Skald
They are characteristically more ornate in form and diction than eddic poems, employing many kennings, which require some knowledge of Norse mythology, and heiti, which are formal nouns used in place of more prosaic synonyms.
The subject matter of their extended poems was sometimes mythical before the conversion to Christianity, thereafter usually historical and encomiastic, detailing the deeds of the skald's patron.
A new edition was prepared online by the Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages project and began publication in 2007.
The word skald (which internal rhymes show to have had a short vowel until the 14th century) is perhaps ultimately related to Proto-Germanic: *skalliz, lit.
Skaldic verse is distinguished from Eddic by characteristically being more complex in style and by using dróttkvætt ("court metre"), which requires internal rhyme as well as alliteration,[3] rather than the simpler and older fornyrðislag ("way of ancient words"), ljóðaháttr ("song form"), and málaháttr ("speech form") metres of the Eddic poems.
Skaldic poetry is also characteristically more ornate in its diction, using more interlacing of elements of meaning within the verse and many more kennings and heiti.
The resulting complexity can appear somewhat hermetic to modern readers, as well as creating ambiguity in interpretation;[4][5] but the original audiences would have been familiar with the conventions of the syntactic interweaving as well as the vocabulary of the kennings.
Eddic poems are characterized by their mythological, ethical, and heroic content,[6] while skaldic verse has a wider range of subject matter.
Medieval Scandinavians appear to have distinguished between older and more modern poetry rather than considering skaldic verse as a distinct genre.
[14] King Harald Hardrada is said to have set his skald, Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, as he was walking down the street, to compose two stanzas casting a quarreling smith and tanner through the choice of kennings as specific figures first from mythology and then from heroic legend.
They produced praise poetry telling of their patrons' deeds, which became an orally transmitted record and was subsequently cited in history sagas.
Their accuracy has been the subject of debate,[5] but the verse form guards against corruption and the skalds traditionally criticized as well as advised their patrons.
[32][33] Skalds at the court at Hlaðir have been credited with developing the Valhalla complex and the cult of Odin as an aristocratic, educated form of heathenism influenced by Christian eschatology.
[34][35] Poetic ability was highly valued; the art was practised by the Norwegian kings themselves,[36] and several skalds, such as Egill Skallagrímsson, are the subject of their own biographical sagas.
[45] Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, a handbook produced around 1220 that includes a guide to the metres, an explanation of kennings and their mythological and heroic bases grounded in contemporary learning, and numerous examples that preserve many skaldic verses, enabled skaldic poetry to continue in Iceland after the tradition of court poetry ended in the 13th century.
