The Art of Viking Poetry: A How-To (Includes Kennings)
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- Опубліковано 10 лип 2017
- Be your own skáld! If you've ever wanted to try your hand at writing your own poem in the true Viking style, or just want to appreciate Norse poetry more deeply, this guide will show you how it's done, everything from alliteration to kennings to heiti in three eddic meters (fornyrðislag, ljóðaháttr, and galdralag) and the main skaldic meter (dróttkvætt).
Dr. Jackson Crawford is Instructor of Nordic Studies and Nordic Program Coordinator at the University of Colorado Boulder (formerly UC Berkeley and UCLA). He is a historical linguist and an experienced teacher of Old Norse, Modern Icelandic, and Norwegian. FAQs: • Video
Jackson Crawford’s translation of The Poetic Edda is available now: www.amazon.com/gp/product/162... and his translation of The Saga of the Volsungs with The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok is forthcoming in September 2017: www.amazon.com/gp/product/162...
Jackson Crawford's Patreon page: / norsebysw
If this helps anybody navigate:
0:41 General Characteristics of Norse Poetry (Alliteration, etc.)
7:23 Eddic Style: Fornyrðislag
11:12 Fornyrðislag in English
11:54 Eddic Style: Ljóðaháttr
14:19 Ljóðaháttr in English
15:50 Eddic Style: Galdralag
18:55 Galdralag in English
21:51 Skaldic Style: Dróttkvætt (Overview)
25:26 Heiti
28:23 Kennings
33:25 Dróttkvætt: Old Norse Example with Walk-Through
42:31 Dróttkvætt in English
Update 10/11/2018: Looking back at this video at 12:52 more than a year later, I’m not sure why I didn’t see the alliterating words of Hávamál 9, l. 4-5, as “ill” and “opt,” which they clearly are.
Do other /s/-clusters like /sp/ or /sn/ alliterate with /s/, or is it only /st/ and /sk/?
Hey Jackson. I have a question that I can't find an answer to anywhere. I understand the basic differences between Skaldic and Eddic poetry. I also understand that Eddic was typically authored by anonymous sources while Skaldic was composed and recited by Skalds for Jarls or other rulers. But, did Skalds also recite the Eddic poems that ended up in the Poetic Edda? And if not, who did? Was there a different class of poet other than a skald?
Thanks for all the great videos!
super useful thank you!!!
I hope you know how good the work is you're doing.
I cannot get over how straight a face you can keep.
The hummingbirds, being dead inside, its amazing.
I would not dare to call any raise of yours.
There rode a wrangler
Raven black his hair
Seeking from storms a haven
The fleas and the flies
Feast on the hide
Of his hank rid’ ragged
He prayed to his patron
Knees on the prairie
Beseeching grace of god
“Merciful almighty
Master of mankind
See me safely from strife
Speed me swiftly from storms
and Stow me softly to sleep!”
At the edge of death
And eyes to heaven
Only crows heard his call
But house and hearthstone
Hot bread and water
He was fated to find
In Hell’s high desert
Home of the giants
Fiends are always friendly
Sorry but this was quite bad.
"The lusty Colt,
the trusty Colt,
the weapon democratic,
whose vicious might makes men one height,
the Army automatic."
i like it. XD
Gun of the Fudd
Against Glocks she's a dud
Single stack means no real capacity
Compared to wondernines with myriad features and accessories
To choose the old Colt would be a catastrophe
This explains a lot more about old English poetry as well.
The dry dropping of that poem-joke after a minute of serious dead-eyed staring at the camera, absolute comedic genius. Man, oldschool dry wit is OP, I gotta say.
"Aint much use to the elk raised". A true skald for our times. Well done.
Thanks so much. It was driving me crazy listening to modern Icelandic singers and song-writers. Now I see the pattern behind all that music and lyrics. We cast them as "new age," but looks like their rhyming traditions are at least 500 years from before Shakespeare.
Dr. Crawford, thank you for this gift!
You did something really unique and important with this video; you managed to convey to English speakers, the beauty and art of skaldic poetry in Drottkvaett no less!
