Note to Gestumbl Heiðr 7VIII (Heiðr 54)
[All]: Lines 1-4 are in the form greppaminni ‘poets’ reminder’, which uses a question-and-answer format. Cf. RvHbreiðm Hl 45/1-4III, SnSt Ht 40III. In these other examples, the first four half-lines consist of questions, and the second four of answers. These lines correspond structurally to ljóðaháttr half-lines. Heiðrekr’s rhythmical prose response shows signs that it may once have been in verse (Heiðr 1960, 80 n. 2), or that it was composed later by someone without full knowledge of the rules of metrical composition (Gade pers. comm.). On greppaminni see Vésteinn Ólason (1969).
References
- Bibliography
- Heiðr 1960 = Tolkien, Christopher, ed. and trans. 1960. Saga Heiðreks konungs ins vitra / The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. Nelson Icelandic Texts. London etc.: Nelson.
- Vésteinn Ólason. 1969. ‘Greppaminni’. In Jakob Benediktsson 1969, 198-205.
- Internal references
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 45’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1053.
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 40’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1149.