Bjarni Einarsson. The Lovesick Skald

• Author: Bjarni Einarsson
• Title: The Lovesick Skald. A Reply to Theodore M. Andersson
• Published in: Mediaeval Scandinavia 4
• Place, Publisher: n/a
• Year: 1971
• Pages: 21-41
• E-text:
• Reference: Bjarni Einarsson. "The Lovesick Skald. A Reply to Theodore M. Andersson." Mediaeval Scandinavia 4 (1971): 21-41.

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• Key words: poetry, intertextuality (kveðskapur, textatengsl)

Annotation

Bjarni Einarsson examines what the vocabulary and structure of the poetry in Kormáks saga and other early Icelandic sources tell us about when it was composed or written and about the extent to which the skalds were familiar with foreign events, literature and concepts such as love. Egils saga is touched upon, e.g. as an example of a saga sharing certain traits with Kormáks saga such as “a more or less varied repetition of an episode or stanza” (p. 26) and the two love stanzas in Egils saga are said to be “the only stanzas which in the sources themselves are called mansọngr” (p. 36).

Lýsing

Bjarni kannar hvað orðaforði og bragarháttur kvæða í Kormáks sögu og fleiri íslenskum fornritum geti sagt okkur um aldur eða ritunartíma kvæðanna og hvort draga megi ályktun um þekkingu skáldanna á erlendum samtímaviðburðum, -bókmenntum og hugtökum á borð við ást. Stuttlega er minnst á Egils sögu og bent meðal annars á að hún deili vissum einkennum með Kormáks sögu, þar á meðal breyttri endurtekningu vísna eða atburða. Ástarvísurnar tvær í Eglu eru sögð vera einu dæmin um dróttkvæðar vísur sem eru nefndar mansöngvar í heimildinum sjálfum.

Links

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