Bjarni Einarsson. On the rôle of verse in saga-literature

• Author: Bjarni Einarsson
• Title: On the rôle of verse in saga-literature
• Published in: Medieval Scandinavia 7
• Place, Publisher: n/a
• Year: 1974
• Pages: 118-25
• E-text:
• Reference: Bjarni Einarsson. "On the rôle of verse in saga-literature." Medieval Scandinavia 7 (1974): 118-25.

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• Key words: textual relations, intertextuality, poetry (rittengsl, textatengsl, kveðskapur)

Annotation

A study of the role of verse in sagas, particularly regarding how to determine whether verse serves as evidence for a particular saga or whether it is purely part of the narrative. Argues that the latter is true for Egils saga.

Lýsing

Rannsókn á hlutverki kvæða í fornsögum og því hvernig best sé að greina hvort þau séu heimild fyrir frásögninni í tiltekinni sögu eða einfaldlega hluti frásagnarinnar. Bjarni heldur því fram að í Eglu eigi hið síðarnefnda jafnan við.

References

Njáls saga

Chapter 077: vísu þessi: "Not all Íslendingasögur (Family Sagas) have verse quotations, but those which have only rarely quote verse as evidence or confirmation. In the main verse quotation is here for the sake of entertainment only (…). In Njáls saga we have another exceptional case (…). In the latest version of the saga there are in all 24 instances of verse quotation, (…). Two of these instances seem intended as a kind of evidence or confirmation." (p. 122).

Links

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