Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Page 180

ou de la mode du moment.”37 Without denigrating the insights gained by
statistical analyses, we should realize that they can mislead us into think-
ing that the sagas show little individuality,38 that the author needed only
to reach for his list of “Tristram words” and reshuffle them into a series of
synonymous or antithetic alliterating collocations. Surely the composi-
tion and style of Iven’s lament differs considerably from that of Parceval’s
kinswoman, discussed earlier, the elegiae tone of which is brought into
relief not by a heavy concentration of alliteration, but rather by three
final couplets. Tristrams saga offers yet another variation of the lament.
Upon the death of Kanelangres, Blensinbil breaks into the following
plaint:
/4um em ek yfir alla kvenmenn,
hvernin skal ek lifa eptir svå dyrligan dreng?
Ek var hans lif ok huggun,
en hann var unnusti minn ok /i/mitt,
ek var hans yndi, en hann min giedi,
hversu skal ek lifa eptir hann daudan,
hversu skal ek huggask, er gaman mitt er grafit?
Bådum okkr somir saman at deyja;
fyrir Jjvi (at) hann må ei til min koma,
Joå verd ek gegnum daudann at ganga,
Jm'(at) hans daudi drepr å mitt hjarta.
Hversu skal ek hér mega /engr lifa?
Mitt lif skal hans lifi fylgja! (ch. 15, p. 22)
(I am more wretched than all other women. How shall I live after
the death of such a magnificent hero? I was his life and solace, and
he was my dearest and my life. I was his delight, and he was my joy.
How shall I live now that he is dead? How shall I be comforted,
37 The comment was made at the Liége Congress of 1972 at the conclusion of Paul
Schach’s paper, “The Translations of Brother Robert,” Les relations littéraires franco-
scandinaves au Moyen Age (Paris: Société d’Edition “Les Belles Lettres,” 1975), p. 135.
38 What Damsgaard Olsen has written regarding Elis saga and Strengleikar applies to
other works as well: "... oversættelserne viser en imponerende sproglig variationsevne
inden for et trods alt ret snævert begrebsområde, og det vilde være uretfærdigt at tale om
allittererende stereotyper i disse to tekster. Det er langt fra alle varierede udtryk, der
allittererer, og til fremhævelse af parallelismer anvendes ikke udelukkende allitterationer,
men ogsaa - omend sjældnere - klangfigurer som helrim, konsonant- og vokal-halvrim”
(“Den høviske litteratur,” p. 111).
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