Dróttkvæði (skaldic poetry)

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland)

Ed. by Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

Date of occurrence c.1600-

Places

Iceland (Location)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

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Dróttkvæði, or skaldic poetry, is one of the two main categories of Old Norse poetry, the other being eddic poetry. Traditionally, eddic poems are seen as being mostly the poems in the Codex Regius manuscript as well as some mythological poems in

Snorra-Edda

, and thus the large majority of poetry composed before 1400 has been included in skaldic poetry editions. The core of the genre are the skaldic poems that were composed to honour kings, in the skaldic (dróttkvætt) metre, but there also exist extempore skaldic stanzas, so the genre includes both entire poems and single verses (lausavísur). Skaldic verses are characteristically more ornate in form and diction than eddic poems, employing many kennings, which require some knowledge of Norse mythology, and

heiti

, which are formal…

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2845 words

Citation: Jakobsson, Ármann. "Dróttkvæði (skaldic poetry)". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 December 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19766, accessed 21 December 2024.]

Dróttkvæði (skaldic poetry)

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

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