The Last Pagan

This article assesses the evidence for the survival of pagan views in skaldic poetry from the period of the reign of king Óláfr Tryggvason of Norway onwards. Based on a new typological subdivision of mythological kennings, I suggest that one group of these remained in largely unchanged use after Ólá...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of English and Germanic philology 2017-10, Vol.116 (4), p.491-514
Main Author: Males, Mikael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arnórr jarlaskáld
Christianity
Criticism and interpretation
Einarr Skúlason
Historical text analysis
Icelandic & Scandinavian literature
Literary criticism
Medieval poetry
Mythological time
Mythology
Old Norse poetry
Paganism
Paganism & animism
Poetic themes
Poetry
Poets
Religious poetry
Sagas
Skaldic poetry
Stanzas
Transmission lines
Works
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:This article assesses the evidence for the survival of pagan views in skaldic poetry from the period of the reign of king Óláfr Tryggvason of Norway onwards. Based on a new typological subdivision of mythological kennings, I suggest that one group of these remained in largely unchanged use after Óláfr's time, whereas another disappeared almost completely. This division makes it possible to see much clearer lines of development than in previous research. In the following, I first briefly describe the research history and the two groups of mythological kennings, and I address the question of why one group remained while the other fell out of use. Thereafter, the study turns to the second group, the one that nearly disappeared and that therefore is likely to have diagnostic value. Thereafter I turn to some particularly informative poets.
ISSN:0363-6941
1945-662X
DOI:10.5406/jenglgermphil.116.4.0491