This was damnear magical. It hurt just a little to keep track of everything at first, but by the time you get to Drottkvaett, I am fully spell bound and invested. Your hummingbird poem in that meter is truly amazing.
I love reading and writing poetry and am one to agonize for days over how to fit a really highly nuanced narrative into a naturally flowing haiku as part of a competition or some such fun social exercise.
I am thinking I need to learn this. I am wondering if there are any Skaldic workshops like the common poetry/creative writing workshops.
Wow, such complex art! I have never appreciated poetry so much!
Doge: Woow, such art.
How am I not paying for this knowledge? Truly a gift.
I studied Old English poetry so I am glad to see this.
I like to have things like this in front of me rather than scrolling back and forth in a video for reference. So I took some bullet-point notes which others might find useful.
Alliteration:
Norse poetry alliterates.
Based on sound, not spelling.
On a stressed syllable, whether or not it starts a word.
Only the first consonant of a cluster is important, except ST or SK.
Vowels, Y and W all alliterate.
Rhymes and final consonants:
Final 's' sounds don't really count.
You can also carry over consonants from the start of the next syllable if you need them.
Stanza:
Norse poetry is stanzaic.
Each stanza (and ideally half-stanza) is a self-contained thought.
EDDIC
Fornyrđislag:
Narrative metre.
Eight lines (sometimes translated as four to match Old English).
Lines have two stressed syllables.
In each couplet, a (stressed) syllable in the first line alliterates with one in the second.
In some couplets, both stressed syllables of the first line will also alliterate.
Often two or three unstressed syllables per line. (Can be anywhere less than five.)
Lyóđaháttr:
Didactic or proverbial metre.
Stanzas are two tercets.
The first two lines of each tercet are like a fornyrđislag couplet.
The other line of each tercet has three stressed syllables, two of which alliterate with each other.
Galdralag:
Metre talking about magic.
Modified from lyóđaháttr; parts of larger poems might be written in it.
Lines 3 and 6 may have only two stressed syllables, more commonly than lyóđaháttr.
Has one or more extra lines where tercets would normally end.
An extra line has three stressed syllables, two of which alliterate.
SKALDIC
Dróttkvæt:
Court metre for praise.
Four couplets per stanza, with six syllables per line.
Each syllable ends in a trochee (stressed-unstressed).
Two syllables from the first line of each couplet alliterate with the first syllable of the second.
Thus the second line of a couplet starts with a stressed syllable.
The last stressed syllable of the first line of a couplet ends in the same consonants as another stressed one in the line.
The same goes for the second line, except those two stressed syllables must rhyme instead.
Fortunately, kennings and heiti can be used.
Another boon is that word order is free (although usually confined to a half stanza).
Heiti:
An allusive alternative name.
For instance, night is traditionally a mask.
Kenning:
A concise metaphor.
Often of form "the x of y" or the compound word "y-x".
Includes mythological allusions. "Wolf tooth-prop" is a sword, because a sword holds Fenrir's mouth open.
Can switch one thing in a category for another. "Wound-swan" = raven, because ravens are carrion birds.
Stock images, like people as trees or as weapon gods, axes as monsters, battles as storms and wind as a tree torturer.
Shape or appearance analogies. "Jewel of snowstorm" = sword, because it's shiny, and a snowstorm is a battle.
Kennings can contain other kennings.
"Roses are red,
violets are blue,
inside I'm dead,
and so are you"
Being around universities tends to cause that.
Love the self-irony.
10 / 10 would not play poker with.
Tresixteen I LOST it when I heard that poem, haha, Dr. C is hilarious!
Kelly Fishbeck I probably wouldn't mind actually taking one of his classes so much
Dr. Cowboy Viking is dark AF.
emo...
Cool to see Amerikans intressted in norse poems! Greetings from Norway
That was amazing! What a reward, after completing your Old Norse language course, to be able to appreciate the fundamentals of the poetry - you have inspired me greatly; þǫkk, Fornnorrænumaðr!
