3 - Poetry and its changing importance in medieval Icelandic culture

Summary

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the function of poetry in Icelandic culture from the tenth to the end of the thirteenth century. It will show not only how the societal changes that took place during this period had a profound impact on the different genres of Old Norse poetry, but also how the image of poetry and the social status of poets projected in the narratives passed down in oral tradition and recorded in the thirteenth century in turn came to play a crucial role in shaping the cultural and political developments of late medieval Iceland. The first part of the chapter outlines the formal and functional features that characterize eddic and skaldic poetry. The second part discusses the transmission of these two types of poetry, with special attention to the narrative prosimetrum of the thirteenth-century kings' sagas, sagas of Icelanders and contemporary sagas. Part three is devoted to the skaldic panegyric and its subgenres. It illustrates how the conversion to Christianity affected a poetic tradition steeped in pagan imagery; how new poetic genres emerged in the service of the Christian faith; and how certain types of poetry ceased to be productive while others adapted themselves to the new cultural climate and continued to be extremely important in maintaining Icelandic national identity and setting the members of the Icelandic free state apart from their Scandinavian neighbours.