Bianca Patria | University of Oslo (original) (raw)

Papers by Bianca Patria

Gripla XXXV, 2024

This article focuses on a lausavísa found in chapter 49 of Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar, concerni... more This article focuses on a lausavísa found in chapter 49 of Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar, concerning a sea-battle between Egill and a villain named Eyvindr skreyja. The lausavísa contains several indications of being a product of the saga author, rather than of the historical Egill, to whom it is attributed. The stanza is first compared to other sources about the elusive figure of Eyvindr skreyja, including poetic ones, namely lausavísur 3–5 by Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, first attested in Fagrskinna. It follows a formal and metrical analysis of the stanza, which contrasts its features with the ones observed in other pseudonymous stanzas in Egils saga. The analysis reveals traits that are typical of this pseudonymous poet (here called Pseudo-Egill), including a fondness for the word víkingr and a creative use of echoes from earlier poems. The article thus sheds light on several aspects of the saga-author’s modus operandi when composing poetry for the saga, including his capacity of reproducing archaic metric-linguistic features, and the nature of his poetic sources. Finally, these traits are evaluated in light of the wide-spread scholarly assumption that the author of Egils saga and of the pseudonymous poetry contained in it was Snorri Sturluson.

Link to the article: https://hal.science/hal-04776377 Skaldic panegyrics composed during the ... more Link to the article: https://hal.science/hal-04776377

Skaldic panegyrics composed during the tenth century for the jarlar of Hlaðir confirm the traditional depictions of these rulers as unyielding pagans. These poems also reveal, however, traces of contact with Christian practices and notions, actively appropriated for the purpose of celebrating a markedly "pagan identity". This paper addresses passages in which poems for Hákon jarl Sigurðarson explicitly re-claim such an identity in juxtaposition to Christianity, advancing the hypothesis that several aspects of Hákon's proactive paganism were in fact influenced and informed by the opposing ideology of the Christianizers. In particular, the claim of the ruler's privileged bond with the divine, often interpreted as reflecting ancestral notions of "sacral kingship", finds parallels in the contemporary propaganda of the Anglo-Saxon and Ottonian kingdoms, the two political entities exerting most direct influence on the aspiring Norwegian royal houses.

Filologia Germanica 115, 2023

The pattern which Eduard Sievers defined as ‘Eε’ is the only line-type in dróttkvætt to have a tr... more The pattern which Eduard Sievers defined as ‘Eε’ is the only line-type in dróttkvætt to have a trisyllabic word in the final metrical positions 4-6, thus deviating from the otherwise ubiquitous disyllabic closing (positions 5–6). This entails prosodic peculiarities that have the effect of emphasizing the compound occurring at the end of the line, which in early dróttkvætt happens often to be a proper name. When this is the case, Eε-lines can also violate the rule, also known as Craigie’s Law, according to which only short-stemmed nouns should occupy position 4. Despite their prosodical oddity, Eε-lines are relatively frequent throughout the corpus. In fact, arguably because of their exceptional features, these lines were used since the earliest known skaldic poems in rhetorically charged functions, such as the celebration of the skald’s patron or in the poem’s refrain (stef). Another conspicuous characteristic of Eε-lines is their tendency to recur as formulaic tags, echoes and in deliberate intertextual games across the skaldic canon. Metrical exceptions and licenses appear indeed to have attracted the skalds’ attention and to have played a key role in skaldic referentiality. The present article will explore the interface between metre, semantics and intertextuality in Eε-lines, with an eye to the occurrence of identical lines poem-internally (refrain-technique) as well as across the corpus of early poetry in dróttkvætt.

Saga-Book of the Viking Society XLVI, 2022

The pervasive nature and conventionality of skaldic diction have prompted a number of modern anal... more The pervasive nature and conventionality of skaldic diction have prompted a number of modern analyses to treat it as a self-contained semiotic system, an understanding already implied in the concept of skáldskaparmál ‘language of poetry’. One of the limitations of an exclusively systemic analysis, however, is the risk of treating skaldic diction as ‘semiotic machinery’, disregarding the fact that it was a historically established and gradually evolving poetic convention, in which
authorial agency and change played a significant role. Two prime indicators of agency and change are the focus of attention in this article: namely, stylistic innovations and intertextual connections. In skaldic practice, innovation was often achieved by means of intertextual dynamics, such as imitation and allusion. The phenomenon referred to as nýgerving ‘new creation’ in several medieval treatises will offer the starting point for a synoptic study of how tradition-bound intertextuality informed skaldic innovation, revealing some of the dynamics through which the ‘system’ evolved.

Arkiv för nordisk filologi , 2022

The four helmingar recently edited as stanzas 27–29 of Sexstefja (‘Six-Refrained [Drápa]’) share ... more The four helmingar recently edited as stanzas 27–29 of Sexstefja (‘Six-Refrained [Drápa]’) share similarities in imagery and structure. In the past, various scholars had therefore construed them as one thematic sequence containing a running metaphor on different moments of the agricultural cycle. The present article supports this idea by addressing a number of textual difficulties which have contributed to obscuring the metaphor’s
unity. By discussing the problematic readings and by addressing some well-established biases of modern kenning scholarship – such as a dogmatic avoidance of overdetermined kennings – the present article aims at improving our understanding of the text while, at the same time, re-evaluating some methodological premises to the interpretation of skaldic verse. When editorial guidelines become too strict, inferences predicated on the alleged regularities of the so-called ‘kenning system’ may, in fact, compromise the poem’s internal logic. Rather, an investigation of the text’s possible poetic precedents may prove helpful, shedding light on the trade-off between the skald’s innovativeness and his indebtedness
to tradition.

Quaestio Insularis, Selected Proceedings of the Annual Cambridge Colloquium on Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, 2018

Besides the kenning, the poetic category most fully discussed in the second section of Snorri’s E... more Besides the kenning, the poetic category most fully discussed in the second section of Snorri’s Edda, is the (ókennt) heiti, a term usually translated as ‘poetic synonym’. A large number of heiti, most of them never used in the surviving skaldic corpus, are listed in specific metrical lists known as þulur (sing. þula). The aim of this paper is to highlight some aspects of these heiti collections with an analysis of the þula known as trǫllkvinna heiti (‘names of the trollwives’). Some observations of an etymological and morphological nature are made about 15 of the 61 heiti, selected for their semantic and formal features. Data concerning the use of these poetic terms in the skaldic corpus, and the strategies used to generate new heiti from well-established ones, lead to interesting conclusions. What to a modern reader may look like an aimless parade of erudition probably reflects a common practice in medieval Scandinavia, and one which played a major role in the construction of a literary identity through the preservation of traditional poetic material.

Keywords: heiti , þulur, kenning, Snorri Sturluson, giantess, skaldic poetry, Edda.

Conference Presentations by Bianca Patria

A partire dalla fondamentale opera Tools of Literacy di Guðrún Nordal, vari studi si sono rivolti... more A partire dalla fondamentale opera Tools of Literacy di Guðrún Nordal, vari studi si sono rivolti all’integrazione della tradizione scaldica nel curriculum scolastico dell’Islanda medievale. Jonas Wellendorf ha dedicato uno studio alla formazione del ‘canone scolastico’ a partire dagli scaldi antologizzati in Skáldskaparmál. Da questo studio è emerso che il poeta più citato, e dunque elevato a massimo modello da Snorri, è Einarr Skúlason, l’ecclesiastico islandese che, con la composizione del maestoso Geisli, inaugura la seconda fase del genere scaldico, quella letteraria ed erudita. Quasi un secolo prima di Snorri, i segni di uno studio sistematico, di tipo scolastico, della tradizione scaldica si rintracciano proprio nell’opera di Einarr Skúlason. Accanto alle drápur, di Einarr sono infatti attestati componimenti brevi che spesso nascondono approfonditi esercizi stilistici basati sull’imitazione di versi antichi. L’analisi di tali testi permette non solo di rivelare l'uso che uno studioso medievale faceva della tradizione, ma anche di ricostruire un primo nucleo di quel canone scolastico che verrà definitivamente consolidato dall’Edda di Snorri.