I’m so glad I came across this video! One of my assignments is to create an eddic poem so this is ridiculously helpful
This was fantastic, and walking through everything really helped me understand what's going on in these meters. Gotta say, though, from the perspective of a modern English poet, dróttkvætt is an absolute disaster xD
That is the most badass poem about hummingbirds I have ever heard
Thanks for taking the time to go so in depth for the video. I'm building a Norse bard character in Dungeons and Dragons and learned a lot from this.
Wow, skaldic poems are hectic. Cheers! Finally bought your book today, can't wait.
Hey Jackson! If you love this stuff I reckon you would find the principle of Cynghanedd in Welsh poetry to be pretty mind-blowing. Really enjoy your work and example. From Cardiff, Wales, here I am wishing you, the very best x
Wow, this became my favorite video so far. Appreciate your knowledge JC.
Dr. Crawford! It would be incredibly cool to see more Drottkvaett in English from you. Just as an idea, a series of Drottkvaett on the historical west as theme. You obviously love Colorado. It would be a great setting for this theme and could perhaps help in getting through the last bit of time you have to do where you're at, while using your hard won mastery of your field in a really emotionally positive way. Plus, we your loyal fandents (*cough*) would get a lot out of it. Just an idea! :-D
me personally i hate the great majority of colorado, seriously way to hot and southern, can't wait until i can move to seattle
I just found this and thank you for this work! My aunt has told me that our family has some ties to Eric Bloodaxe and I always found that to be novel. As someone who always admired English poets like Robert Service and the like how we can understand poetry going so far back is beyond amazing. If you ever want a free dinner up in Estes Park let me know I would be happy to have a talk over dinner.
Very interesting and clear. Thank you very much!
You are very good at explaining things. Thank you this was something I was curious about for quite some time.
Immensely helpful for music nerds too. Thank you!
I'm in love
Yikes! this is heavy. I had to rewind it a bunch to fully grasp all that's going on but I'm excited to give it a try! Thanks for taking the time to make this.
One of the best videos on UA-cam
Hi Dr Crawford. You'll never read this, but I made this sort of Ljóðaháttr/Galdralag hybrid for you (and Sigyn) today:
The Song of Sigyn
The serpent's hunger is a ceaseless storm,
A never-sated gnawing
That daily tears at the tender roots
Of the trembling World Tree.
Though mighty, straight and strong its stem,
Nine worlds shake and shudder.
Though long and lithe its limbs stretch out,
All worlds will quake and crumble;
All oceans toss and tumble;
All mountains writhe and rumble.
The love of Urðr is a lake unsounded,
A never-tiring nurture
That daily bathes the battered feet
Of the weary World Tree.
Though war and strife are weathering its crown,
Its veins pump with promise.
Though beasts forever feast upon its body,
From the fount of Fate it draws;
In the mists of Memory claws;
At the well of Wisdom paws.
The snaketooth's venom is a ceaseless rain.
Each ever-drilling drip
Falls from on high like a hammer blow
On Loki, locked in chains.
In self-made bonds, blood of his blood,
The Tangler lies entangled.
The salmon swam into the net it knotted:
Like the sea-snake, snapping witless;
Like fettered Fenrir, powerless;
Like Hel, both whole and lifeless.
The strength of Sigyn is a sacred sword.
Each world-weighted drop
Falls from on high like a heart breaking
And quivers in her bowl of burden.
Shielding folly from its own doom,
She halts the heft of vengeance.
Wielding her grief like a warrior raging,
She hurls it down the drain,
Turns boldly back again,
And sings to that searing rain:
“Though wolves will swallow the sun and moon,
I will not love them less.
I'll bathe the feet of this falling tree,
This wretched rascal liar
Who filled the gods with fire,
Vaulting their vision higher.
The gormless snake is guiltless as the storm,
A feckless force unfurling.
And Loki, I have loved your chaos,
Wild as the mounted mare,
Free as the falcon fair,
Darting where you would dare
Through shifting shapes of air.
Your weight of woe I'll wear,
And in your shame I'll share
Till your tethers at last you'll tear
And flee this fetid lair;
By my sacred sword I swear:
Your burden is mine to bear.”
