second and third stresses, dividing the line lines. We know the names of a few Christian into two halves; at least one stress in each , such as Caedmon and Cynewulf, but half-line alliterated with one in the other. Un- most of the poetry is anonymous. It may be stressed syllables were apparently not counted, that minstrelsy was mainly in the hands of a and their number was probably governed by minority of practitioners, but it seems that the the criterion of manageability. In the older poetry as a whole was common heritage; men poetry they are generally few, ranging from of noble lineage, as well as Caedmon's ban- none to a maximum of six in any one 'slot'. quet-companions, were often accomplished Examples are from Beowulf (with the stressed performers on the harp. The scop then is syllables printed in bold): perhaps rather to be regarded as a professional among amateurs, than as posessing a skill \y\lde-rmce ac he hrathe v/olde (the man of war but he swiftly was peculiar to himself alone. minded) Characteristics of Old English poetry (1.1576; 1 and 3 alliterate) Fvndon dha on s&nde s&wul-le&sne It is supposed that the poetry was originally (Found they there on the sand [him] intended to be sung, or more probably chanted, lifeless to the accompaniment of the harp; there are 1.3033; 2 and 3 alliterate) numerous references in the literature to the wyrm ofer weall-c/// leton weg niman sound of the harp in connection with the scop's (the worm [dragon] over the wall-cliff performance.13 We have no means of knowing they let take [his] way [they pushed the whether the poetry was sung to a melody or dragon over the cliff]) not; song-craejt covers poetry as well as song,14 (1.3132; 1, 2 and 3 alliterate) and terms such as hleothor appear to have The total range of alliterations was sixteen reference to any sound made by the voice, cry or seventeen sounds. All vowels alliterated with as well as singing. It is most probable however each other: that the harp was used for striking chords at ennne anhagan off gebindadh stressed syllables, rather than for playing a (the wretched solitary [man] often bind) tune, when it accompanied the kind of poetry (The Wanderer, 1.46; 1, 2 and 3 alliterate) under discussion. Even so we do not know whether the chords were struck in regular Alliterating consonants were b, c, d, f, g, h, rhythm or not, though in the earliest kind of I, m, n, r, s, t, w, y; th and dh (thorn and poetry this is possible. The lines there are short barred d) alliterated together. There is some doubt about p, which occurs in initial position and of fairly even length, whereas in later 15 poetry, with some exceptions, the lines have only in late loans. become longer and less even, and we may Towards the end of the Old English period, assume that the harp no longer accompanied rhyme begins to make an appearance. Some- declamation. In fact, this poetry was probably times the two half-lines rhyme together, a read silently rather than recited. feature found in 'Judith', composed probably towards 900 A.D.; and sometimes there are The alliterative metre alliterating pairs of items, as hlynede and Of the various kinds of patterning theoreti- dynede (resounded and vociferated). With one cally available, Old German poets fixed on that notable exception, however, rhyme in Old of initial rhyme, or alliteration. We are fairly English poetry is sporadic, and certainly not certain that Old English, like its relations and an integral part of the form.16 its modern descendant, had strong/weak stress distinctions, and the strong stresses were taken as points of reference in the organization of the The other major technique was that of verse. The line was composed of words of the . The term is from Old Norse which four contained strong stress (compounds kenning (pi. kenningar, originally meaning sign

15 or mark of recognition) cognate with kenna hring-mael (ring-mark [ringed sword]); (to know). In reference to poetic diction, it hamera-laf (hammered inheritance); beado- means synonym or descriptive phrase, standing leoma (battle-light); hilde-leoma (war light); in place of a more direct term. In Beowulf, gudh-wine (battle-friend). hall or building is expressed by some thirty The class of kennings includes expressions different items; for lord there are at least based on metonymy or synecdoche. twenty-five, and similarly for subject or fol- lower. The kenning is frequently a compound, With this range of terms at his command, e.g. beado-leoma (battle-light for sword). Since the scop could include sword in ten allitera- warfare is a major theme, the kennings for the tions out of the sixteen. One third of the voca- various aspects of battle and military equipment bulary of the poem Beowulf consists of com- are most numerous. Here is a selection of the pounds of the kind shown under (c) and (d); kennings for sword: there is on average a compound in every other (a) synonyms: sweord, bill, heoru, secg, brond line, and a new compound every third line. (b) near-synonyms: mece (blade); ecg (edge); The kenning had also another function, in ire (iron) (c) expansions: beado-mece (battle-blade); addition to substitution for the more direct hilde-bil (war-sword); gudh-bil (battle- term in obedience to the requirements of sword); hdeft-mece (hilted blade) alliteration. Kennings were introduced for (d) descriptive and metaphorical compounds: variation, which was in part decorative, and in brogden-mael (ornamented mark); sceaden- part a retarding device or 'padding', in the mael (shadowed mark); wunden-mael same way as the Homeric or epic simile. The (waved mark); waeg-sweord (wavy sword; following eleven lines from Beowulf merely this and the three preceding all have refer- record that the warriors bestowed their armour ence to the damascening of the blade); in a ship and set sail:

flota waes on ydhwn the floater was on the bat under beorge. Beornas gearwe waves, on stefn stigon — streamas wundon, the boat beneath the sund widh sande; secgas naeron cliffs. The warriors eagerly on bearm nacan beorhte fraetwe, on the prow embark- gudh-searo geatolic; guman ut scufon, ed — the currents swirled, weras on wil-sidh wudu bondene. the sea against the Gewat tha ofer sand; the men bore wcteg-holm winde gefysed to the bosom of the flota fami-heals fugle gelicost, ves'sel the bright treasure, odh thaet ymb anlid olhres dogorcs splendid war-gear; the men pushed out, wundcn-stefna qcwaden haefde . . . heroes on the willing (11. 210-20) venture. the bounden wood. Went then over the wave-sea driven by the wind the foamy-necked floater most like to a bird, until after due time on the following day the bound stem had travelled . . .

'Ship' is mentioned seven times, each time for aesthetic or more practical considerations, with a different kenning, and in addition, 'men' such as mnemonic device, or retarding device and 'sea' are each expressed by four different while the poet remembered the next part of terms. This is a point which will become of his tale, or to spin out the tale to a satisfactory importance when examining the poetry of the length. Norse ; the kenning in Old English had This can be compared to the use of expres- a two-fold function — to assist in the allitera- sions carrying the imagery in Shona nhetembo, tive metre, and to serve as variation, whether where likewise one finds a succession of what

16 may equally justifiably be called kennings, while the Norsemen continued their raiding similaly often in the form of compounds, and and pillaging for several centuries more. The which sometimes virtually constitute the poem. necessarily defensive stance of the English re- quired them to be more unified and co-operative SKALDIC VERSE17 than was the case with the small bands of marauders produced in Scandinavia. The type of Norse poetry to be considered here is that of the skalds. The term means There was much in common between the poet in a very wide sense, but is particularly ethos of both. The duty of vengeance for the applied to the court poets of the ninth to killing of lord or kinsman, for example, was fourteenth centuries. Skaldic poetry differs from a matter of importance to English and Norse both Old English and traditional Shona poetry alike, as is clear from the laws of Anglo-Saxon in that it is known to be the product of indivi- England,19 but this theme does not appear in duals, whose names and often life-stories are to anything like the extent recorded. The first known skald, Bod- to which it does in the Norse. The Icelandic dason, was a Norwegian of the first half of the , in particular, frequently show the blood- ninth century, and we know of some 250 skalds feud as central in tales like that of Flosi and by name. Njal in the Brennu-Njdlssaga. The literature, The early societies of the Scandinavian both prose and poetry, is full of personal peoples — Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, eventu- tragedies brought about by conflicting loyalties ally Icelanders and Greenlanders — were also requiring vengeance to be taken against one side organized chiefly for war, but here the warfare on account of the other. was far more, and for far longer, offensive. Communities seem to have been smaller and The skald: in Norse society less coherent than in England, and men were The skald was not entirely comparable to more mobile. It was not unusual for a man the English scop. While a few skalds were to spend some months of every year in piracy professionals, most were men of aristocratic and raiding, and Viking adventurers went as birth, who used their poetic skill to gain favours far afield as Athens and Constantinople, offer- from those in power. This was especially the ing their services as mercenaries, or on slave- case with 'colonials' from , trying to hunting raids, as well as visiting the Norse make their way in the mother-country of Nor- colonies in the Orkneys, Ireland, Iceland and way. 'In the eleventh century most of the poets the English mainland. of the Norwegian courts were Icelanders; . . . Icelandic gentlemen used their skaldic arts as Society was organized in three classes, re- a means of introduction and advancement in garded as divinely ordained: the thrall, or slave the halls of kings and earls, and they class; the freeman; and the jarl, the aristocracy carried their songs to all Scandinavian lands, who possessed most of the wealth and power. and even to England.'20 Further, 'high among Men of noble birth were looked on as des- the accomplishments of a young gentleman cended from the gods, in pagan times at least, of high birth came the ability to compose in and from the turbulent history of the Scandi- skaldic metres'.21 Rognvald Kali, Earl of the navian countries in the era c. 700-1000, it is Orkneys from 1135 to 1158, lists in verse the clear that anyone with the requisite lineage, attainments of a gentleman, and in addition to who could command the necessary support, the ability to read runes, row and ski he men- could make himself a king.18 These petty kings tions harp-sldtt ok brag-thaltu (harp-playing had no established capital city, as did the and the art of poetry).22 English, but moved round their territories, expecting hospitality from their wealthier sub- More than one instance is recorded of a jects. man's being spared his life through having com- posed a suitable poem. Perhaps the most Old Norse society was much more favour- famous is that of SkaHagrimsson (born able to the individual of strong personality and c. 910), who obtained his life—temporarily at ambition than was the Anglo-Saxon. The least—from King Eric Blood-axe by composing English rapidly became sedentary after their and reciting a drdpa in praise of that grim ruler. successful conquest and settlement of Britain, We learn incidentally from the of his life

17 that skaldic poetry was at least sometimes re- vocabulary, with terms for the different genres cited rather than sung or declaimed to the harp, of poetry and the various aspects of metre. t- V since Egil is said to have 'raised up [begun] Skaldic metre was far stricter than Old English, the poem and spoken loudly and got a hearing in requiring counting of syllables, as well as [lit. silence] at once',23 with no mention of an of stress, and rhyme as well as alliteration. accompanying harp. The verg kvedha, glossed There were many more varieties of metre than here by 'speak', is used of saying, declaring, in English, or at least, in what has survived declaiming, uttering, reciting or even shouting of the latter. , in the Hattatdl, or crying aloud, but apparently not of singing. mentions and exemplifies a large number of A Thus, although we know that playing the harp metres with different numbers of syllables per and singing were certainly part of Norse culture, line, and different arrangements of rhymes. skaldic poetry was not necessarily associated Assonance was permitted, as well as true rhyme with them. called adhal-hending (noble rhyme), and a curious kind of final alliteration, called skot- The picture we have, then, is of the skald hending, as, for example, in sang and bring. as very frequently an amateur, whose poetry Although a great variety of metres was per- was the creation of an individual, composed mitted, no departure from the basic require- with the aim of helping the composer to obtain ments of counted syllables, alliteration and something he desired from a king. He was rhyme was tolerated. Thus although many always of noble birth, of the same social class different forms were at the service of the skald, as the king, although not as sucessful or for- he was much more restricted, within those tunate in having acquired power. forms, than was the English scop with his less arduous alliterative metre. Characteristics of skaldic verse Since much of the poetry is in the This led to much distortion of syntax. An form of addresses to a powerful king or earl, example from Egil Skallagn'mson is: thar's it is, as one might expect, encomiastic in the i bloahi / / brimils modhi / / vb'llr of thrumdhi j and veum glumdhi; which according to Gor- main. We are however told of 'scores of in- 27 stances . . . when the ruler was criticized, don is logically ordered brimilis' vollr glumdhi warned, exhorted, excoriated by his skald, who i modhi und veum, thar's i blodhi of thrumdhi thus sometimes incurred the wrath and some- (for translation, see below, p. 19). Another times earned the gratitude of his sovereign'.24 feature, shared to some extent by English, This kind of content is found more frequently was the inclusion of parenthetic sentences, such in the form of a lausavisa or kvidhling, a single as hugat maelik thar (a considered [thing] 1 stanza or even a couplet of epigrammatic speak there). character, often supposedly composed on the spur of the moment. Lausavisur are found in Kennings abundance throughout the sagas, where dream The technique of variation is very little warnings and threats are often conveyed by this used in Old Norse poetry; the kenning is not means, as well as the comments of the per- used to express differently what has been said sonages on events.25 The eulogistic poem was before, nor is it a delaying device. On the other generally longer, in the form of a flokkr, short hand, the art of the kenning has been developed lay without refrain, or a drdpa, a longer lay beyond its function in English, to the point with a refrain of 2-4 lines every 2-4 stanzas. where it becomes an esoteric term. It has been Egil's 'Head-ransom' drdpa (Hofudh-lausn) was calculated that in the extant poetry of one of twenty stanzas, with two refrains, and, as typical skald, Sigvat, one third to one half of in almost all Norse poetry, 'the warlike note the vocabulary is poetic diction, not found in predominated'.26 prose writings, and an extreme case is that of Eilifr Godninarson, whose vocabulary is nine- Skaldic metre tenths poetic diction. We know a considerable amount on the technical side of skaldic verse, since in the As has often been remarked, practically twelfth or thirteenth century, while it was still nothing in skaldic verse is referred to by its flourishing, it was written about, as well as be- ordinary name. In Old English, as in Shona ing written down. There was a full technical poetry, kennings serve for embellishment and

18 variation; there was no intention of setting verse, however, the kenning is used instead of the audience a puzzle to solve. The object in the more direct term, and there is no repetition. question is very often given an ordinary term, For example, here is the fifth stanza from Egil's and this is followed by kennings. In skaldic 'Head-ransom' drdpa:

Vasa villr stadhar vefr darradhar Went not astray the weaving of spears fyr grams glodhum geirvangs rodhum before the king's spear-field's thar's i blod'hi i brimils modhi [shield's] ranks vollr of thrumdhi und veum glumdhi. there in blood in the seal's meadow [sea] the plain too lay under banners roar- ing. Since the subject of the poetry is warfare superficial apearance of variation, as in another more often than not, there is sometimes a extract from the same drdpa:

Hlam heimsodhul vidh hjalmrodhul Clashed whetstone- against helmet-sun belt bengrefill — that vas blodhrefill. saddle [sword] [sword] Frdk at felli fyr fetils svelli bit wound-engraver that was a blood-? Odhins eiki i jdrnleiki. [sword] — [sword-point], I heard that [there] before the belt's ice fell [sword] 's oaks [men] in the iron-play [battle]. but this is best regarded as variation on a theme, faith official until the year 1 000. Hence the re- rather than variation in presentation of the ference to stories of the old gods in poetry same information, as in the citation from is not necessarily a poetic convention. None- Beowulf (p. 16 above). In this case, the sword- theless, by the time of Snorri Sturluson strokes referred to in the first and second lines (1178-1241), the knowledge required for under- are not assumed to be the same. standing and creating the kennings was fast becoming lost, which prompted Snorri to write Mastery of Norse kennings demanded pro- the 'Prose' Edd'a, consisting of legends of the found knowledge of the myths and legends of gods1, an account of poetic diction, and a dis- pagan times. Examples of kennings using this course on the skaldic metres. source are Frodha mjol (Frodhi's meal [flour]) for gold, in reference to the legendary King Skaldic kennings show a higher degree of Frodhi, who possessed a magic mill which complexity than those of the other two cultures. ground gold instead of flour. Odhins seiki 'Prince of the bone of the island' is a kenning for '; the 'bone of the island' is rock, (Odin's oaks, the kenning for men in the 'Head- and dwarves were conceived of as living under- ransom') includes the name of the Allfather, ground and engaging in mining, hence the chief of the Norse gods, Odin (Wotan in Old 'prince' of the rock meant the dwarf, who English). Sometimes the allusion could be even possessed it as his realm. 'Goddess of the white more obscure: d-brandr (river-fire) is another land of the hawk' alludes to the sport of hawk- term for gold, but here the allusion is to the ing, when the bird was carried on the arm, its legend of the Niflungs (Niebelungs), whose 'white land'; the 'goddess' of the arm was the hoard of gold sank in the River Rhine, there to lady.28 Hollander also cites the following, in gleam like flames beneath the waves. which there are tiers or 'layers' of meaning: Christianity was adopted in the Norse Haka dyrs bliks dyns saedhinga hungrdeyfir countries much later than in England, particul- = warrior arly in Iceland, where the Althing, the High (lit. Haki's animal's glamour's din's seagulls' Council of the island, did not make the new hunger-slayer [appeaser]). 19 The analysis is: its conformity to rigid conventions, which Haki: name of a Viking chief, gen. Haka affected many more features than in Shona or (Vikings were great seafarers) English. Unlike Enkvist's 'officialese' writers, however, the skalds can scarcely be said to have Haka dyr: Haki's animal ship (on which aimed at self-effacement! he 'rode' the seas) In order to explain this apparent paradox, Haka dyrs blik: glamour of Haki's animal one has to call in the fact that Norse society — shields (Viking ships were decorated was sharply divided into the earl, freeman and with shields carried along the sides) thrall classes, regarded as of divine ordinance, Haka dyrs bliks dynr: din of the glamour of and thus without mobility between classes. As Haki's animal = battle (in which shields far as can be ascertained, practice of the clash together, making a noise, or din) skaldic art was limited to the earl class; hence the preservation of the characteristics- of the Haka dyrs bliks dyns saedhingr: seagull of art unchanged through centuries, marking the the din, etc = raven (scavenger of the earl class off from both the others, was almost battle-field, also the bird of Odin, god a religious duty. It is indeed difficult here to of the dead) separate the structure of society from religious belief, since the two were so bound up together Haka dyrs bliks dyns s'aedhinga, hungrdeyfir: (and in any case, religious belief can be re- hunger-slayer [appeaser] of the seagulls garded as a social phenomenon). of the din, etc. — warrior, who provides the raven with food in the form of corpses. COMPARISONS AND CONCLUSIONS Unravelling a skaldic kenning must have Superficially, the skald and the scop had given a pleasure akin to ours in solving a much in common. Both were 'court' poets, crossword clue. Some kennings indeed are still practising an art which in the case of the skald obscure; we know for instance that skip dverga was definitely limited to persons of a social (ship of the dwarves) means 'poetry', but the class, and in that of the scop, was as a profes- allusion is so far untraced.29 sion in the hands of a minority. This marks the Germanic poets off from the Shona, where in There is at first sight a curious paradox in 31 skaldic poetry. The society which produced it traditional society everyone was a poet. There was intensely individualistic, and indeed, many is however an important difference in the posi- skalds were men of considerable, even colour- tion and functions of the skald as opposed to ful, personality; yet the skald was bound by the scop. The skald was rarely a professional, conventions far more restrictive than those in the sense of earning his living by his art; applying to the English scop, or the traditional his aim was to obtain wealth, position or some Shona poet. The independence and self-reliance other favour in return for his displays of skill. of the typical Norseman seem to sort ill with His relat'onship was primarily with the person the limited themes and approaches, and very of the ruler, to whom he addressed his poems, circumscribed forms of his poetry. There was the subject of which was the individual ad- none of the freedom to experiment and variety dressed. The scop was more often a professional of form such as are found in, say, later Euro- minstrel, and his aim less narrowly focused; pean poetry. Skalds did not apparently seek his function was to exhort the followers of the to be different from each other as poets, in lord to courage and loyalty in the service of originality of form or even subject-matter; they their master, rather than to flatter the lord only tried to outdo each other by excelling himself. The emphasis is different: the skald within very narrow confines. reinforced the ruler's own sense of his position and reputation, in the more individualistic In this connection it is interesting to con- society, while the scop concentrated on the en- sider Enkvist's discussion of 'group styles' and couragement of heroic virtues as a factor in 'individual styles'.30 All three societies gave rise promoting the well-being of the whole society. to poetry which could be classified as 'group It is true that the scop contributed to the sup- style', but Old Norse poetry was, if one may port of the chieftainship, but he did so rather use the phrase, more 'group' than the others, in indirectly, and his work served to reinforce the

