Northern Istoriography

Old Norse literature originated from oral myths and poems brought over by Norwegians who settled Iceland in the 9th century. It was an oral tradition until around 1000 CE when writing was introduced with Christianity. From 1100-1350, both oral poetry and new compositions were written down. The literature included eddic poems retelling Norse myths and legends, scaldic poetry that was complex and metaphorical, and sagas which were prose narratives that realistically depicted Icelandic family and honor. Historical writing from the 11th-12th centuries also contributed works like Heimskringla and Landnámabók. By the 14th century, as Iceland lost independence, literary production declined.

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Northern Istoriography

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Old Norse literature, the literature of the Northmen, or Norsemen, c.850–c.1350.

It
survives mainly in Icelandic writings, for little medieval vernacular literature remains
from Norway, Sweden, or Denmark.

The Norwegians who settled Iceland late in the 9th cent. brought with them a body of
oral mythological poetry that flourished there in a sturdy, seafaring world removed from
the warring mainland. The first great period, which lasted until c.1100, was oral, as
writing was not introduced until well after the establishment of Christianity (c.1000).
From c.1100 to c.1350 both the oral poetry and new compositions were set down. The
conscious, clear prose style that developed for both saga and history antedates that of all
other modern European literatures except Gaelic. In the later 13th cent., with Iceland's
loss of independence to Norway, literary activity declined and had virtually disappeared a
century later.

The surviving body of literature can best be discussed as consisting of several types.
Eddic writings (see Edda) were condensations of ancient lays, in alliterative verse (see
alliteration), on old gods and heroes. Many of the heroic lays involve the legend of
Siegfried and Brunhild; the mythological lays, focusing on Norse gods, include “The Lay
of Thrym,” a narrative about Thor, and “The Seeress' Prophecy,” which begins with
creation and anticipates the gods' demise.

Also composed in alliterative verse, but more complex and artificial in form, was scaldic
poetry, which flourished in Norway about the 10th cent. and reached its height slightly
later in Iceland. Comprising poems of praise, triumph, lamentation, and love, it is
subjective in approach and highly mannered in technique. Intricate metrical schemes are
meticulously observed, and diction is polished to the point of preciousness, especially in
the incessant use of the kenning (a metaphoric substituted phrase, e.g., “ship-road” for
“sea”), found also in Anglo-Saxon literature. As the scalds became a group apart, and
only the initiated could understand their highly allusive verse, Snorri Sturluson was
prompted to write the Prose Edda (c.1222) as a text of scaldic poetry, in a vain attempt to
promote and preserve the old techniques.

As scaldic poetry declined, new forms rose to replace it, among them the ballad and the
sacred hymn. A new rhymed verse developed, somewhat analogous to that in Middle
English literature and used for much the same purpose—translation and paraphrase of
foreign romances. The bulk of medieval Norse literature, and the most readable today,
survives in the form of sagas, that is, prose narratives, sometimes interspersed with verse,
which relate the lives of legendary or historical figures with objectivity and skillful
characterization and which reflect the old Icelandic devotion to personal honor and
family.

Historical writing of the 11th and 12th cent. is also noteworthy. In this field Snorri
Sturluson contributed his Heimskringla. Ari Thorgilsson produced Islendingabók
(c.1125), an account of the island's history, an abridged version of which has survived.
He was probably partly responsible also for the Landnámabók, a topographical and
genealogical account of Iceland; other works by Thorgilsson have been lost. Finally, all
the Scandinavian countries produced medieval ballads, but these were not written down
until much later. There remain numerous unsolved problems concerning oral
composition, transmission of origins and influences, and dating.

See studies by H. R. Davidson (1943, repr. 1968) and L. M. Hollander (1945, repr. 1968);
S. Einarsson, A History of Icelandic Literature (1957); Old Norse Literature and
Mythology, ed. by E. C. Polomé (1969).