21 5 ABSTRACT
(in English)
Hear Kvasir's Blood!
Kenn ing and Metaphor in Old Norse S kaldic Poetry
The diss ert ation is an investigation of the function and significance of the ke nn ing in
Old Norse skaldic poetry . It is based on the presupposition that the most helpful way
of ap proaching ke nnings, whether they are considered in isoiation or within the
context of a stanza, is to regard them as metaphor.
First part of the di ssertation is a descriptive analysis of the kenni ng and it leads
to two basic categories o f kennings, which I call metaphoric and metonym ic . T hese
tw o categories can b further divided into a number of subcategories, with the aim of
establishing a consistent desc ription of the relationship between the ken ning's sigllijic
and sigllijiant, wh ile at the same ti me characterizing the various techniq ues used in
the construction of kenn ings .
T he second part of the dissertation is an investigation of kennings as they
occur in th e context o f particular stanzas. S uch a description needs to consider the
type of poem un der consi deration as well as the genre of prose in which the
poe m/stanza is foun d. To demonstrate thi s I analyze verses from three d iffere nt
varieties of skaldic poetry : Ragllarsdr6pa, Ynglil1gata/ , and stanzas from the four
poets' sagas (lJall{rdJar saga, C lIllll/augs saga ormstllllgil , Kormaks saga, and
Bjamar saga hitd(e/akap{Ja). These three types of poetry are in turn associated wit h
three different prose genres: the grammatical/poetic treatises. the ki ngs' sagas, and the
sagas of the Ice landers .
M y analysis sho ws th at there are significant differences in the use of kcnn ings
in the abov e-named tex ts. Ragnarsdrclpa creates (he illusion that the poem 's imagery
is directly based on the images the poet sees on a shield , a nd the kenni ngs a re a
central element in this ae sthetic fict ion. The ken n ings in YlIglingatal, on the other
hand, are part of an ideological and tend entious depicti on of pagan k ings as see n from
a Christian point of view . F inally, the ke nnings in th e poets' sagas co ntribu te to the
po rtrayal of the amb ivalen t attitudes of the four young skalds to their surrou nd ings,
and in part icular. to women .
I found that the theore tical insights that have already come to li ght in th e study
of kennings were not in themselves sufficient for this analysis, and it has been
necessary to supplement the ex isting theoretical te rm s an d insights into ken nings with
te rm s and insights from the theory of metaphor. It is necessary to regard the kenning
as a met aphor in order to describe its place in the rea lm of meaning, which the skaldic
stan zas and the texts in which they are cited can be said to constitute.
o ve rsat afMartill C{zase