20 position, rather than the individual holder of to them, and one might therefore say that it. another function of skaldic verse was to rein- force the awareness, of giver and recipient, In this respect the scop has more in com- of membership of the earl class. This is not mon with the Shona poet. Both are concerned quite comparable to the superficially similar with a wider spectrum of relationships than is function of nhetembo in reinforcing awareness the skald, and both support the structure of of clan membership; nhetembo are not limited society, or part of it: the clan system among 32 to one clan, though each clan has its specific the Shona, the unity and effectiveness of the praises, and one clan is praised, as it were, inter warrior band in Old English, or, in later poetry, pares. Quite often nhetembo are recited by the Christian ethic and the authority of the members of other clans, whereas both skald Church. and addressee were invariably of the same It seems useful here to draw a distinction social class. between the purpose and the function of the poetry. One can say, for instance, that the As previously shown, we are not sure about purpose of nhetembo dzorudzi is to praise a the social class, if any, from which scops particular clan through one of its members, predominantly came, and this in itself is some but that the function is to cement relationships measure of the difference in function of English between clans, and to increase the awareness and Norse poetry. Social class was in any case of clan membership in the mind of the recipient less clear-cut in England, and despite the fre- — all of which contributes to the strengthening quent references to the heroic society as 'aristo- of the clan system.33 It may be possible, then, cratic', there is nothing in the poetry which for poetry in two different societies to have appears to warrant the supposition that part purposes of similar nature, while their functions of its function was to support this aspect of are quite different. The purpose is that which social organization. The pagan and semi- is immediately perceptible, even to the outsider; Christian poetry is concerned more with in- the function, or role, has to do with relation- culcating qualities useful in the state of siege ships within the structure of a society, and is — both physical and mental — in which the only apparent to members of the society, or English found themselves. those with profound knowledge of it. (Such There are two major resemblances between knowledge may be, for the members, intuitive Shona nhetembo and Old English poetry, as and not fully conscious.) already pointed out. One is the use of kennings In both Shona and English, the poet was as a means of variation, repetition of the same not so important as his poetry; in the society, message and frequently using direct terms as provided that someone was at hand to fulfil well as kennings. Old Norse prefers the kenning the function, it was of little moment who it to the direct term, and uses little if any varia- was. In Norse, by contrast, one of the functions tion in this sense. Secondly, kennings in Shona of the verse was to gain favours for the ambi- and English are relatively simple, whereas the tious or supplicant individual, and it was im- Norse kenning is frequently more laboured and portant that the poetry be known as that of a complex, and often 'layered'. particular man. Hence the anonymity, on the This is despite certain facts which would whole, of the Shona and English poets, as op- seem a priori to produce different groupings. posed to the quite different situation for the The purpose of the poetry in both Shona and skalds. While all were dealing in, or drawing Old Norse is similar — to praise — while from, a common pool of traditional themes and English is narrative or meditative; and on the expression types, we are not aware of the con- technical side, the demands of alliterative metre tributions to the stock of specific individuals 34 affect both English and Norse, but Shona not in the two former societies. at all. The function of the poetry is closely bound We receive the impression from skaldic up with the poet's place in society. As previous- verse of a deliberate esotericism, rather than ly noted, poetry in the Norse lands, skaldic the wish to use a striking image, the cultivation poetry, at least, was the property of the earl of a diction which could only be decoded by class alone. The lower classes had no part those 'in the know'. Such knowledge was part in it; it was neither composed by nor addressed of the heritage and training of a few, by virtue

