William Morris’s ‘greatest single inspiration’ was said to be the language and literature of medieval Iceland. After a brief survey of the origins and scope of Old Norse literary texts, this piece works through the considerable volume of translations of Old Norse saga literature which Morris made along with his Icelandic collaborator Eiríkur Magnússon, and considers why, after a ten-year period of astonishing productivity, his interest seems to have cooled. Morris’s knowledge of Old Norse literature and traditions is detailed, his translation methods are analysed, and the style and lexis of his controversially archaizing translations described, with special reference to Eiríkur’s experiences of working with him. Morris also translated Old Norse eddic verse, and many of the prose sagas he translated contain skaldic stanzas in the elaborate and unique dróttkvætt, or court, metre. The piece concludes with an assessment of these poetic translations, which are often overlooked, and the particular metrical and lexical challenges the originals present.

This chapter offers an analysis of the language, metres and forms of Old Norse poetry. It begins with a brief account of Old Norse language and related languages, and then considers the specialized language of Old Norse poetry, with its distinctive lexis and syntax, especially in skaldic verse. Compound words and kennings are discussed, followed by analysis of alliteration and rhyme in Old Norse poetry. The stanzaic form of eddic verse is described, with a detailed account of its main metres and scansions based on Sievers’s ‘five types’. Next, the forms of skaldic poetry are outlined, with an account of lausavísur or ‘loose stanzas’, and the different kinds of stanza sequences, such as the flokkr and the drápa. The primary metre of skaldic verse, dróttkvætt or ‘court metre’, is defined and illustrated, together with some of its many variations, and then attention turns to the rímur, a later form of rhyming and alliterative poetry in extended sequences of stanzas. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how metrical considerations may have affected scribal practice in the Middle Ages and have impacted editorial processes by modern scholars.

The mythology of Scandinavia as the inspiration for a significant amount of Old Norse poetry, from pre-Christian times and on into the Christian period, is the subject of this chapter. It begins with a critical analysis of the main mythological poems in the first twenty leaves of the Codex Regius: Þrymskviða, Hymiskviða, Lokasenna, Skírnismál, Alvíssmál, Vafþrúðnismál, Hárbárðsljóð, Grímnismál, Völundarkviða and Hávamál, before moving on to consider Völuspá, the poem which opens the collection. The discussion then considers the ways in which mythological thinking also informs some of the poems in the so-called ‘heroic’ section, the Helgi poems, the Sigurðr poems, and poems such as Helreið Brynhildar. Eddic poems from outside the Codex Regius, such as Hyndluljóð, Baldrs draumar and Grottasöngr, are also discussed. Particular attention is paid to metre, poetic language and kennings, and mythological references in skaldic poetry are also described.