Stefán Einarsson. The Poetry of Egill Skalla-Grímsson
- Author: Stefán Einarsson
- Title: The Poetry of Egill Skalla-Grímsson
- Published in: Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga í Vesturheimi 49
- Year: 1967
- Pages: 36-47
- E-text: timarit.is
- Reference: Stefán Einarsson. "The Poetry of Egill Skalla-Grímsson." Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga í Vesturheimi 49 (1967): 36-47.
- Key words:
Annotation
The author highlights the main scenes that feature Egill’s poetry and its unique, innovative qualities including self-mockery of his appearance, the poem Hofuðlausn as the first instance of running rímur in Old Norse. He draws connections between Egil’s poetry and Hávamál, providing a reading of Egil’s saga in terms of family, faith, and veneration of Odin. He also examines the duality of Egil, acting as both “family man and viking” (44). Arguing for Egil’s placement as the greatest poet of the age, he notes the sensitivity and picaresque traits of the hero.
Lýsing
See also
References
Chapter 31: höggva mann og annan: "This stanza has all the marks of genuineness upon it, it is obviously the work of a beginner, a thing which cannot be said about two other stanzas in the same meter that Egill is supposed to have composed even at an earlier age. This at once raises the question: how many of the 50-60 occasional stanzas in the saga might be genuine" (p. 37).
Chapter 62: Óx hjörva glöm: "Considering its fresh modernity of the meter, Höfuðlausn must have been very effective in recital, as indeed it still is. The poem is highly suggestive of the rush of weapons and the clash of battle" (p. 42).
Links
- Written by: Jacob Malone
- Icelandic translation:
