Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2021, Blaðsíða 26

5. The crossing rhyme
The normal rhyme in dróttkvætt is between the penult of a line and some
syllable in the first three metrical positions in the same line (line-internal
rhyme). In Ragnarsdrápa, Haustlǫng and in many poems of the 10th cen-
tury, a rhyme occurs occasionally between an odd line and the following
even-numbered line. It usually involves the penult of the odd line and
some of the first syllables in the even line, often leading to rhyme of four
syllables. This rhyme is, however, not used consistently in any dróttkvætt
poetry, and when it occurs, it can be hard to determine if it is coinciden-
tal. I follow Myrvoll (2020) in calling all varieties of rhyme between drótt -
kvætt metrical lines, a crossing rhyme.
Crossing rhyme appears several times in Ragnarsdrápa. The follow-
ing are lines 18.3 and 18.4. They have a half-rhyme between them (the
rhyme is -kk):

18.3–18.4 hrøkkviáll of hrokkinn
hekk Vǫlsunga drekku

If the rhyme is full-rhyme, it is more likely intentional. The following
couplet consists of lines 16.3 and 16.4 from Ragnarsdrápa (ǫ and a are
equivalent in rhyme).

16.3–16.4 á Eynæfis ǫndri,
Jǫrmungandr at sandi

In old poetry, Snorri Sturluson seems to view crossing rhyme as an alter-
native to normal line-internal rhyme in odd lines (see previous section).
Klaus Johan Myrvoll (2020:230) follows him in this and calls the rhyme
a compensatory rhyme.33 The second couplet that I quoted above from
Ragnarsdrápa 16.3–16.4 exemplifies such rhyme. However, in proto-
dróttkvætt, odd lines without internal rhyme are in order, and, in early
dróttkvætt, all odd lines are either clause-lines or they have a normal inter-
nal rhyme, also those that participate in crossing rhymes. The odd lines
are therefore always in order without the crossing rhyme, and do not
need to be compensated.
I give the details for Haustlǫng. It has four couplets with a crossing
rhyme and a normal classical dróttkvætt rhyme.
Þorgeir Sigurðsson26
33 Here, I use the technical term compensatory rhyme.