This presentation will focus on a lausavísa contained in chapter 49 of Egils saga, concerning a s... more This presentation will focus on a lausavísa contained in chapter 49 of Egils saga, concerning a sea-battle between Egill and Þórólfr, on the one hand, and a villain named Eyvindr skreyja on the other, who is introduced in the saga as the brother of Queen Gunnhildr. The lausavísa contains several indications of being a product of the saga author, rather than of the historical Egill, to whom it is attributed. The stanza will first be compared to other sources about the elusive figure of Eyvindr skreyja, in particular the poetic ones, namely lausavísur 3–5 by Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, first attested in Fagrskinna. It will then be analysed formally and metrically, contrasting its characeristics with the ones observed in other pseudonymous stanzas in Egils saga. The analysis will reveal traits that are typical of the poetry of Pseudo-Egill, some of which have gone unnoticed until now, including the fondness for the use of the word víkingr (otherwise rare in tenth-century verse), as well as a systematic and creative use of echoes from earlier poems.

Il paradigma orale-formulare (oral-formulaic theory), nella sua versione originale, ha trovato li... more Il paradigma orale-formulare (oral-formulaic theory), nella sua versione originale, ha trovato limitata applicazione alla poesia norrena, tanto in ambito scaldico che eddico. I successivi sviluppi nello studio del linguaggio formulare si adattano meglio al corpus norreno, ma, a fronte di una maggiore flessibilità, il loro potere esplicativo risulta assai più modesto di quello della teoria originaria. Di norma, in ogni caso, i due maggiori generi poetici nordici sono analizzati in isolamento. Nel presente intervento, l’occorrenza e la funzione di echi, ripetizioni e formule nel corpus eddico sarà analizzata in contrasto con la corrispondente situazione in ambito scaldico.

Skaldic poetry – a poetic genre dating back, in its early phase, to the pre-literate period – cha... more Skaldic poetry – a poetic genre dating back, in its early phase, to the pre-literate period – challenges most of the notions associated with the concept of ‘oral poetry’, such as those of ephemeral, non-fixed texts, for which claims of authorship and originality are made impossible by the dynamics of incessant re-shaping in performance. The skaldic canon, by contrast, is formed by attributed, fixed texts, with unique and distinctive contents secured by a heavily regulated verse. For a substantial part of the corpus, the linguistic form dates back to a time in which writing in Scandinavia was limited to runic epigraphy. One of the fundamental notions associated to orality is that of composition in performance by means of formulas. As a matter of fact, recurring lines or portions of lines are rare in skaldic poetry, but not completely absent. The talk will focus on cases in which a dróttkvætt line recurs repeatedly with slight variations in early poetry, presenting a formula-like behavior. What does the occurrence of these ‘formulas’ tell us regarding the dynamics of skaldic versification? This paper argues that the few apparent exceptions are not indicative of oral-formulaic behavior tout court. Rather, we must look to the dynamics of skaldic diction at large in order attribute a plausible function to these features. Aural imprinting and inertial echoing appear to have been at the core of the process by which skalds generated new lines. Even when the difference surfaces in one syllable only, it is likely to affect the whole helmingr, requiring a substantial and conscious effort of lexical, syntactical, and semantic recasting. The concept of ‘formularity’ thus loses most of its explanatory force with regards to dróttkvætt versification, whereas authorial dynamics, such as imitation and allusion, may prove more apt to shed light on the occurrence of the formula-like lines.

Skaldic poetry produced in the last quarter of the tenth century for the ‘champion of paganism’, ... more Skaldic poetry produced in the last quarter of the tenth century for the ‘champion of paganism’, Hákon jarl Sigurðarson ‘the powerful’, is characterized by unprecedented stylistic experimentation based on enhancement of mythological imagery, an element connected to the political and ideological dimensions of Hákon’s supremacy over Norway. The degree of blending of literary and religious-political motifs in tenth century skaldic diction is further testified by the radical change in style pursued just a few decades later by skalds active at the court of Christian kings. The new generation of skalds had to re-interpret originally poetical generic conventions, in a subtle subversion of their previous models. The prominence of the traditional kenning-style was re-negotiated and old forms were adapted to new meanings. Poetical choices thus mirror the political, religious and literary concerns of a genre straddling the divide between paganism and Christianity.