21 of their membership of a certain social class. presented by means of variation, and thus not No such impression is given by Shona and open to misinterpretation, there are allusions Old English; quite the reverse, in fact, for which do require special knowledge, of history, the repetition by variation shows if anything of legends and myths, and which may or may an anxiety lest the message be lost through not have been public property. An extreme obscurity of expression. example of this is the poem 'Widsith', which is little more than a catalogue of kings of On the other hand, one can adduce other various countries and times. We do not know possible reasons for the English and Shona whether this was composed in order to display situations. It has, for instance, been suggested the scop's knowledge, or as a help to a young that the English use of kennings owes at least scop in training, or whether it would have been something to the clamorous conditions pre- readily comprehensible to his customary audi- valent in the banquet-hall; and one may per- ence. For us at least, some of it is now lost: haps add that the scop might have been aware no-one knows who were Hlithe, Incgentheow of differences of intellectual attainment among and Wyrmhere, save that they were probably his hearers, and repeated for the weaker breth- Goths, nor the 'Geat' whose 'love for Maeth- ren what they may not have grasped at first, hild' is mentioned by Deor. 'That passed away, though in such a way as not to offend the so may this' (Thaes ofereode, thisises swa- brighter minds. In the nhetembo, variation is maeg), and indeed it has, all too completely, of a slightly different kind, in that it rarely from human memory. It is saddening to an presents1 an event, but is usually descriptive and English speaker to realize that he may more eulogistic of, for instance, the clan animal or fully understand the literature of the Shona the qualities of the clan members. Here the than the far past of his own. stimulus might be a desire to convey the sincer- ity of the speaker's gratitude, by means of his One should not leave the subject of the re- willingness to continue producing imagery in lationship between society and poetry without the service of the clan being thanked. It can a brief mention of what may be called 'second- hardly be attributed to 'noise in the system', or ary' or 'derived' literature, that is, the use of want of intelligence or knowledge in the audi- a formal genre for a purpose and/or function ence; no actual information is being communi- other than that for which it was originally de- cated, and it is quite clear to both parties what veloped. It appears that among the traditional is happening, so that 'noise' would be irrelevant, Shona, where poetry was very much more part even if the circumstances of recital were not of daily life than it has been for many centuries ideal. in Europe, there is little if any 'secondary' literature; Fortune's description of the genres It could be argued that Shona imagery is assigns a social role to all of them. But in to some extent esoteric, in that its composition both English and Norse literature, there is a and understanding presupposes considerable good deal of poetry which is clearly of the knowledge of the clan history and reputation, derived kind. For example, even some skalds of natural phenomena, word-building processes, used their art for purposes other than flattering and a sharp observation of similarities between a king; there are a number of sagas telling the apparently dissimilar objects. This can how- tale of a love-lorn skald, and containing love- ever be assumed in a Shona, since it is part poetry in precisely the same metre and style of his heritage and training as a clan member as that used to praise a ruler. Hollander notes and Shona speaker brought up in the traditional the incongruity of the metre known as drott- way. One cannot compare this kind of know- kvaet, developed for the drdpa as eulogium, for ledge to that required for skaldic composition erotic poetry, and comments that it is 'a harsh manacle for the more playful sentiments or and appreciation, the preserve of one social 35 class; all Shona are members of a clan, and passionate outbursts of love'. The later have, or had, the training necessary. Christian poetry of the Anglo-Saxons was like- wise a secondary form; both style and ap- As usual, the English situation is not so proach were (as noted above on p. 13) derived clear cut, and seems to contain a compromise. from the heroic poetry, and sits rather uneasily While the main events of narrative poetry, and on the Christian content. God is designated the major themes of the meditative kind, are 'Lord of Warriors', and His saints are 'heroes',

