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For other uses, see Skald (disambiguation).
Bersi Skáldtorfuson composing poetry while in chains after being captured by King Óláfr Haraldsson.
Bersi Skáldtorfuson composing poetry while in chains after being captured by King Óláfr Haraldsson. Bersi Skáldtorfuson was an Icelandic Skald, active around the year 1000

The skald was a member of a group of poets, whose courtly poetry (Icelandic: dróttkvæði) is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking age, who composed and performed renditions of aspects of what we now characterise as Old Norse poetry (the complementary aspect being the anonymous Eddaic poetry). A poet is a person who writes Poetry. Etymology From the Ancient greek: ποιέω, poieō: "I make or compose" Terminology and usage As a cultural term "Scandinavia" has no official definition and is subject to usage by those who identify with the culture in question as well Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland ( ( Ísland or Lýðveldið Ísland ( Viking Age is the term denoting the years from about 700 to 1066 in European history. Old Norse poetry encompasses a range of verse forms written in Old Norse, during the period from the 8th century (see Eggjum stone) to as late as the far The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval Manuscript Codex Regius.

The most prevalent metre of skaldic poetry is dróttkvætt. In Poetry, the meter or metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse. In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses Alliteration as the principal structuring device to unify lines of poetry as opposed to The subject is usually historical and eulogic, detailing the deeds of the skald's king. History is the study of the past particularly the written record Those who study history as a Profession are called Historians Etymology A eulogy is a speech or writing in Praise of a person or thing

The technical demands of the skaldic form were equal to the complicated verse forms mastered by the Welsh bards and Irish ollaves, and like those poets, much of the skaldic verse consisted of panegyrics to kings and aristocrats, or memorials and testimonials to their battles. Welsh ( cy Cymraeg or cy y Gymraeg, kəmˈrɑːɨɡ and {{IPA|[ə ɡəmˈrɑːɨɡ]}}, is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic Etymology The word is a Loanword from descendant languages of Proto-Celtic *bardos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gwerh2 Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. In Irish Ollam or Ollamh (anglicised Ollave or Ollav) is a master in a particular trade or skill A panegyric is a formal public speech, or (in later use written verse delivered in high praise of a Person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating Aristocracy is a form of Government, where rule is established through an internal struggle over who has the most status and influence over society and internal relations The kings and nobles, for their part, were not only intelligent and appreciative audiences for gifted skalds; some of them were poets in their own right.

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Etymology

The West Germanic counterpart of the skald is the scop. A ags scop was an Old English poet the Anglo-Saxon counterpart of the Old Norse non [[skald]]. Not unlike the scop, which is related to Modern English scoff, the name skald is continued in English scold, reflecting the central position of mocking taunts in Germanic poetry. The word is perhaps ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *skalliz "sound, voice, shout" (OHG skal "sound"). Proto-Germanic, or Common Germanic, is the hypothetical common ancestor ( Proto-language) of all the Germanic languages such as modern English OHG has skalsang "song of praise, psalm". Psalms ( Hebrew: Tehilim, תהילים, or "praises" is a book of the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) included skellan means "ring, clang, resound". The OHG variant stem skeltan etymologically identical to the skald- stem (Proto-Germanic *skeldan) means "to scold, blame, accuse, insult". The person doing the insulting is a skelto or skeltāri.

History

We can trace skaldic poetry to the earlier 9th century with Bragi Boddason and his Ragnarsdrápa, the oldest surviving Norse poem besides the poem preserved epigraphically on the Eggjum stone. In his Edda Snorri Sturluson quotes many stanzas attributed to Bragi Boddason the old ( Bragi Boddason inn gamli) a court poet who served several Swedish Ragnarsdrápa is a skaldic poem composed in honour of the Scandinavian hero Ragnar Lodbrok. The Eggja stone (also known as the Eggum or Eggjum stone) is a grave stone that was ploughed up in 1917 on the farm Eggja in Sogn og Fjordane in Norway Þorbjörn Hornklofi's Glymdrápa of the late 9th century is the oldest surviving poem in the dróttkvætt metre, and the Karlevi Runestone from the late 10th century has the oldest surviving text in the metre. Þorbjörn Hornklofi was a 9th century Norwegian Poet. He was the court poet of King Harald Fairhair. Glymdrápa (" Drápa of din" is a skaldic poem composed by Þorbjörn hornklofi toward the end of the 9th century Karlevi Runestone or Öl 1 is commonly dated to the late 10th century, located near the Kalmarsund straight in Karlevi on the island of Öland, Sweden From the 10th century, the poems begin to syncretize pagan and Christian elements. In the 11th century, the professional skald is extinct in continental Scandinavia with the progressing Christianisation of Scandinavia, but survives in Iceland into the 13th century. The Christianization of Scandinavia refers to the process of conversion to Christianity of the Scandinavian people starting in the 8th century with As the profession was threatened with extinction in Iceland as well, Snorri Sturluson compiled the Prose Edda as a manual with the aim to preserve an appreciative understanding of their art. Snorri Sturluson (1178 – September 23, 1241) was an Icelandic historian poet and politician The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda ( Snorra Edda) or simply Edda, is an Snorri's Heimskringla also preserves many poems. Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse Kings' sagas.

