Háttatal

From this point on, barely maintaining the fiction of the dialogue, Snorri makes his work a treatise on the conventional vocabulary and phraseology of skaldship, for the guidance of young skalds.

The third section of the Edda is the Hattatal, or Enumeration of Meters, and combines three separate songs of praise, one on King Hakon, a second on Skuli Bardsson, the king's father-in-law and most powerful vassal, and a third celebrating both.

Each of the hundred and two stanzas of the work belongs to a distinct metric type or subtype, and between stanzas Snorri has inserted definitions, occasionally longer notes or comments.

We are now in a position to see the purpose and the artistic unity of the prose Edda.

Belief is sin.

Tampering with tradition is a crime against scholarship.

The second and third sections, Skaldskaparmal and Hattatal, offer the rules of composition, and drive them home by means of models drawn in the one case from acknowledged masters of the craft.

In the other, by the example of a complete skaldic trilogy, the work of a man who was accepted by his own time as a worthy successor of Bragi, Kormaker, and Einar.

From this point on, barely maintaining the fiction of the dialogue, Snorri makes his work a treatise on the conventional vocabulary and phraseology of skaldship, for the guidance of young skalds.

The third section of the Edda is the Hattatal, or enumeration of meters, and combines three separate songs of praise, one on King Hakon, a second on Skuli Bardsson, the king's father-in-law and most powerful vassal, and a third celebrating both.

Each of the hundred and two stanzas of the work belongs to a distinct metric type or subtype, and between stanzas Snorri has inserted definitions, occasionally longer notes or comments.

We are now in a position to see the purpose in the artistic unity of the prose Edda.

Belief is sin.

Tampering with tradition is a crime against scholarship.

The second and third sections, Skaldskaparmal and Hattatal, offer the rules of composition, and drive them home by means of models drawn in the one case from acknowledged masters of the craft, in the other by the example of a complete skaldic trilogy, the work of a man who was accepted by his own time as a worthy successor of Bragi, Kormaker, and Einar.

A needed transition from the literary to the technical portion of the book is supplied by Bragaridur, which narrates in the same spirit as Gylfaginning further useful tales, and concludes with a mythological account of the skaldic art.

From this point on, barely maintaining the fiction of the dialogue, Snorri makes his work a treatise on the conventional vocabulary and phraseology of skaldship, for the guidance of young skalds.

The third section of the Edda is the Hattatal, or Enumeration of Meters, and combines three separate songs of praise, one on King Hakon, a second on Skuli Bardsson, the king's father-in-law and most powerful vassal, and a third celebrating both.

Each of the hundred and two stanzas of the work belongs to a distinct metric type or subtype, and between stanzas Snorri has inserted definitions, occasionally longer notes or comments.

We are now in a position to see the purpose and the artistic unity of the Prose Edda.

Belief is sin.

Tampering with tradition is a crime against scholarship.

The second and third sections, Skaldskaparmal and Hattatal, offer the rules of composition, and drive them home by means of models drawn in the one case from acknowledged masters of the craft, in the other by the example of a complete skaldic trilogy, the work of a man who was accepted by his own time as a worthy successor of Bragi, Kormakr, and Einar.

A needed transition from the literary to the technical portion of the book is supplied by Bragariddur, which narrates in the same spirit as Gylfaginning further useful tales, and concludes with a mythological account of the skaldic art.

Of the written prose sources he drew upon, he only mentions Ari the Learned's book.

Probably, as it seems to us because in the statements of that work he had as implicit a faith as in the other sources he mentions and found reason to alter nothing therein while the sources he does not mention he silently criticizes throughout rejecting or altering them according as his critical faculty dictated before snorri's time there existed only separate disjointed biographical monographs on norwegian kings written on the model of the family sagas of iceland snorri's was a more ambitious task discerning that the course of life is determined by cause and effect and that in the lives of kings widely ramified interests national and dynastic came into play he conceived a new idea of saga-writing the seed of cause sown in the preceding must yield its crop of effect in the succeeding reign this the writer of lives of kings must bear in mind and so snorri addresses himself to writing the first pragmatic history ever penned in any teutonic vernacular the heims kringla the evidence for snorri's authorship of heims kringla is not conclusive but figfusson's demonstration is accepted by most scholars we may safely assume apart from the general tendency of the external evidence that one and the same author must have written the histories and the prose edda a comparison of the names of skalds and skaldic poems mentioned in both works will show that the author of each had a wide acquaintance with the conventional poetic literature of scandinavia particularly of iceland and that if we suppose two distinct authors both men had almost precisely the same poetic equipment each of the works under consideration begins with a rationalization of the odinic myths and reveals an identity of attitude toward the ancient faith furthermore the careful reader will be charmed with the sinewy style of both the heims kringla and the edda and will be obliged to admit the close similarity between them in structure and in expression finally figfusson has shown that they exhibit occasionally a remarkable identity of phrase the prose edda is undoubtedly by snorri it is preserved in three primary manuscripts codex regius early fourteenth century codex wormianus fourteenth century named from ole worm from whose hands it passed in seventeen oh six into the hands of arni magnussen and codex upsaliensis about thirteen hundred perhaps a direct copy of snorri's own text this last manuscript and also the arnamagnean vellum number seven forty eight which preserves a portion of the text testify unmistakably to snorri's authorship the codex even gives in detail the subjects of the three divisions of the book these three divisions but for the evidence of the manuscripts might seem to afford ground for assuming plural authorship the first part the gylfaginning or beguiling of gylfi is an epitome of odinic mythology cast in the form of a dialogue between gylfi a legendary swedish king and the triune odin snorri though a christian tells the old pagan tales with obvious relish and often in the enthusiasm of the true antiquary rises to magnificent heights ever and again he fortifies his narrative with citations from the poetic edda the great treasure-house of scandinavian mythological and heroic poetry one passes from gylfaginning to skaldskaparmal with very little shock in spite of the great difference in subject and treatment which the author has attempted rather skillfully to modulate through a second dialogue the questioner this time is one egir and replies are made by the god bragi famed for eloquence and the gift of poetic expression this intermediate dialogue called bragarreidur or bragi's discourses strikes the key-note of the entire book and really reconciles the first section to the second and third whose dissimilarity to gylfaginning had led some scholars to believe that one or the other is not snorri's work the god relates several adventures of the aesir of the same character as those recounted in gylfaginning and concludes with a myth concerning the origin of the poetic art from this point on barely maintaining the fiction of the dialogue snorri makes his work a treatise on the conventional vocabulary and phraseology of skaldship for the guidance of young skalds the third section of the edda is the hattatal or enumeration of meters and combines three separate songs of praise one on king hakon a second on skuli bardsson the king's father-in-law and most powerful vassal and a third celebrating both each of the hundred and two stanzas of the work belongs to a distinct metric type or subtype and between stanzas snorri has inserted definitions occasionally longer notes or comments we are now in a position to see the purpose and the artistic unity of the prose edda the entire work is a textbook for apprentice poets gylfaginning conceived in the true antiquarian spirit supplies the mythological and legendary background which in the christian age that had superseded the vivid old heathen days a young man might not know or might avoid do not lose sight of these splendid tales of the fathers snorri by implication says to the youthful bard but remember always that these old legends are to be used to point a moral or adorn a tale and not to be believed or to be altered without authority of ancient skalds who knew them belief is sin tampering with tradition is a crime against scholarship The second and third sections, Skaldskaparmal and Hattatal, offer the rules of composition, and drive them home by means of models drawn in the one case from acknowledged masters of the craft, in the other by the example of a complete Skaldic trilogy, the work of a man who was accepted by his own time as a worthy successor of Bragi, Kormaker, and Einar.

A needed transition from the literary to the technical portion of the book is supplied by Bragaridur, which narrates in the same spirit as Gilfaginning further useful tales, and concludes with a mythological account of the Skaldic art.

Even the prologue, which many scholars consider spurious, is an integral part of the work, a fact established by Snorri's single address in the character of the author to beginners.

Anders Upstrom made an independent translation in 1859.

In 1755 and 56, there appeared at Copenhagen a work of the greatest importance for the study of Scandinavian antiquities in England, Malaise, Monuments de la Mythologie et de la Poésie des Celtes et particulièrement de Anciens Scandinaves.

This book, which comprised a general introduction on the ancient Scandinavian civilization, a translation of Gilfaginning and a synopsis of Skaldskaparmal and Hattatal, was turned into English by Bishop Percy under the title of Northern Antiquities.

Percy claimed to know Guronson's text as well as the French.

And then the Skaldasparmal, or the Skaldic Manual, which describes the rules of Icelandic poetry, which are derived from the broader body of Nordic poetry.

The final section, the Hatatal, describes the verse forms that are used within this literary form.

The reason why Snorri had to preserve so much information in the prozetta is because the Icelandic style of poetry, like the larger Nordic style that you see in the sagas, is very heavy on references, mythic allusions, and a deep knowledge of the myth and source material of the Nordic peoples, along with also having at times demanding verse forms.

It's also worth mentioning that this is happening around the time when the sagas within Scandinavia are being written down.

From this point on, barely maintaining the fiction of the dialogue, Snorri makes his work a treatise on the conventional vocabulary and phraseology of skaldship, for the guidance of young skalds.

The third section of the Edda is the Hattatal, or enumeration of meters, and combines three separate songs of praise, one on King Hakon, a second on Skuli Bardsson, the king's father-in-law and most powerful vassal, and a third celebrating both.

Each of the hundred and two stanzas of the work belongs to a distinct metric type or subtype, and between stanzas Snorri has inserted definitions, occasionally longer notes or comments.

We are now in a position to see the purpose in the artistic unity of the prose Edda.

Belief is sin.

Tampering with tradition is a crime against scholarship.

The second and third sections, Skaldskaparmal and Hattatal, offer the rules of composition, and drive them home by means of models drawn in the one case from acknowledged masters of the craft, in the other by the example of a complete skaldic trilogy, the work of a man who was accepted by his own time as a worthy successor of Bragi, Kormaker, and Einar.

A needed transition from the literary to the technical portion of the book is supplied by Bragaridur, which narrates in the same spirit as Gylfaginning further useful tales, and concludes with a mythological account of the skaldic art.

From this point on, barely maintaining the fiction of the dialogue, Snorri makes his work a treatise on the conventional vocabulary and phraseology of skaldship, for the guidance of young skalds.

The third section of the Edda is the Hattatal, or Enumeration of Meters, and combines three separate songs of praise, one on King Hakon, a second on Skuli Bardsson, the king's father-in-law and most powerful vassal, and a third celebrating both.

Each of the hundred and two stanzas of the work belongs to a distinct metric type or subtype, and between stanzas Snorri has inserted definitions, occasionally longer notes or comments.

We are now in a position to see the purpose and the artistic unity of the prose Edda.

Belief is sin.

Tampering with tradition is a crime against scholarship.

The second and third sections, Skaldskaparmal and Hattatal, offer the rules of composition, and drive them home by means of models drawn in the one case from acknowledged masters of the craft.

In the other, by the example of a complete Skaldic trilogy, the work of a man who was accepted by his own time as a worthy successor of Bragi, Kormaker, and Einar.

From this point on, barely maintaining the fiction of the dialogue, Snorri makes his work a treatise on the conventional vocabulary and phraseology of skaldship, for the guidance of young skalds.

The third section of the Edda is the Hattatal, or Enumeration of Meters, and combines three separate songs of praise, one on King Hakon, a second on Skuli Bardsson, the king's father-in-law and most powerful vassal, and a third celebrating both.

Each of the hundred and two stanzas of the work belongs to a distinct metric type or subtype, and between stanzas Snorri has inserted definitions, occasionally longer notes or comments.

We are now in a position to see the purpose and the artistic unity of the Prose Edda.

Belief is sin.

Tampering with tradition is a crime against scholarship.

The second and third sections, Skaldskaparmal and Hattatal, offer the rules of composition, and drive them home by means of models drawn in the one case from acknowledged masters of the craft, in the other by the example of a complete skaldic trilogy, the work of a man who was accepted by his own time as a worthy successor of Bragi, Kormaker, and Einar.

A needed transition from the literary to the technical portion of the book is supplied by Bragaridur, which narrates in the same spirit as Gylfaginning further useful tales, and concludes with a mythological account of the skaldic art.

From this point on, barely maintaining the fiction of the dialogue, Snorri makes his work a treatise on the conventional vocabulary and phraseology of skaldship, for the guidance of young skalds.

The third section of the Edda is the Hattatal, or Enumeration of Meters, and combines three separate songs of praise, one on King Hakon, a second on Skuli Bardsson, the king's father-in-law and most powerful vassal, and a third celebrating both.

Each of the hundred and two stanzas of the work belongs to a distinct metric type or subtype, and between stanzas Snorri has inserted definitions, occasionally longer notes or comments.

We are now in a position to see the purpose and the artistic unity of the Prose Edda.

Belief is sin.

Tampering with tradition is a crime against scholarship.

The second and third sections, Skaldskaparmal and Hattatal, offer the rules of composition, and drive them home by means of models drawn in the one case from acknowledged masters of the craft, in the other by the example of a complete skaldic trilogy, the work of a man who was accepted by his own time as a worthy successor of Bragi, Kormakr, and Einar.

A needed transition from the literary to the technical portion of the book is supplied by Bragariddu, which narrates in the same spirit as Gylfaginning further useful tales, and concludes with a mythological account of the skaldic art.