Gripla - 20.12.2007, Qupperneq 59

ANTIQUARIANISM, POETRY, AND WORD-OF-MOUTH FAME
‘Now it’s your turn,’ and Kári duly becomes the guardian and the explicit nar-
rator of Skarpheðinn’s reputation later in the saga (443). But Kári has a more
complicated legacy than merely following his comrade’s example.21 As critics
have noted, he fights in a way that is similar to Gunnarr, which suggests that
he is Gunnarr’s ‘replacement’ (Allen 1971:59). In fact, he replaces both Gunn-
arr and Skarpheðinn. After the burning of Njáll and his family, Kári takes on
the role of implacable avenger and (not coincidentally) becomes the most pro-
lific poet in this text and the only major character who could reasonably be
described as an accomplished poet, despite the fact that the audience, prepared
for his many physical accomplishments by the descriptions of him, gets no
notice of any poetic potential (203-204). He recites on four occasions and pro-
duces six stanzas in total.22 Each occasion mentions the burning — that is,
each is, in a way, empathetic. He moves from expression of his emotional state
in two verses of mourning for Njáll and his family (346, 354) to a poem that
follows Skarpheðinn’s example by insulting a chieftain at the althing and
threatening action (409-411). Finally, he produces a verse that is accompanied,
like many of the poems of Egill and Grettir, by a slaying (cf. Egils saga:204-
206, 210; Grettis saga:54, 59, 60). This kind of careful plotting of intensifying
action is typical of Njáls saga. Moreover, each of Kári’s poems adds progres-
sively to his reputation as is clear from the responses of those who hear him.
Only one person, Ásgrímr Elliða-Grímsson, hears the first poem. No reaction
is recorded. The second verse is delivered before a small group of his allies.
One of them comments on it. The third poetic occasion occurs in public at the
althing, and Kári’s three stanzas provoke loud laughter; however, Snorri goði
57
21 He is Hebridean and in the retinue of the Earl of Orkney when the audience first meets him
(203-204, and note 2). Thus, he might be an appropriate person to develop into a poet because
he begins as an outsider to the Icelandic society that dominates the saga. He perhaps brings
no ‘baggage’ to his dealings with the feud-prone families, then, and hence is presumably
more objective in his reportage of events. He could be a parallel figure to the mostly Icelandic
skalds who end up attached to the Orcadian, Norwegian, Danish and other royal courts. Also,
Kári is the most conventional heroic figure in Njáls saga. For instance, the motivation for
most of his actions, revenge, is fairly uncomplicated by the standards of the saga, and Lars
Lönnroth notes that Kári’s dress probably betrays chivalric influences, unlike that of most of
the other major characters (118). Composition might be regarded as a necessary part of the
make-up of a conventional hero. Certainly Kári’s development in poetic skill parallels his de-
velopment into a hero, and parallels the arc of revenge that (perhaps) helps to bring the major
feud in the saga to an end with a balance between the two parties.
22 I follow all modern editions of the poem in representing Kári’s oeuvre, though the manu-
scripts may vary.