*
Thank you for this video, which I found in my quest to write about Sigyn in hopes of doing her justice, and now I'm hooked on your channel. The rhyming just happened, sorry; I know it doesn't really belong. I also kind of failed at the caesura in the long lines I think. Anyone's critique welcome :)
I live in Estes Park. If you ever want to go on a hike, give me a shout once you're back in CO. I was also curious if there were any traditional Norse prayers? Something that you might say before a meal or when putting your children to bed.
The bolo tie benefits any butch outfit, and is also a boon to bird boffins.
I really like this kind of wordplay...
My dream video!
That.
I am actually working on a reenactment / larp character of a (proper, historical, non-horn-helmet)
viking in the period, with aspirations to becoming a skald.
Almost last thing i need is the means to actually craft poems.
Bolo. Yes.
Thank you very much for this video. I'm watching, taking extensive notes and hoping for seeing your lectures on Coursera or other online free education platform as methodical and theme focused course on poetry and mythology from Scandinavian past. Such an inspiration for my own research.
Thank you, again a very informative video!:) Reminds me that I should read the Edda again. It was too much of a struggle when I was a teenager and tried to read the heroic part. I gave up back then. It was a Finnish translation though. Reading epic poetry is something I've needed to get used to. It just doesn't seem to come as naturally as reading prose, which is actually why I loved the sagas, as they're in prose and thus much easier to grasp. And yes, I should also read the Kalevala again.;)
really helpful, I know nothing of poetry and understood everything. I had read the poem of Sigurd and Gudrún by Tolkien and was wondering what was in the poem that made it sound so special, now I get it.
That was great!
20:57 It is rather that English has lenthened in Middle English period stressed short syllables fara = faran > faren > fare, with a long fa.
Swedish did the same, Old Swedish "skip" is either "skepp" (lengthened p, at least graphically still so) or "skep" (lengthened e instead, not the version which gave rise to standard Swedish version).
I think I'm in love
With what?
I just discovered this channel, and I really enjoy the videos I've seen so far. After quickly browsing through the titles of the videos you've made so far, it looks like you haven't covered Heimskringla. Do you plan on making any videos on that?
This is actually more thorough than some poetry *courses* I took... The rules sound a bit arcane... Would love to hear more samples to see if it makes sense for the sake of rhythm, etc.
an extra plus for them hummingbirds too xD
Got one!
Sigrún skal beria(z?)
Vincent muno herja
Baldr er drengr
Senna menns ok konars
Let me know if I made some grammatical errors, I'm a total noob at poetry, especially Norse.
It is supposed to mean:
Sigrún shall fight
Vincent may rule (Herja is a more violent, almost chaotic way of the verb rule)
Baldr is a "drengr" (please check his video regarding "Drengar".
The senna of men and women
Also, keep in mind that the English version doesn't follow any of the Norse meters.
If you like this kind of poetry you should definitely check out the lyrics of the band "Skálmöld". Although most probably won't like the music their lyrics are poetic gold.
Skálmöld is awesome!:D And I don't understand why people don't like their music. But well everyone has their own preferences ^^
Janniboy lp Just had a listen, and they're good! You heard of Raubtier?
Solstafir is good to
Love that roses and violets poem lol
do it yourself.....yessssss
This is awesome!! Thanks for the video :) are there any famous poets who use any of these kinds of styles today?
Earned yourself a sub! Great analysis!
I wonder, how did you become interested in old Norse? Do you have some Scandic background or just found it fascinating?
Amazing! I love Norse poetry so much, especially the ones in the sagas. This was incredibly helpful!
Those of you who've played Skyrim, it's worth noting that Bethesda used this style rather well in one of the bard songs "Ragnar the Red". Lots of great alliteration and half-rhymes in the lyrics:
There once was a hero named Ragnar the Red
Came riding to Whiterun from old Rorikstead
And the braggart did swagger and brandish his blade
As he told of bold battles and gold he had made
But then he went quiet, did Ragnar the Red
When he met the shield-maiden Matilda who said
"Oh you talk and you lie and you drink all our mead
Now I think it's high time that you lie down and bleed!"
