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Repetition in Old Norse Eddic Poetry: Poetic Style, Voice, and Desire

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Repetition in Old Norse Eddic Poetry: Poetic Style, Voice, and Desire Repetition in Old Norse Eddic Poetry: Poetic Style, Voice, and Desire Peter Benedict Sandberg University College London PhD in Scandinavian Studies January 2018 1 I, Peter Benedict Sandberg, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Abstract This thesis examines the use of repetition as a poetic device in Old Norse Eddic verse from a primarily stylistic point of view. Previous studies have noted the prominence of repetition as a feature of Eddic poetry, but without engaging in an in-depth analysis of the use and significance of Eddic repetition as this thesis does. The analysis begins at the level of syntax in the Eddic strophe, establishing in the first place the syntactic formulae that constitute the most basic building blocks of repetition in Eddic poetry, focusing closely on individual lines and strophes from a broad range of texts. From there the analysis follows the increasing complexity of Eddic repetition, moving from pure syntax to the use of deictic markers in dialogic repetition, as well as the distinct yet clearly related style of repetition of individual words in Eddic poems. These strands of analysis are finally synthesized in the examination of the sophisticated programs of repetition in certain individual poems, particularly Skírnismál and Vǫlundarkviða. Through an analysis of the stylistic structure of repetition in these texts, a completely new reading and fresh understanding of them is possible. The methodological basis of the thesis is close reading and linguistic and stylistic analysis, with extensive reference to a wide range of linguistic, literary, and critical theory. Methodological sources have been selected on the basis of their usefulness to the task at hand rather than the validation of a wider methodological program, and the results provide a productive interrogation both of existing scholarship on Eddic poetry and of the assumptions of the methodological sources. The result is a new understanding of the source material as well as a valuable addition to the study of verbal art in general. 3 Acknowledgments Alone with our madness and favorite flower, We see that there really is nothing left to write about. Or rather, it is necessary to write about the same old things In the same way, repeating the same things over and over, For love to continue and be gradually different.1 To say that I have Dr. Erin Goeres, my principal supervisor, to thank seems by no means an adequate way of putting it. I feel so lucky to have benefited from your insight, patience, dedication, attention to detail, and fairness. You are the model of a mentor and colleague that I will always seek to emulate. Dr. Haki Antonsson has been a source of support for me for many years and was the one to originally encourage me to undertake a PhD; this thesis would surely not have come about without that encouragement and guidance. This thesis would also never have been possible without my family, Elin, Sara, and Eric Sandberg, who at every stage of the process provided me with support of every conceivable kind. They have all been endlessly patient with me, and have always set the standard of limitless and unconditional kindness I hope to live up to in whatever I do. Professor Chris Abram was the first to teach me Old Norse and his influence has profoundly shaped the direction of my research. Dr. Richard Cole has been not only my friend but a constant source of inspiration to me – I merely follow where he leads the way. 1 Ashbery, John (1979): “Late Echo”, As We Know, New York: Penguin 4 Dr. Lucy Keens – consider the favour repaid, on so many counts. I’d like to thank the members of the UCL Old Norse reading group for keeping me sharp for the last few years, as well as the members of the previous Orðhenglar group for doing the same in the years before that – especially Professor Alison Finlay, who I have always found to be a source of great wisdom. I’d also like to thank Professor Richard North for his support, insight, and profoundly positive encouragement of my work. And Dr. Meg Boulton: your immense spiritual and material support aside – where would I be without you? 5 Table of Contents 1. Introduction p. 9 1.1 Studying Eddic Poetry p. 11 1.1.1 A Brief Genealogy of Eddic Scholarship p. 12 1.1.2 The Context of the Present Study p. 23 1.2 What is Eddic Poetry? p. 25 1.2.1 Bugge, Heusler, and Neckel on Eddic Stylistics: A Case Study p. 36 1.3 Methodology p. 40 1.3.1 Poetics, Stylistics, Close Reading p. 41 1.3.2 Poetics, Psychology, and Old Norse Poetry p. 50 1.3.3 The Poetics of Voice in Eddic Poetry p. 55 1.3.4 Note on Translations p. 57 2. Syntax, Time, Repetition, Parallel p. 59 2.1 Grammatical Fictions: Syntax and Eddic Time p. 61 2.2 Repetition, Parallel, Ellipsis p. 80 2.3 Eddic Grammar and Orality p. 91 6 3. Repetition, Voice, Deixis p. 100 3.1 Patterns of Repetition and Voice: Þrymskviða and Lokasenna p. 102 3.2 Repetition and Voice in Skírnismál: Index and Absence p. 107 3.2.1 Skírnismál: Voice and Person p. 120 3.2.2 Repetition and Voice in Skírnismál: “þíns eða míns munar?” p. 137 4. Repetition of the Word: Metaphoric and Cryptophoric Movements p. 150 4.1 Theories of Metaphor: Conceptual Metaphor, Semantics, and the p. 151 Word 4.2 Metaphoric Expression in Eddic poetry: a Figure in Guðrúnarhvǫt p. 160 4.3 Norns, nauð, ᚾ: Cryptophora p. 167 4.3.1 Texture: Economy and Poetry in Snorra Edda p. 185 4.4 Skírnismál Revisited: Epiphoras of munr p. 198 5. The Structure of Repetition in Vǫlundarkviða: an Economy of Cruelty p. 214 5.1 Reading Vǫlundarkviða and its Characters p. 217 5.2 Repetition and Voice in Vǫlundarkviða p. 229 5.3 Vǫlundarkviða and Desire p. 245 5.3.1 Vǫlundr, Metallurgist p. 248 7 5.3.2 Níðuðr, Masochist p. 258 5.4 Vǫlundarkviða: Repetition and the Economy of Cruelty p. 269 6. Conclusions p. 273 6.1 Repetition as an Aesthetic Principle in Eddic Poetry p. 276 6.1.1 Repetition and Voice in Eddic Poetry p. 282 6.1.2 “Reading” Eddic Poetry/Reading Eddic “Poetry” p. 289 6.2 The Scope of this Study and Areas for Future Research: p. 295 Repetition and Refrain 6.2.1 Eddic Repetition and Genre p. 298 6.3 Concluding Remarks: Old Norse verse and Poetry p. 301 Bibliography p. 303 8 1. Introduction This study examines stylistic structures and strategies in Old Norse Eddic poetry. Already there is a problem with this sentence, in that the scope of the term “Eddic poetry” is by no means a given. We will begin this introductory chapter by examining definitions of the term “Eddic” and delineating the history of study of the subject, thereby establishing some of the parameters for the present study. The heterogeneous and anonymously composed nature of Eddic verse, we shall see, will come to be a major factor in the method of these analyses and in the nature of the conclusions. “Stylistics” is perhaps a less debatable term, yet one that encompasses a wide range of verbal phenomena as well as methods of study. We will examine the history of the study of Eddic style as well as theories of verbal art in general, by way of beginning to establish the methodology to be used in this study. The primary target of analysis here is the use of repetition in Eddic verse, or rather, as we shall see, a number of distinct but related uses of repetition displayed in Eddic poems which together suggest a certain aesthetic of repetition. As we delve deeper into these stylistic phenomena, we will see the entanglement of voice with repetition, and along with it matters of personality and desire. The first level of analysis is that of syntax: in the second chapter we bring together a number of distinct syntactic figures which on the one hand rely on the conventional formal aspects of both Eddic metre and Old Norse grammar, but which on the other hand turn these forms toward an expressive end. We will then move on to larger structures of 9 repetition in the third chapter, examining uses of repetition coupled with deixis and taking as our primary object of study the structure of repetition in the dialogic poem Skírnismál. From here the analysis moves on to the repetition of individual words in the fourth chapter, with particular reference to figures of metaphor. Here we examine appearances of words across multiple texts and, indeed, even in different media, delving into the realm of runic inscriptions, before returning our focus to the use of the word munr (“desire”) in Skírnismál. The results of this analysis indicate an altogether unique figure of the word, cryptic and subtly different from metaphor proper. Having examined all these forms of repetition in Eddic poetry and noted the contiguity of their style, a sufficient analytic apparatus will have been developed to map out the overall stylistic structure of a single poem, Vǫlundarkviða, which as we shall see in the fifth chapter combines all the figures of repetition previously identified in this study in a coherent and sophisticated manner. This view of the stylistic structure of Vǫlundarkviða makes possible a new reading of the poem, offering a significant challenge to the established understanding of it and of Eddic verse in general.
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