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  • A History of Old Norse Poetry and Poetics
  • John Kennedy
Clunies Ross, Margaret, A History of Old Norse Poetry and Poetics, Woodbridge, Suffolk, Brewer, 2005; cloth; pp. x, 283; R.R.P. £50.00; ISBN 1843840340.

The first reaction of someone confronted with a title such as the one borne by this book might well be scepticism as to whether such a history can indeed be written. Scholarly attempts to date individual eddic poems have provided estimates hundreds of years apart in some cases, and while much skaldic poetry is attributed to figures who can with some confidence be placed in an historical context, there are often questions hanging over whether the verses we now have were indeed composed by the skald to whom they are attributed in the medieval sources. Margaret Clunies Ross demonstrates here that such a history can indeed be produced, and that while displaying all the caution required by the sources it can be made accessible and rewarding for the reader.

The dust jacket indicates that the aim of the book is 'to give a clear description of the rich poetic tradition of early Scandinavia, particularly in Iceland … and [End Page 188] to demonstrate the social contexts that favoured poetic composition, from the oral societies of the early Viking Age in Norway and its colonies to the devout compositions of literate Christian clerics in fourteenth-century Iceland'. For Clunies Ross this entails examining the poetry, but also looking closely at a number of works, including the Edda of Snorri Sturluson and vernacular scholarly compositions such as The Third Grammatical Treatise, which consider matters of poetics. It is this integration of discussion of the poetry and discussion of medieval Norse ideas about poetry which is the book's most distinctive feature.

Chapter one provides an overview of the surviving poetic corpus. Clunies Ross would prefer to avoid the terms 'eddic' and 'skaldic' as 'contrastive and exclusive terms' (p. 14) but concedes that their use is probably unavoidable. Succeeding chapters guide the reader through consideration of poetic terminology and genre, and evaluate the evidence relating to the composition and performance of Norse poetry, and its recording and transmission. The chapter on aesthetics addresses inter alia that question which all who encounter skaldic verse are likely to ask at an early stage: 'Why, then, did skaldic poetry become so complicated, not so much in what it says … but in how it says it?' (p. 103).

Chapter six addresses 'The impact of Christianity on Old Norse Poetry'. The poetic response to the new creed was complex and altered with the passage of time, and this chapter may be the one which makes most demands on the reader. It is followed by three chapters with the words 'Poetics and Grammatica' in their title, all discussing Icelandic-language works which shed light on how poetic composition was regarded. Readers who have mentally girded their loins for some tough, dry exposition are likely to be pleasantly surprised by analysis largely free of formidable technicalities. Chapter eight, devoted to Snorri's Edda, could be thoroughly recommended to a student seeking a relatively brief introduction to that key work.

Chapter ten surveys the later poetry of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and concludes with fairly detailed analysis of four texts. The brief conclusion suggests some areas meriting further research and is followed by one appendix examining Snorri Sturluson's use of figurative language.

A History of Old Norse Poetry and Poetics admirably combines profound scholarship with lucid presentation. Norse poetry quoted is provided with translations into English, and except in a few straightforward cases with the text in prose word order. Even quotations from scholars who wrote in languages other than English are provided with translations. Matters that might not be clear to the modern reader, such as the quantitative nature of Classical Latin versification, [End Page 189] are explained. The only 'typo' detected was 'a amajority' on page 59. Instances where the expression causes the reader to halt are remarkably few: the reference to 'another shield poem, Berudrápa, the gift of a Norwegian aristocrat' (p. 59n) may obscure the fact that the shield rather than the poem was the aristocrat's...

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