Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Blaðsíða 172
as the personified concept). The three couplets are, however, an authori-
al interjection for which no corresponding French text exists. The
rhymed verses serve both as commentary and summary to the lament,
and are constructed on the principle of antithetic parallelism, as is espe-
cially the case with the internal rhyme in the second and third couplets.
A distinguishing stylistic characteristic of the riddarasogur and an es-
sential contextual component is alliteration.31 Alliterating vocabulary can
be so subtle and integral an element of the prose rhythm of a passage that
it goes all but unnoticed. Only when the rhythm is broken - or, from
another point of view, set in relief - by an accumulation of alliterative
collocations or by a word cluster alliterating on one letter alone is the
pervasive presence of alliteration as a stylistic device clearly recognized.
The authors of the riddarasogur turn to alliteration to signal important
dialogue or action, to set a particular scene in relief, to attract the listen-
er’s attention, or to bring a wandering mind back to the text. Alliterative
clusters are a striking mode of auditory ornamentation, and for that
reason an effective means to herald and highlight significant portions of
narrative. With every scene he selects for extended alliteration, the
author makes his presence known, since the reader becomes aware of the
conscious selection of vocabulary. As the author stresses now one scene,
now another, he also imposes his sense of structure on the narrative. In
regard to structure, alliteration serves a double function: the euphonious
language provides emphasis while at the same time it conjoins phrases,
clauses, or successive sentences. When alliteration occurs apparently at
random - to wit, neither at regular intervals as in synonymous or antithet-
ic collocations, nor in clusters - it becomes difficult to ascertain whether
alliteration is intentional. At times the juxtaposition of alliterating words
is all but unavoidable, as for example in combinations with such frequent-
ly occurring adjectives as margr, mikill, and mestr. When, however, alliter-
ative clusters stress and support dramatic action or particularly emotional
dialogue, then there exists an intrinsic relationship between alliteration
and structure, between content and alliteration, that is, between matter
and form.
31 For general background as well as a discussion of alliteration in specific works, see
especially: Cederschiold, Fornsogur Sudrlanda, pp. VI-XIV; Meissner, Die Strengleikar,
pp. 208-17; Tveitane, Den lærde stil, pp. 67-82; Nygaard, “Den lærde stil i den norrøne
prosa,” pp. 169-70; Hugo Gering, Islendzk Æventyri (Halle, 1882), II, pp. XXXI-XLIX;
Jonna Louis-Jensen, Kongesagastudier, Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana, XXXII (Copenhagen:
C. A. Reitzels Boghandel, 1977), pp. 136-48.
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