Snorri writes in a cultural climate in which the assertiveness of Icelandic vernacular as a means... more Snorri writes in a cultural climate in which the assertiveness of Icelandic vernacular as a means of learning was gaining impetus and the establishment of a local literary tradition was under way. Within this trend, Old Norse poetic genres seem to have played a major role in providing intellectuals with local material which was considered fit to contend with Latin verse by classical authors. The mapping of the Scandinavian matter onto a classical backdrop, which is consistently pursued by Snorri as well as by his nephew in the IIIGT, and is implicit in the myth of the Trojan descent of the Æsir, was possible by virtue of the high cultural status accorded to vernacular poetry in Iceland (Nordal G. 2003). Integration of the Scandinavian material into Latin learned standards is pursued both on the formal level, by adoption of the modes of expression of grammatical thought, and in a broader conceptual sense, by fitting it into a global historical account based on biblical and classical motifs, an intent carried out especially in the Prologue, which can be viewed, in this respect, as an overarching framing device. Even in the main text of the treatise, though, Snorri shows a historically critical treatment of his sources, reflected by the selection of different poetical genres associated with different fictional frames, within a consistent chronological scheme. Ancient stories told by mythical characters are set within the traditional narrative frame of the contest of wisdom, quoting anonymous poems believed to be composed in pre-historical times. Regardless of the content, mythological poetry of the eddic type is consistently kept distinct from the prestigious canon of authorial praise poetry presented in Skáldskaparmál . Háttatal, instead, centres on a new poem by the author himself, which cannot draw its authority from local tradition alone. At the same time, the theoretical and practical exercise of Háttatal is indicative of the new literary dimension of skaldic production, relying on more academic styles of composition and on grammatical thinking.
The frames mirror the progression from a more traditional setting (Gylfaginning) to the most learned and academic one (Háttatal), whereas the mixture of myth and technicality in Skáldskaparmál reflects the sophisticated yet pre-literary skaldic tradition from the origins up to Snorri. The ways in which Snorri calibrates the dialogic form and his use of indigenous poetry as a source conform to an internal stringent logic based on a historical diachronic understanding of the development of Old Norse poetic genres.

Vernacular languages in the long ninth century, 28-30 June 2018, University of Kent

Old Norse skaldic poetry is the only major tradition of vernacular praise-poetry of the Germanic ... more Old Norse skaldic poetry is the only major tradition of vernacular praise-poetry of the Germanic Middle Ages. According to the Icelandic medieval sources, the first skalds were active around the end of the ninth century, in a time characterized by the consolidation of Scandinavian presence and intensified cultural contacts within the areas affected by the Viking expansion. As an oral, vernacular genre, skaldic poetry displays highly innovative features within the Germanic poetic tradition, as regards both metre and diction, raising the much debated question of the nature and the extent of foreign influences on the unattested Scandinavian poetical forms. The debate about the ‘origins of dróttkvætt’ has traditionally addressed the possible sources of foreign influence on specific formal traits, namely metrical innovations (syllable counting and cadence) and phonic features (rhyme and assonance patterns), focusing on the evident similarities with the insular Celtic poetical practice. Recently, other formal and thematic features (e.g. tmesis and ekphrasis) have been taken into account to highlight possible connections with more latinized scholarly milieux in the context of increasing political and diplomatic contacts between the Carolingian court and emerging Scandinavian territorial entities. (Poole 2013, 'Scholars and Skalds'). However, the most distinctive innovation characterizing the ‘skaldic revolution’ is probably to be found in diction; the kenning system, as a thematically integrated and internally regulated ‘poetic metalanguage’, appears already established and fully productive in the verses of the first attested skald, Bragi Boddason (late ninth century). When considered in terms of a structured semiotic item, rather than as a hypertrophic rhetorical figure, the kenning-device raises important questions concerning the origins of the genre, not secondary to the ones posed by metre. This paper intends to address the problem of the emergence and development of skaldic diction as a structural feature, with regards to the possibility of external influence within the framework of intense mobility and contact of early Viking Age Scandinavia.

‘The Dating of Old Norse and Celtic Texts’ 22–23 March 2018, University of Oslo.

