Larrington, Carolyne. Egill‘s longer Poems: Arinbjarnarkviða and Sonatorrek

• Author: Larrington, Carolyne
• Title: Egill‘s longer Poems: Arinbjarnarkviða and Sonatorrek
• Published in: Introductory Essays on Egils saga and Njáls saga. Ed. John Hines and Desmond Slay.
• Place, Publisher: London: Viking Society for Northern Research
• Year: 2001
• Pages: 49-63
• E-text:
• Reference: Larrington, Carolyne. "Egill‘s longer Poems: Arinbjarnarkviða and Sonatorrek." Introductory Essays on Egils saga and Njáls saga, pp. 49–63. Ed. John Hines and Desmond Slay. London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 2001.

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• Key words: poetry (kveðskapur)

Annotation

A close reading of Arinbjarnarkviða and Sonatorrek, with an emphasis on comparing the two poems’ themes and vocabulary, in order to establish their poetic merit and place them in the context of the saga as a whole.

Lýsing

Nákvæm greining á Arinbjarnarkviðu og Sonatorrek, þar sem lögð er áhersla á að bera saman efni og orðaforða kvæðanna tveggja, en markmiðið er að varpa ljósi á bókmenntalega eiginleika kvæðanna og hlutverk þeirra í sögunni sem heildar.

References

Chapter 80: af sjálfum mér: "Egill’s sense that an outrageous wrong has been committed against him personally, emphasised by ‘minnar ættar’ and ‘sjọlfum mér’, brings the desire for a counter attack: the same concern with justice and repayment which took such a positive form in Arinbjarnakviða here demands revenge" (p. 58).

Chapter 80: mildinga sjöt: "The general themes of the poem are addressed already in the first two verses: the nature of nobility, later exemplified by Arinbjọrn, consisting in generosity, ‘mildinga’ (generous lords) 2.6, and courage, ‘jọfurs dáðum’ (a lord’s great deeds) 1.6, and their opposites: ‘gløggvinga’ (misers) 1.4, and skrọkberọndum’ (lying boasters) 2.2." (p. 51).

Links

• Written by: Jane Appleton
• Icelandic translation: Jón Karl Helgason