The Poetry of the Skalds
by Egil Njalsson
(May 1993)

"As soon as Egil was seated he put the bracelet on his arm and his eyebrows went back to normal. He laid down the sword beside him along with the helmet, picked up the horn that had been offered him and drank it down. Then he made a verse:

The King in his coat Of steel sets this gold coil, This ring, on my right arm Where falcons have rested: The gift hangs glowing, My arm its gallows: Honor was earned By the feaster of eagles.

After that, Egil took his full share of drink and talked to the others." (From Egil's Saga, trans. by Hermann Pälsson and Paul Edwards, 1976, p.129)

The poetry of the vikings often seems odd and stilted to the modern speaker of English. One might feel that this is primarily due to its "losing something in the translation" from Old Norse, and it is true that the original beauty of the poetry is hard to translate; but the causes of its unique sound are much more fundamental. The poetic construction and devices used by the viking poet were along much different lines from what modern English speakers often consider to be "standard poetry."

The viking "skald," or poet-musician, had a miriad of constructive techniques available to him. Many of these were later used by the 13th-century Icelandic poet Snorri Sturlusson in his Edda . This book consisted mostly of tales of the viking gods, along with a viking book of proverbs and the tales of the creation and end of the nine worlds; but it was not written merely to recount these revered tales. Rather, it was written as a style manual, demonstrating several different methods of poetry construction as well as providing source material for later re-tellings of the old legends.

The most commonly-used verse style was the "draupa." This was an eight-line verse, with each line broken into two half- lines, each typically containing one or two stressed syllables and a small number of unstressed ones. Each pair of lines was further tied together with alliteration: at least three of the four half-lines in each couplet would have the same sound at the beginning of a stressed syllable. This is easier demonstrated than described: in the introductory example, the first couplet stresses the words "King," "coat," "steel," and "coil," each of which marks its own half-line, and three of which start with the same sound. The second couplet is joined by alliteration on "r," the third on "g," and the fourth on vowel sounds. Notice that the alliteration is based on the stressed sound, not the letter which produces the sound. Furthermore, to the skalds, any vowel was considered to alliterate to any other vowel: thus the alliteration in the last couplet of "Honor," "earned," and "eagles." Respected 20th-century translators such as Magnus Magnusson, Hermann Palsson, and Paul Edwards have sought to maintain the poetic structure of the skalds, keeping the stress pattern and the alliteration, though it sometimes means a less- than-harmonious end result in English. Others have tried to maintain the beauty of the skaldic intent, while sacrificing the intricacy of the original form. Both camps have their advantages.

The skaldic tradition is also marked by an often-extensive use of the "kenning," a type of metaphor. Normally this was a two-word, hyphenated term such as "ring-giver," "raven-feast," or "whale-way," referring respectively to a king, battle, and the ocean, just to name a few examples. At times these could become rather involved, as skalds used what I refer to as second- and third-generation kennings: allusions in which the standard kenning, such as "sea-steed" for ship, was too overused, so another kenning such as "whale-way" might be substituted for "sea," and perhaps an additional kenning for "steed." The final product would thus be several steps removed from the original literal meaning, and would need several mental translations before the listener pieced together the exact nature of the reference, but no-one seemed to mind. The audience of the period loved these abstract references, for such metaphors were used commonly enough that the average person would ordinarily understand the reference. The introductory example above used less strict metaphors such as "gallows" for a place from which something (in this case, the arm-band) hangs, and "feaster of eagles" for a king, alluding to his success (real or imagined) in feeding the carrion birds through battle.

These draupa were often composed on the fly, to commemmorate something that had just happened. In the case of the above example, the skald composed the verse to thank a king for the gift of a golden arm-band -- used not only as ornamentation, but also as currency in those times. Others might be composed to brow-beat lazy workers, to make note of a late-comer, to prepare for battle, or to deliver an elaborate curse. Yet others were composed for more solemn occasions. Most viking kings had at least one court skald to accompany them into battle and memorialize their deeds. In times of peace, these court skalds would construct elaborate histories of the king's lineage, making his ancestors sound appropriately glorious.

