Biggs, Frederick M.. Deor’s Threatened “Blame Poem”

• Author: Biggs, Frederick M.
• Title: Deor’s Threatened “Blame Poem”
• Published in: Studies in Philology
• Year: 1997
• Pages: 297-320
• E-text:
• Reference: Biggs, Frederick M. "Deor’s Threatened “Blame Poem." Studies in Philology 94/3 (1997): 297-320.

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• Key words: poetry, intertextuality, social reality (kveðskapur, textatengsl, samfélagsmynd)

Annotation

An analysis of the Old English poem Deor, with extensive discussion of Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse and Irish traditions of blame and praise poetry. Biggs argues that in Deor, the poet makes use of the genre of blame poetry without actually composing a blame poem, highlighting two features in particular: the thematising of the economic relationship between the poet and patron and the emphasis on the name of the person praised or blamed. The presence of a refrain in Deor is unusual within the context of Old English poetry but may reflect a Scandinavian influence: the drápa is a praise poem that employs a refrain, and this refrain frequently contains the name of the person being praised. Egils saga tells of two such drápur being recited in England, both naming the subject of the poem in the refrain. Deor does not name the poet's former patron but threatens to do so; this use of the refrain may serve to heighten the threat.

Lýsing

Greining á fornenska kvæðinu Deor, með ítarlegri umfjöllun um engilsaxneska, norræna og írska hefð lofkvæða og bersöglisvísna. Biggs heldur því fram að í Deor nýti skáldið sér hefð bersöglisvísna án þess að yrkja beinlínis slíkt kvæði, og hann dregur einkum fram tvo þætti í því sambandi: það hvernig fjárhagslegt hagsmunasamband skálds og bakhjarls er í miðpunkti og hvernig áhersla er lögð á nafn manneskjunnar sem lofuð er eða áminnt. Í Deor er stef sem er óvenjulegt um fornenskt kvæði en gæti bent til norrænna áhrifa: drápur eru lofkvæði með stefjum og stefið geymir oft nafn þess sem verið er að lofa. Egils saga segir frá tveimur slíkum drápum sem kveðnar voru á enskri jörð og báðar nefna þær viðfang sitt á nafn í stefjunum. Deor nefnir ekki fyrrum bakhjarl skáldsins en hótar að gera það; notkun stefsins kann að styðja við þá hótun.

References

Chapter 31: að skáldskaparlaunum: "The charming aspect of this story - the childlike reward for adult behavior - makes memorable the workings of this kind of poetry: Egil praises his host for his generosity, and then is rewarded." (p. 301).

Chapter 62: Orðstír of gat /Eiríkr of þat: "The scaldic form appropriate for praising a king, the drápa, is characterized by having a refrain and so provides a possible formal source for Deor. The use of the refrain is also significant to this argument because it is a likely place to include the name of the one praised." (p. 319).

Links

• Written by: Katelin Parsons
• Icelandic translation: Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir