Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1999, Page 293

XI Mythological kennings
273
ever, and several critics found that de Vries had been too rash in apply-
ing conclusions drawn from skaldic poetry to Eddie poetry, which may
have been govemed by different rules.* * * * 7 Only Stefan Einarsson, whose
review was in the main positive, had a critical comment on the use of
statistics. De Vries had calculated the frequency of mythological ken-
nings in a given period in relation to the total amount of verse material
found in the same period, but according to Stefan Einarsson, he ought
also to have given the frequency in relation to other kennings. Obvious-
ly, a decrease in the use of kennings of a certain kind will partly be due
to the well-known decline in the the use of kennings in general, and de
Vries’s statistics do not allow any evaluation of this factor. On the other
hånd, fulfilling this requirement would entail a great deal of work, and it
will always be a matter of opinion how mueh effort should be made in
order to pass from the second best to the very best estimation.
A notable exception to the generally positive reviews was published
by Hans Kuhn in 1938, followed up by a more substantial article in
1942 (cf. also Kuhn 1967). Kuhn made the same remark as Stefan Ein-
arsson conceming the relation between OSinn-kennings and kennings
in general, but a more fundamental point is that according to Kuhn a
distinetion has to be made between poetry directed to the Christian
kings of Norway, whose opposition to the old religion was notorious,
and the poetry composed back in Iceland. In Iceland, skaldic traditions
may well have continued more or less as before, but it so happens that,
with few exceptions, purely Icelandic poetry from the latter half of the
llth century is lacking, because this period is rather inadequately cov-
ered by the family sagas. The decline demonstrated by de Vries’s sta-
tistics Kuhn therefore explained by the faet that very little poetry is
known from this period, apart from poems made for the Norwegian
court. As Eddie poetry is supposed to have been composed mostly in
Iceland, de Vries’s conclusion conceming the impossibility of Eddie
unusually clear-cut and definitive study of an important problem in the history of Old
Norse culture.” Hamel (1934: 5): “Het materiaal is met groote zorg bijeen gebracht en
overzichtlelijk gerangschikt; na kennisneming ervan kan aan de juistheid der stelling geen
twijfel meer uitgesproken worden.”
7 Hamel 1934: 5; Hempel 1936: 117; Holtsmark 1936: 374-75.