Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1999, Page 134

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Part One
A stanza where the binding (enjambement) between the long lines is
stronger than between the short lines is conceivable, but un-Eddic, ac-
cording to Neckel. It is found in modem poetry, however, and Neckel
quoted a similar skaldic stanza from Sturla Eorbarson’s Håkonarkvida,
which seemed to him to have been composed pen in hånd (Neckel 1908:
36).
In his last chapter, containing additions and supplements, Neckel
pointed to instances of cæsura not only between the short lines, which is
normal, but within short lines as well.13 Cæsura within a short line is rare
in Eddie verse, but it is interesting to note that it is most frequently
found in poems which seem to be influenced by skaldic style, like Hy-
miskvida (Neckel 1908: 471-76). Neckel’s discussion of this phenome-
non may thus be said to point forward to Hans Kuhn’s study of the
cæsura in the drottkvætt verse.
There is no doubt that Neckel’s study of binding in Eddie verse is a
valuable contribution to the stylistics of Eddie poetry. What is to be as-
sessed in this connection, however, is its value as a dating criterion. Be-
tween Old West-Germanic and Eddie poetry there is, according to
Neckel, an opposition which may be defined not only as unbound verses
as opposed to bound verses, but also, and concomitantly, as stanzaic in
contrast to unstanzaic verse arrangement. While West-Germanic poetry
flows through a continuous series of verses, in the Edda the lines tend to
be organized within the boundary of a delimited half stanza (helmingr).
The question posed by Neckel is which form is the primary one, from
which the other developed.14 According to Sievers (1893: 49), West-
Germanic poetry is the point of departure, and the instances of unstanza-
ic verse binding found in Eddie poetry are remains of this older form. By
analysing shorter West-Germanic poems like Widsith and Hildebrands-
lied, where an Edda-like tendency towards the emergence of stanzas
may be detected, Neckel found on the contrary that this was the older
13 Cf. the index, “Zerkleinerung des kurzverses” (Neckel 1908: 505).
14 “Der gegensatz, der zwischen nordisch und westgermanisch im hinblick auf die glie-
derung besteht, ist nicht so zu definiren: dort selbståndige zeilen, hier zeilenbindung, son-
dern: dort strophische, hier unstrophische gliederung, dort der feste rahmen des helmings,
hier eine sich immer fortzeugende versreihe. - Unsere erste aufgabe sei, eine antwort auf
die frage zu finden: welche der beiden gliederungen ist die altere? welche ist
aus der andern entwickelt?” (Neckel 1908:4).