And so then came clashing and slashing of steel
As the brave lass Matilda charged in full of zeal
And the braggart named Ragnar was boastful no more...
When his ugly red head rolled around on the floor!
Except the whole thing is rhyming couplets, which isn’t really part of the style.
Sounds good though.
Yes I am dead inside too....lol
That was a 45min well spent. Very interesting video, thank you !
I have a question, can Kennings be used to create double meanings ? You say there can be multiple layers, how do you know when you have to stop looking for Kennings and have finally "arrived" at the original meaning intended ?
A lot of kennings look like they are made of multiple parts, and turn into a single thing when you interpret them. For instance, you look at two ideas, "raven farmer", and turn it into one, "warrior". If every time you interpret a kenning you end up with less ideas than you started with, you'll hit a point where there aren't any more things you can make a kenning with.
For the hell of it, let's calculate exactly how many layers of kenning there can be. A half stanza has twenty stressed syllables at maximum (because the trochee means at least one of the six syllables per line is unstressed). Every important word will probably need a stressed syllable, so there can be twenty ideas per half stanza (and kennings don't usually span both halves of a stanza). If all the kennings turn at least two ideas into one, that means there can only be nineteen layers of kenning in a dróttkvæt.
what a drengr hummingbird
A few questions:
Can there be more than two stressed syllables per line in Fornyrthislag?
How does one determine whether a syllable is stressed?
This is fantastic. Your final spear-swallow poem is utterly beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
36:27 ek em at ... = I am at ... like in Celtic syntax (thá mí aig óibre or what "I am working/I am at work" is in Scots Gaelic)?
Hello, Jackson.
I'm looking for your videos in which you read the poems/stories in English. I had really enjoyed them, but now I cannot find them in your playlists.
Would you help me please? Thank you, dear.
Hugs,
Linda Lee
And here i am lerning old norse poetry just for a dnd character late in the night
Will you be able to do a poem for my Icelandic vlog? a narration
Huitzilopochtli is Dr. Jackson's sprit god *chuckles*
That is... uncannily fitting :D
Dr. Crawford, I love your videos, just discovered them recently. I was wondering how you got to where you are now and how I might follow a similar career path. I have a great love for Norse myth, I've been studying it for the past five years or so, and while I haven't delved into the Nordic languages yet, I plan to very soon. I'm going to college soon and was wondering if you had any advice on where to go from here to be like you. Thank you for your time and I hope you respond. Have a lovely day.
Sophie Bradbury Thank you! I will search for them.
Kate Elliott Thanks so much!
43:09 Hummingbirds are warlike? Is that a reason behind a certain character in Aztek myth?
Dr. Crawford,
I have a question regarding Fornyrdislag. Does the first stressed syllable in an even line need to be the alliterative one? You never state this is the case, but both the Norse and English examples you give seem to be entirely this way. Thanks!
How close or far is OE poetry to FYL?
The five patterns given in On Translating Beowulf, do they still hold as analysis?
Because if so, a clear "cretic" would be possible in FYL but impossible in OE poetry?
I suppose for second halfline it is still clear : only first stressed syllable alliterates? (OE) And in FYL it is not so?
earning in yearnest .. or reverse ... this would be related to original yod sound being lost (year = år), and new yod sound coming from vowel e (jord = earth, Erde)?
Similarily, can't one alliterate v- with any back vowel, since v was lost before back vowels while still pronounced w?
Presumably this goes for most early Germanic language poetry like old English like Beowulf is this correct?
22:21 Supposing the psalms had been translated to Old Icelandic metre (didn't happen, unlike OE translation of first 50 psalms, ordered by King Alfred) - would they not have been trying sth like Dróttkvætt?
He starts talking about skaldic poetry at: 21:47
I wonder if anyone else got the .45 acp reference.
32:42 As a Tolkien fan ... Gladden fields ... the flower in question is gladiolus, right? Latin for "little sword" ..
