Clover, Carol. Scaldic Sensibility

• Author: Clover, Carol
• Title: "Scaldic sensibility."
• Published in: Arkiv för nordisk filologi 93
• Year: 1978
• Pages: 63-81
• E-text:
• Reference: Clover, Carol. "Scaldic sensibility." Arkiv för nordisk filologi 93 (1978): 63-81.

---

• Key words: poetry (kveðskapur)

Annotation

Shows that skaldic poetry, in contrast with eddic poetry, refers to the composer overtly and treats its subject matter very subjectively. Examples include Sonatorrek, in which the poet’s perception is more prominent than the topic itself, and Arinbjarnarkviða, which is really a chance for the poet to boast (about his Höfuðlausn performance) rather than discuss Arinbjörn. Clover proposes that this reflects the elevated social status of skaldic poets and poetry at the time.

Lýsing

Clover sýnir fram á að í dróttkvæðum, ólíkt því sem á við um eddukvæði, er oft greinilega vísað til einstaklingsins sem semur kvæðið, auk þess sem fjallað er á mjög persónulegan hátt um viðfangsefnið. Hún tekur m.a. dæmi úr Sonatorreki, þar sem skynjun skáldsins skiptir meira máli en efni kvæðisins, og úr Arinbjarnarkviðu, þar sem skáldið leggur meira upp úr því að monta sig (af flutningi Höfuðlausnar í Jórvík) en að fjalla um Arinbjörn. Clover telur að þetta sé til marks um það hve skáldið og skáldskapur þess voru mikils metin í samfélaginu á sínum tíma.

References

Chapter 80: Nú er mér torvelt: "Of this poem and others like it in the skaldic corpus it may be said that there are in fact two “topics,” an ostensible one, and the poet’s own perception of the ostensible one, and that the latter may on occasion so overshadow the former that it tends to become the poem’s main subject” (p. 65).

Chapter 80: Þar stóð mér: [The first ten stanzas of Arinbjarnarkviða] “are in fact once again not at all about the ostensible topic, but about Egill’s own bravura Höfuðlausn performance” (p. 66).

Links

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