Skaldic Poetry and Performance

Exploring Religious Ritual Frameworks in the Oral Performance of the Old Norse, Eddic-Style Praise Poems <em>Hákonar­mál</em>, <em>Eiríksmál</em>, and <em>Hrafnsmál</em>

“…The idea that Old Norse poetry was meant to be performed orally seems nearly uncontroversial (for instance, Harris 2005;Hermann 2017: 33). Even so, the poems proposed as belonging to the category of skaldic poetry -often used particularly for royal encomia in the Old Norse drótt kvaett metre (see, for instance, Gade 1995) -has often seemed prob lem atic to Old Norse scholars following a quite strict (perhaps overly simplified) Oral-Formulaic Theory inspired notion of orality (for instance, Würth 2007). In such an approach, the relative fixity of skaldic poems, their general lack of a narrative tread, and the fact that they are often attributed to known poets does not accord with the view in this approach that oral poetry is fluid, largely formulaic, narrative, and stems from a col lec tive, anonymous tradition.…”

“…In general, the performance aspects of skaldic poetry are a very recent and seldomly researched phenomenon. Notable exceptions may be found inGade (1994),Gunnell (2020),Millward (2014),Morawiec (2011), andWürth (2007). An overview of much of this research can be found inHarris and Reichl (2016) and critical assessments may be found inMillward (2014) andNygaard (2019a).8 Eiríksmál is, however, also briefly mentioned inGunnell (2016, 104), and Nygaard (2018).9 The term was first used and further developed in social archaeology by, for instance, Gabriella Giannachi, Michael Shanks, and Ian Hodder (see, for instance,Giannachi, Kaye, and Shanks 2012;Hodder 2012).…”