Or wait, was gladiolus the mistranslation by Ohlmarks?
17:46 til and frá are usually unstressed and preposed to a noun - here they are postposed to a phrase and are contrasting.
Could we be dealing with :
HEI-lir HIL-dar TIL
HEI-lir HIL-dar FRÁ
rather than with
HEI-lir HIL-dar til
and
HEI-lir HIL-dar frá?
22:41 my surmane is Drott
/Sweden
39:32 Sure almsíma refers to bow rather than to skis? Both are associated with Ullr ...
13:58 any vowel alliterates with any vowel ... a vowel initial word, how close is it to beginning with knacklaut?
Could one say from Hebrew perspective aleph alliterates with aleph?
Plus, yod alliterates with aleph ...
You gotta add some flavor to these lectures, man. Great video though!
Get the heck out of here, Dr. Crawford. I can't believe you actually wrote an English poem in Dróttkvætt. Crazy man :)
How do you pronounce Dróttkvætt?
Wait, anyone still writes Old Norse style poetry? Based in the myths? Even ones from, like, Icelandic, who are still practising the oral tradition by any chance? If yes, where the hell do I find this stuff so I can read it???
We need a place to share serious Old Norse poetry. However, no poems about modern problems or modern things. It has to be based in things from the actual viking age!
The battle wind blew the smell of blood akross the field and cut akross the sky of lightening. I and my sword were alone in the world, I and my charging enemy. We will meet in the corpse hall one day. (no but I will keep working on it)
45:12 pain of pine trees = wind?
Well, there is a Swedish pop song echoing this to this day ...
ua-cam.com/video/y4CyvVvRBMo/v-deo.html
Don't think I didn't spot that sly shootbang reference.
You should note near the beginning that old norse was meant to be rumble-chanted, so the hard sounds would roll like slow thunder.
Loved the 1911 comment
Kennings are metalepses and metalepses are transumptions and transumptions are synonyms and synonyms are allusions.
I wasn't in this video at all :(
4:14 I know it sounds redundant, but I’d much rather attend a School for Scholarly Skalds 😂
Did anyone else get here because you've been listening to Wardruna?
So I just read that the Aurora Borealis is the sister of the sun and moon
Your 1911 comment made me narrow my eyes, man.
275Ranger275 ???
You have the same colour of my eyes.
Check out this hymn sung by the iclandic group "Árstíðir" - /watch?v=e4dT8FJ2GE0
The hymn is from the 1100. The song is of a much later date.
Echoes of men sail down the l hall way. in jail in a line of many I am alone, no knife, no soap no telephone. (no?)
As great as it would be,
I'm guessing you haven't been holding the original writing styles faithful in your translations of the Eddas
Once again, a certain challenge ... try something in the metre of Beowulf or of Heliand ... put either into the Proto-Norse etymological equivalents. Check out how that metre is, if it is mostly regular, even out the mistakes. THEN get that into Old Norse (kuningaz > konungr and so on), also irrespective of whether the words exist or not. Would the metre NOW involve mostly the kind of halflines you get in 1, 2, 4, 5 of Ljóðaháttr or halflines of FYL, and sometimes things like 3, 6 in Ljóðaháttr, somewhat irregularly, like in Galdralag?
If so, Havamál could be inherited with slight "retouches" according to how to regularise the 3/6 longer lines from a poem in Proto-Norse - a language Odin must have spoken if ever he communicated with Swedes in such time that his stepgrandson Fjolner could died in the reign of Caesar Augustus.
So, how about giving it a try, you who are the linguist in Germanic esp. Scandinavian and esp. Old Norse languages?
Pretty please!
A kenning is like a meme. XD
Lol yeah: The sea-horse with its boat-wings gallops over water-hills.
i like u
It feels like he's forcing that voice/accent. Maybe it's just me. Just doesn't seem natural at times
What
@@SteamShinobi his voice doesn't fit his face imo
@@obeisms2627 I'd disagree, but that's a fair position to hold.
@@SteamShinobi okay thanks for your input lmao