NoSLiP 2018 - 3rd Norwegian Graduate Student Conference in Linguistics 15-16 Feb 2018 OSLO

Skaldic poetry of the Viking Age is a fascinating and complex genre: for the uniqueness of its di... more Skaldic poetry of the Viking Age is a fascinating and complex genre: for the uniqueness of its diction it has been considered one of the first examples of élite poetry in medieval European literatures , one 1 which enjoys a liminal and controversial status between the domains of orality and literacy, subject both to strict traditional canons and to the modern concept of original creation. Skaldic diction is most generally known because of the enigmatic circumlocutions called kenningar (sing. kenning), that enrich skaldic stanzas with evocative chains of images. A somehow more neglected element of skalds' repertoire is the so-called poetic synonym (old norse heiti), that constitutes the actual fundamental unit for kenning formation. Indeed, despite the relatively limited number of kenning types, synonymic substitution enables poets to obtain an almost inexhaustible source of word variation (Variationsmöglichkeit) to such an extent that-differently than 2 in the case of formulaic poetry-a kenning is hardly to be found, in the exact same wording, more than once within the skaldic corpus. Besides this important functional role, heiti are interesting linguistic items with regards to their lexical nature. Almost every kind of word can be used by poets as a heiti: archaisms almost run out of use in prose and in everyday language, neologisms created ad hoc, names of mythological creatures, speaking names, epithets, and nicknames describing their bearer, technical terms belonging to specific jargons, etc. This extremely heterogeneous material interacts in fascinating ways with the 3 semantics of the kenning in which it is employed and, more generally, with the meaning of the whole stanza. Although it has been suggested that the choice of heiti might be purely determined by the formal context of the verse, with little regard to their lexical meaning , evidence from case studies seems to 4 support the idea that the selection of a specific heiti might be crucial for the shaping of the whole stanza. Skalds' usage of words is often subtle: puns, semantic ambiguity, etymological exploitation of 5 a word's meaning are recurring phenomena in skaldic verses, suggesting that a great deal of attention was paid to the choice of kenning constituents. This claim will be illustrated through a linguistic and semantic analysis of a number of skaldic stanzas.

CCASNC - Cambridge 10 February 2018

As a performative oral genre, Old Norse skaldic poetry presupposes an audience expert in the pri... more As a performative oral genre, Old Norse skaldic poetry presupposes an audience expert in the principles of its diction and trained to decode it. The dynamics of the exchange between a skald and his hearers are partly founded on a shared knowledge of the poetic tradition, which requires an internalized competence both in production and reception. Unlike formulaic poetry, though, skaldic verse displays a tension between individual originality and conformity to tradition, resulting in a restless pursuit of variation, within a strictly rule-bound system. Given the formal limitations and the conventionality of narrative and imagery, it is not always easy to establish whether verbal echoes and similar word constellations are to be regarded as citations or as random similarities between products of the same compositional practice 1 , nonetheless, instances of deliberate quotation can be safely assumed in a number of cases 2. Conscious play with the listener's expectations appears to be employed by skalds to underline a significant deviation from tradition and assert their originality. In accordance with the potentiality of the kenning system, the game of citations (and, sometimes, self-citations) is often carried out in such a way as to avoid plain repetition, but rather to create the illusion of it, in order to provide the old expression with a new, personal twist.

Thesis Chapters by Bianca Patria

Ph.D. dissertation, 2021

This thesis represents an attempt at developing and testing new methodologies for the study of di... more This thesis represents an attempt at developing and testing new methodologies for the study of diachronic trends in kenning use and skaldic stylistics in the early dróttkvætt production. The target of the analysis is the effect of lexical choice in kennings, and to what extent skalds would make a pointed use of this resource in their verse. The survey has highlighted important dynamics concerning three aspects that are often treated as peripheral, marked or exceptional to the functioning of the ‘kenning-system’, namely, the kenning’s contextual motivation, the stylistic exploitation of the kenning’s inherent imagery and intertextual strategies such as borrowing, imitation and allusion. Depending on the nature of the source, lexical and literary analysis was combined and supported by metrical, palaeographic and philological considerations. Positive results emerged, encouraging the adoption of a qualitative, diachronic analysis of skaldic diction alongside the most common systemic one, in order to fully appreciate the dynamics of early dróttkvætt composition.