Yet not all skalds were courtly hangers-on. The most famous skald of the viking period was Egil Skallagrimsson, one of the characters after whom I, Egil Njalsson, was named. (The other namesake, Njal, was a lawspeaker, but that is a subject for another discussion...) Egil was definitely not one to hang around court and compose praises of a king, unless he just happened to be there at the time, and felt that the king deserved a poem. Egil was a complex individual, as full of fiery temper and battle skill as he was of artistic talent, or of love for his family and his god Odin -- the god of poetry and wisdom (among other things). When Egil was at the ripe old age of three, his father stopped taking him to parties, because Egil got too rowdy when he was drunk. He committed his first killing at the age of six: he borrowed a friend's axe and sank it into the head of a ten-year-old who had tripped him during a game of viking football. (For this he was severely reprimanded by his father.) Yet as he grew into adulthood his poetic skill increased, as did his fighting ability and his love for those close to him. When his beloved son died at sea, he was torn between feelings of love, loss, and the perceived betrayal by Odin for taking his son away. Egil composed the immensely beautiful "On the Loss of Sons" [attached] as his way of dealing with the pain. In it he not only grieves the loss of his only heir and beloved son, but also rails against Odin for letting it happen, and ends by resigning himself to the inevitability of his own death.

His other great epic poem requires a bit of background explanation. Egil's greatest enemy was King Eirik Bloodaxe, whose wife was Gunnhild. In battle with Eirik, Egil had been responsible not only for the death of Gunnhild's brother, but also for the death of one of Eirik's sons. Egil was banished from Eirik's presence, but before he left the area Egil erected a "scorn-pole," filled with runic curses upon Eirik and his family -- the worst insult possible. Yet Eirik was not a popular king in Norway, and was eventually driven out. He, along with those who had sworn allegiance to him, fled to England, where Eirik became king. (The throne of England was under viking control for most of the viking period.) At one point Egil's ship was blown off course and crashed on the English coast. Egil, travelling alone, could have moved incognito to the nearest port and gotten himself a ride out, but he thought it would seem cowardly if he was caught attempting to flee from the land of his enemy. Instead, he sought out his friend Arinbjorn (the one who had loaned him the axe so long ago, who was now serving Eirik), and asked for his help in confronting the king. Together with twenty of Arinbjorn's armed followers, they went to Eirik's throne room. When they arrived, Arinbjorn told Eirik that there was someone outside who wanted to see Eirik... someone Eirik knew... someone he'd dealt with before... No further introduction was necessary, and when Egil entered the room Gunnhild screamed at Eirik to have Egil killed immediately. Arinbjorn pointed out that since it was now dark outside, killing Egil would be murder rather than justice (a viking law), and the sight of Arinbjorn's armed guards made Eirik tend to agree. He said they would discuss the matter in the morning, and Egil left with Arinbjorn. Egil stayed up all night composing a 20-verse poem in Eirik's praise, though he was pestered by a bird who was thought to be Gunnhild in shape- changed form. In the morning, Egil returned to the throne room with Arinbjorn and his guards, and discovered that Eirik had also taken the opportunity to call together his own guards. With the room filled with armed men, Egil stepped forward, and, unbidden, recited his new work, which was later named "The Head Ransom" [also attached]. Though not sincere, it was nevertheless nobly composed and sang Eirik's praises for all the world to hear. In addition, Egil introduced something he had probably heard in Latin poetry: for the first time in viking poetry, end-rhyme was used -- the poetry device with which we 20th-century English speakers are most familiar. Everyone present must have immediately understood what an innovation this was, and that Eirik's immortal fame was now assured thanks to his greatest enemy. Before Eirik could decide what to do, Arinbjorn stepped forward and said that if Eirik still wanted to kill Egil, Arinbjorn and his followers would make sure that "the story would be worth telling." In the end, Egil was freed, and Arinbjorn was eventually allowed to return to Norway, where he developed quite a reputation for himself.

Though I do not claim to be a poet on the order of Egil Skallagrimsson or Snorri Sturlusson, I am quite an admirer of the skaldic tradition. Their draupa, and the events which caused these poems to be written, are a great inspiration, and it is my earnest hope that I and other students of the viking period will in some small way be able to bring this tradition to the Duchy of Dragonspine.

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