Skaldic poetry
Viking court compositions
Skaldic poetry is a form of Old Norse verse composed by skalds—court poets of medieval Scandinavia.
The style is notoriously complex, featuring intricate meter, elaborate metaphors called kennings, and tangled word order that makes translation difficult.
Skalds composed praise poems for kings and chieftains, often commemorating battles or voyages.
Unlike the anonymous Eddic poems, skaldic verse was attributed to known poets.
- kenningsCompound poetic substitutions
- IcelandNordic island republic
- Viking AgeScandinavian maritime expansion era
- alliterationMatching initial consonants
- legendary kingsMonarchs from myth or lore
Snorri Sturluson · heroic epics · oral tradition · wordplay · Odin · Norway · metaphorical language · Thor · Norse gods · stave · Valhalla · rune stones · longship · harp · chant · mead · meter · warrior
Skaldic poetryfolk songs
Inherited communal music
nursery rhymes · doggerel · plain speech · ballads · work songs