Skaldic poetry

Most Nordic verse of the Viking time came in one of two forms: eddic or skaldic. Eddic verse was usually simple, in terms of content, style and metre, dealing largely with mythological or heroic content. Skaldic verse, conversely, was complex, and usually composed as a tribute or homage to a particular Jarl or king. Performance of skaldic poetry was spoken, not sung or chanted.

Unlike many other literary forms of the time, much skaldic poetry is attributable to an author (called a skald), and these attributions may be relied on with a reasonable degree of confidence. Many skalds were men of influence and power, and were thus biographically noted. The meter is ornate, usually dróttkvætt or a variation thereof. In Poetry, the meter or metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse. In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses Alliteration as the principal structuring device to unify lines of poetry as opposed to The syntax is complex, with sentences commonly interwoven, with kennings and heiti are used frequently and gratuitously. In Linguistics, syntax (from Ancient Greek grc συν- syn-, "together" and grc τάξις táxis, "arrangement" is the A kenning ( Old Norse kenning, Modern Icelandic pronunciation) is a Circumlocution used instead of an ordinary Noun in Old Norse A heiti ( Old Norse heiti, Modern Icelandic pronunciation, pl

Skaldic poetry was written in in variants and dialects of Old Norse languages. Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age Technically, their verse was usually a form of alliterative verse, and almost always using the dróttkvætt stanza (also known as the Court or Lordly Metre). In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses Alliteration as the principal structuring device to unify lines of poetry as opposed to In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses Alliteration as the principal structuring device to unify lines of poetry as opposed to In Poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger Poem. In modern poetry the term is often equivalent with Strophe; in popular vocal music a stanza is Dróttkvætt is effectively an eight line form, wjere each pair of lines is an original single long line which is conventionally written as two lines.

Forms of skaldic poetry

Forms of skaldic poetry are:

Skalds also composed satire (níðvísur) and very occasionally, erotic verse (mansöngr). Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although in practice it is also found in the graphic and Performing arts In satire human Mansöngr were erotic verses written by Skalds in Scandinavia, around the time of the Vikings The writing of mansöngr were prohibited in a number of

Kennings

The verses of the skalds contain a great profusion of kennings, the fixed metaphors found in most northern European poetry of the time. A kenning ( Old Norse kenning, Modern Icelandic pronunciation) is a Circumlocution used instead of an ordinary Noun in Old Norse Kennings are devices ready to supply a standard image to form an alliterating half-line to fit the requirements of dróttkvætt; but the substantially greater technical demands of skaldic verse required that these devices be multiplied and compounded in order to meet its demands for skill and wordplay. These images can therefore become somewhat hermetic, at least to those who fail to grasp the allusions that lie at the root of many of them. An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference or representation of or to a well-known person place event literary work myth, or work of art

Skaldic poems

Most of the skaldic poetry we have are poems composed to individual kings by their court poets. They typically have historical content, relating battles and other deeds from the king's carrier.

A few surviving skaldic poems have mythological content.

To this could be added two poems relating the death of a king and his reception in Valhalla. See also Death in Norse paganism In Norse mythology, Valhalla (from Old Norse Valhöll "hall of the slain" is a majestic enormous

Some other were composed as circumstance pieces, such as those by Egill Skallagrímsson

Notable skalds

More than 300 skalds are known from the period between AD 800 and 1200. Egill Skallagrímsson (910-c990 was a Viking Skald and the great Anti-hero of Icelandic literature. Sonatorrek ("the irreparable loss of sons" is a Skaldic poem in 25 stanzas by Egill Skallagrímsson (ca Egill Skallagrímsson (910-c990 was a Viking Skald and the great Anti-hero of Icelandic literature. Höfuðlausn or the " Head's Ransom " is a skaldic poem by Egill Skalla-Grímsson in praise of king Eirik Bloodaxe. Eirik Bloodaxe ( Old Norse: Eiríkr blóðøx, Norwegian: Eirik Blodøks) (c Arinbjarnarkviða is a skaldic poem by Egill Skalla-Grímsson in praise of his friend Arinbjörn Notable names include:

See also

External links

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