Gripla - 01.01.1979, Blaðsíða 201

OLD NORSE COURT POETRY
197
information about historical events and refer to them mostly by
allusions, they are accompanied by a commentary which gives
more detailed information.
And about African praise poetry Finnegan (1976:133):
The imagery in this form of poetry provides a striking contrast to
the much more straightforward expression in prose.
In discussing the Pancatantra Renou (1956:148) says:
. . . Pancatantra . . . en prose, sauf insertion de versets discontinus,
. . . Les vers servent d’introduction et de conclusion (moralité), ils
égrénent des maximes, de type volontiers épigrammatique comme
celles des vieilles götha\ rarement ce sont des éléments narratifs.
La prose est simple, coulante . . .
The Pancatantra is of course different from the literature discussed
here, but it is noteworthy that also here the verses are somewhat beside
the main story.
This conglomerate of prose and verse, so characteristic of the sagas
of the kings and many of the sagas of the Icelanders, is therefore far
from being unique.14
The contrast between the simple, straightforward language of the
prose, and the complicated, often obscure, language of the poems is
also common.
4.2 The historian Snorri Sturluson states that he uses court poetry
as a source (Heimskringla I 1941:5):
Með Haraldi konungi váru skáld, ok kunna menn enn kvæði þeira
ok allra konunga kvæði, þeira er síðan hafa verit í Nóregi, ok
tókum vér þar mest dœmi af, þat er sagt er í þeim kvæðum, er
kveðin váru fyrir sjálfum hofðingjunum eða sonum þeira. Tqkum
vér þat allt fyrir satt, er í þeim kvæðum finnsk um ferðir þeira eða
orrostur. En þat er háttr skálda at lofa þann mest, er þá eru þeir
fyrir, en engi myndi þat þora at segja sjálfum honum þau verk
hans, er allir þeir, er heyrði, vissi, at hégómi væri ok skrqk, ok
svá sjálfr hann. Þat væri þá háð, en eigi lof.
14 To explain this feature of Old Icelandic literature Irish influence has been
suggested, but it is much more likely that this is an indigenous development.