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The Skaldic Forms of Poetry
by J. Zimmerman.
History. Form. Your Composition. References. Glossary.
Skalds were first-millennium artistic ministers of propaganda. They wrote poems to praise and applaud their kings and leaders. Skaldic poetry is not epic, elegiac, mournful, dramatic-dialog (like many of the Eddic lays), or didactic. Sometimes it is satiric (such as the work of Sneglu-Halli).
The Skaldic forms probably began in Norway before the ninth century, but based simply on the records, a huge leap of style seems to appear with Bragi in the first half of the ninth century, where the records begin.
Hollander (p.7) summarizes that "Skaldic poetry is fundamentally alliterative, like other Old German poetry, and stanzaic, like the Eddic lays. For the rest, there are such striking differences - in metrics, structure, style, contents - that some scholars have questioned its Germanic quality."
The poetry of the skalds is "ornamental and formal, rather than representational, art" [Hollander (p.20)]. It is "a poetry of nouns and secondarily of adjectives ... whereas verbs are drab and are relegated to a remarkable subordinate function" [Hollander (p.15)].
Specifically, the poetry of the skalds:
For example, dróttkvtt has imperfect rhyme (such as skothending (rhymed final consonants but unrhymed vowels)) on stressed syllables in the odd half line, and adalhending perfect rhyme on stressed syllables in the even half line. In addition, dróttkvtt involves the last stressed syllable (the penultimate syllable) in these imperfect rhymes.
A typical kenning is a noun qualifed by a genitive, which yields a new concept. Further, continues Hollander, "Skaldic practice goes one step further in allowing substitution for both basic word and qualifying noun."
For some skalds, kennings were a showy tool, the sizzle of the poem, but often without true relevance. "It is only in the best verse, and rarely, that they grow out of the subject matter and are in harmony with the tone of the composition." Check Hollander for some examples of kennings.
Just because you start with the intention of writing a poem in a Skaldic form, you do not have to keep your poem in that form if it does not work for you. Your attempt to write a formal poem may help you find words that you would not have found otherwise. And you may decide that you choose to end up with a poem in a different form, perhaps even a prose poem.
The key reference (look for it in your local used book store) is:
The Skalds: a Selection of Their Poems (1945),
by Lee Milton Hollander.
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Related pages:
Books of Poetry Form. Alphabetic list of poetry forms and related topics. How to Write Poetry. | ||
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