22 His angels 'earls' and 'thanes'; there is much with either, since they are for the most part dwelling on battle and the miseries of sea- translations of, or modelled on, Latin enigmas). journeys. Poets are notoriously conservative, or 4 « Clearly this is a subject which needs to be have been until now, and we may expect to find explored at far greater length than is possible little correlation between form and function in here, but perhaps enough has been said to show these works. It may be that secondary litera- that the project is worthwhile, and can throw ture only develops with the advent of writing, up some interesting findings. There is certainly and it will be interesting to see whether Shona enough evidence to show, firstly, that literary produces poetry of this kind, based on tradi- devices may be of the same character among tional techniques. peoples of very different language and culture, and secondly, that the use of these devices is This study has perforce been limited to a at least partly governed by the role of the poetry few selected genres, omitting from consideration, in the society. Morever, similar features in for instance, the Shona madimikira style, especi- societies remote from each other in space and ally as used in nheketerwa, and zvirahwe time can be correlated with similar usage of (riddles) both of which could be fruitfully com- literary device, whereas societies differing in pared with skaldic verse, especially lausavisur, these features may show quite dissimilar usage, 36 in the use of veiled and cryptic language. however closely related they may be in other {Old English riddles are less usefully compared respects culturally and linguistically.

REFERENCES

»G. Fortune, 'Shona traditional poetry', Zambezia, 1971, 2, i, 41-60. See also G. Fortune, 'Variety in Shona literature', NADA, 1972, 10, iv, 69-76. y 2l am indebted to Professor G. Fortune and Mr. A. Hodza for kindly allowing me to see and quote from r their forthcoming book on Shona traditional poetry, from which the Tembo praise is taken. The lines are selected from the full version; I have omitted tone-marks and hyphenated compounds. The conventions as to bold and italic type are as in Fortune's Zambezia article. sThe Old English is taken from F. Klaeber's edition of 1941 (Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg, Boston, D.C. Heath), which supplies lacunae and expands abbreviations. Conventions adopted in the spelling of the Anglo- Saxon are: ae = ash, dh = barred d, th = thorn, w = wynn; vowel length is unmarked and compounds hy- phenated. The same conventions are observed for the spelling of Old Norse, save that vowel length is marked by acute accent, 6 is used, and compounds only occasionally hyphenated. Translations are by the present writer. 'Fortune, 'Shona traditional poetry', 51-2, 53. sE. V. Gordon, An Introduction to Old Norse, 2nd edit., revised by A. R. Taylor, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1957, p.xxxvii. «The customary hierarchy is used here, that is, from lowest to highest: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics. 'The Exeter Book (Exeter Cathedral), the Vercelli Book (Vercelli Cathedral), Ms Cotton Vitellius A xv (British Museum), and Ms Junius II (Bodley, Oxford). «Cf. 'Widsith': Swa scrithende gesceapum hweorjath gleo-men gumena geond grund fela. (Thus the wandering go as fate [decrees] the glee-men of men through many lands.) s»D. Whitelock, The Audience of Beowulf, London, Oxford Univ. Press, 1959, p. 87. ioSee p.17. I'For a detailed account of the classes of society, see D. Whitelock, The Beginnings of English Society, London, Penguin, 1952, ch. 5, especially for a discussion of the change in the meaning of terms such as thegn and gesith, sometimes used to designate the upper classes. izthonne thaer waes blisse intinga gedemed thaet hie ealle sceolden thurh endebyrdnesse be hearpan singan, from the version given in Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader, 10th edit., Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1946, p.42. isCf. Beowulf: Scop hwilum sang hador on Heorote. (The minstrel at 1 4- times sang clear-voiced in Heorot [the royal hall].) 11. 496-7. Thaer waes sang ond swaeg samod aetgaedere for Healfdenes hilde-wisan, gomen-wudu greted, gid oft wrecen, thonne heal-gamen Hrothgares scop

