kennings
Norse metaphor technique
Kennings are a poetic device from Old Norse and Old English literature—compound expressions that replace simple nouns with figurative phrases.
The sea becomes whale-road, a ship becomes wave-steed, a king becomes ring-giver.
The technique appears throughout Beowulf and the Icelandic sagas.
Modern writers occasionally revive kennings for archaic or playful effect.
Old English epic's protagonist
- thaneFeudal lord of Scotland
- word-hoardOne's vocabulary reserve
- mead-hallNorse drinking hall
- elegyPoem lamenting the departed
Wanderer · alliterative · half-line · caesura · epic · manuscript · codex · Germanic
Implied identity comparison
- circumlocutionIndirect, wordy expression
- figurativeRepresenting through imagery
- symbolismRepresenting concepts through images
- imageryVivid descriptive language
analogy · epithet · substitution · compressed · evocative · allusive · connotation · indirection
Beowulf
Old English epic's protagonist
- thaneFeudal lord of Scotland
- word-hoardOne's vocabulary reserve
- mead-hallNorse drinking hall
elegy · Wanderer · alliterative · half-line · caesura · epic · manuscript · codex · Germanic
word-hoard
One's vocabulary reserve
metaphor
Implied identity comparison
- circumlocutionIndirect, wordy expression
- figurativeRepresenting through imagery
- symbolismRepresenting concepts through images
imagery · analogy · epithet · substitution · compressed · evocative · allusive · connotation · indirection · hyphenated
skald
Norse heroic poet
runestone · Thule · alliteration · bard · epithet · Icelandic · stanza
kenningsplain language
Easily understood communication
proper names · dictionary definitions · technical terminology
kenningssimple words