Torfi H. Tulinius. The Prosimetrum Form

• Author: Torfi H. Tulinius
• Title: The Prosimetrum Form 2: Verses as the Basis for Saga Composition and Interpretation
• Published in: Skaldsagas. Text, Vocation and Desire in the Icelandic Sagas of Poets. Ed. Russell Poole
• Place, Publisher: Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter
• Year: 2001
• Pages: 191-217
• E-text:
• Reference: Torfi H. Tulinius. "The Prosimetrum Form 2: Verses as the Basis for Saga Composition and Interpretation." Skaldsagas. Text, Vocation and Desire in the Icelandic Sagas of Poets, pp. 191–217. Ed. Russell Poole. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2001.

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Annotation

Tulinius argues that there is a relationship between the structure of sagas and that of skaldic poetry, and that it is plausible that the narrative of skald sagas generated meaning which was accessible to its medieval audience. He outlines five signs of influence of skaldic aesthetics to saga prose and applies each of them to Egil's Saga: interlacing of plot lines, absent or inconspicuous connectors, intertextuality, semantic unity, and planned ambiguity. Interlace is seen in how seemingly independent plots come together. Inconspicuous connectors are used to link plot lines such as Egill’s relationship with Ásgerðr. Intertextuality is revealed in allusions made both to pagan myths such as Grímnismál and in Egill’s similarities to King David in the Old Testament. Of unity Tulinius says: "by interlacing different plot lines, which are linked by inconspicuous connectors … and by suggesting the meaning of these plot lines by intertextual allusions, the author has conferred a surprising semantic unity upon the second part of the saga, the story of Egill Skalla-Grímsson" (p. 212). The resulting story still retains deliberate ambiguity much like a skaldic poem.

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• Written by: Eduardo Ramos
• Icelandic/ translation: