Old Norse women's poetry : the voices of female skalds : translated from the Old Norse
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Old Norse women's poetry : the voices of female skalds : translated from the Old Norse
(Library of medieval women)
D.S. Brewer, 2011
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Note
Bibliography: p. 129-133
Includes index
Old Norse text with English translation
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Text, with English translation in two formats, of all the Old Norse poetry attributed to women - skaldkonur.
The rich and compelling corpus of Old Norse poetry is one of the most important and influential areas of medieval European literature. What is less well known, however, is the quantity of the material which can be attributed to women skalds. This book, intended for a broad audience, presents a bilingual edition (Old Norse and English) of this material, from the ninth to the thirteenth century and beyond, with commentary and notes. The poems here reflect the dramatic and often violent nature of the sagas: their subject matter features Viking Age shipboard adventures and shipwrecks; prophecies; curses; declarations of love and of revenge; duels, feuds and battles; encounters with ghosts; marital and family discord; and religious insults, among many other topics. Their authors fall into four main categories: pre-Christian Norwegian and Icelandic skaldkonur of the Viking Age; Icelandic skaldkonur of the Sturlung Age (thirteenth century); additional early skaldkonur from the Islendingasoegur and related material, not as historically verifiable as the first group; and mythical figures cited as reciting verse in the legendary sagas (fornaldarsoegur).
Sandra Ballif Straubhaar is Senior Lecturer in Germanic Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part 1: Verse Translations and Commentary
Real People, Real Poetry
Quasi-Historical People and Poetry
Visionary Women: Women's Dream-Verse
Legendary Heroines
Magic-Workers, Prophetesses and Alien Maidens
Trollwomen
Part 2: Prose Translations
Glossary of Names: Persons and Weapons
Time Line
Bibliography
by "Nielsen BookData"