23 aefter medo-benc maenan scolde. There was song and sound both together before 's battle leader the joy-wood (harp) touched, the song oft uttered, when entertainment Hrothgar's minstrel along the mead-bench was obliged to proclaim. (11. 1063-7) Elsewhere we read of hearpan swe% (sound of the harp) in similar context (11. 89, 2458, 3023) and, in 'Widsith': hlude bi hearpan hleothor swingsade loud to the harp the song resounded '••In the proem to Alfred's translation of Boethius it is stated that 'when he had studied this book, and turned it from Latin into English spelle (prose), then wrought he it afterwards into leothe (poetry).' leoth is basically 'song'. 1sIn 'The Battle of Maldon', prass (fine array, pomp) alliterates with the place-name Panta (Blackwater), but p does not occur initially in any word in Beowulf. '5The Rhyming Poem of the Exeter Book has end-rhyme as well as alliteration, and is written in couplets. We may svippose that there were other poems of like kind, but the rhyming forms were apparently not favoured in heroic and Christian poetry. Alliteration persisted by the side of rhyme as a metrical form, especially in the North, up to the fourteenth century, as in 'Sir Gawayn and the Grene Knyght'. l7This section owes much to Gordon, An Introduction to Old Norse, to L. M. Hollander, The Skalds, Prince- ton, Princeton Univ. Press, 1945, and to G. Jones, A History of the Vikings, London, Oxford Univ. Press, 1968; equally, a debt is owing to my old teacher, now Professor G. Turville-Petre, whose stimulating Oxford lectures in the years 1947-50 first introduced me to Norse literature. It should be added that skaldic verse is not, of course, the only kind of Old Norse poetry. The 'Elder' or 'Poetic' are in an older simpler style, including narrative, and in many ways arc closer to Old English. These poems deal with heroic legend, tales of the gods and traditional wisdom, but we have no means of knowing, as we do for skaldic verse, anything of the background, composers or performers, nor in what context recitation took place. Their relation to the rest of the social environment is unknown, and nothing can thus be said of their function. It is interesting, naturally, to note the many similarities to English in the stock of synonyms and periphrases, and the differences, such as the vividness, dramatic, power and robustness of the Edda, contrasting with the slower-moving, dignified and somewhat melancholy tone of the Old English. We can however make no attempt to relate these features to extra-literary factors. 'ajones, A History of the Vikings, p.151: 'during most of the Scandinavia presents us with a picture of too few supreme monarchs'. After the beginning of the eleventh century the picture changed somewhat. isWhitelock, The Audience of Beowulf, p. 15: 'One of the codes of King Edmund (939-46) attemped to curb the blood-feud', and this was long after the introduction of Christianity. z°Gordon, An Introduction to Old Norse, p.xliii. ^Hollander, The Skalds, p.5. z^Gordon, An Introduction to Old Norse, p.155, gives the Norse version. Z3lbid., p.112: 'hof upp kvaedhit ok kvadh hatt ok fekk thegar hljodh'. "Hollander, The Skalds, p.6. One notable example is that of Sigvat Thordarson, who succeeded in persuading the young King Magnus Olafsson to abate his fury against the enemies of his father, by means of the Bersog- lisvisur (Outspoken verses), as related by Hollander, p.167 ff. asOne must, I think, have some reservations about the authenticity of some of the lausavisur, especially as related in the sagas. Many of them are probably the compositions of those who wrote down the present versions, most of which are of a later date than the events narrated. This is a literary device of the author, not the reputed speaker, and cannot be taken to represent a social institution such as the kutukana of the Shona. zsHollander, The Skalds, p.19. 2?Gordon, An Introduction to Old Norse, p.233, note to 11. 189-90. zsHollander, The Skalds, p.121; the elaborate kenning for 'warrior' is taken from p.13. zslbid., p. 116, fn. 65. 3°N. E. Enkvist in Linguistics and Style, ed. J. Spencer, London, Oxford Univ. Press, 1964, p.22. 3'Fortune, 'Shona traditional poetry', 41-2. 32Other forms of poetry of course support different parts of the structure; for example, the madanha emugudza supports the institution of marriage. 33Cf. Fortune's use of 'social role' and 'functional use' in 'Shona traditional poetry', 41-2. I would regard 'role' and 'function' as synonymous for present purposes. 3"Klaeber, Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg, p.lxiii, states: 'A good many terms are nowhere recorded outside of Beowulf, and not a few of these may be confidently set down as of the poet's own coinage.' I feel this can hardly be maintained in view of the certain fact that much of Anglo-Saxon literature has perished, and of the probability, at the very least, that Beowulf is not the work of one hand. 35Hollander, The Skalds, p. 118. S for example, Fortune, 'Shona traditional poetry', 55.

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4 POSTSCRIPT

This article was based on a series of lectures given for several years in the African Oral Literature course at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. After the present issue of Zambezia had gone to press, my attention was drawn to the article by J. Opland, 'Scop and Imbongi: Anglo-Saxon and Bantu oral poets' (in English Studies in Africa, (1971), 14, 161-78). Opland's purpose is rather different from mine, in that he explores the 'contribution that can be made to our appreciation of Anglo-Saxon literature by a study of the Bantu oral tradition', but he makes a number of similar points, such as the social role of scop and Norse skald, and 'the resemblance between the two societies [Anglo- Saxon and Zulu], with their twin focal points of kin and chief. He likewise emphasizes the fact that we know more about African oral poetry than our own, > 4 and notes certain techniques such as those of caesura and variation, common to Anglo-Saxon and Xhosa poetry. However, perhaps the statement most relevant in the immediate context is this: 'It is an attractive hypothesis that societies similar in structure will produce literatures with strong similarities' (p. 176). I hope the present article will have gone some way towards confirmation of Opland's hypo- thesis, and in pointing out that the converse also holds good.

H.C.

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