In
Icelandic literature
Icelandic literature refers to literature written in Iceland or by Icelandic people. It is best known for the sagas written in medieval times, starting in the 13th century. As Icelandic and Old Norse are almost the same, and because Icelandic wo ...
, a ''ríma'' (, literally "a rhyme", pl. ''rímur'', ) is an
epic poem
An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants.
...
written in any of the so-called ''rímnahættir'' (, "rímur meters"). They are
rhymed, they
alliterate and consist of two to four lines per stanza. The plural, ''rímur'', is either used as an ordinary plural, denoting any two or more rímur, but is also used for more expansive works, containing more than one ríma as a whole. Thus ''
Ólafs ríma Haraldssonar'' denotes an epic about
Ólafr Haraldsson in one ríma, while ''
Núma rímur'' are a multi-part epic on
Numa Pompilius
Numa Pompilius (; 753–672 BC; reigned 715–672 BC) was the legendary second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus after a one-year interregnum. He was of Sabine origin, and many of Rome's most important religious and political institutions are a ...
.
Form
''Rímur'', as the name suggests,
rhyme, but like older Germanic
alliterative verse
In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal ornamental device to help indicate the underlying metrical structure, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of ...
, they also contain structural alliteration. ''Rímur'' are stanzaic, and stanzas normally have four lines. There are hundreds of ''ríma'' meters:
Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson
Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson (4 July 1924 – 23 December 1993) was an Icelandic religious leader and singer of rímur who was instrumental in helping to gain Icelandic government's recognition of the pre-Christian Heathenry in the country.
Bi ...
counts 450 variations in his ''Háttatal''. But they can be grouped in approximately ten ''families''. The most common metre is ''
ferskeytt
''Ferskeytt'' (literally 'four-cornered') is an Icelandic stanzaic poetic form. It is a kind of quatrain, and probably first attested in fourteenth-century ''rímur'' such as '' Ólafs ríma Haraldssonar''. It remains one of the dominant metrical ...
''.
[Vésteinn Ólason, 'Old Icelandic Poetry', in ''A History of Icelandic Literature'', ed. by Daisy Nejmann, Histories of Scandinavian Literature, 5 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006), pp. 1-63 (pp. 55-59).]
''Ríma''-poetry inherited
kenning
A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English po ...
s,
heiti
A heiti (Old Norse ''heiti'' , Modern Icelandic , pl. ''heiti'' "name, appellation, designation, term") is a synonym used in Old Norse poetry in place of the normal word for something. For instance, Old Norse poets might use ''jór'' "steed" in ...
and other ornate features of medieval Icelandic poetic diction from
skaldic verse
A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditionally ...
.
[ The language of ''rímur'' is likewise influenced by the rhetorical devices associated with late medieval ''geblümter Stil'' ('flowery style').]
When they are long — as they usually are — ''rímur'' usually comprise several distinct sections, each being called a ''ríma'', and each usually in a different metre. After the earliest ''rímur'', it became conventional to begin each ''ríma'' in a cycle with a ''mansöngr A ''mansǫngr'' (literally 'maiden-song'; plural ''mansǫngvar''; modern Icelandic ''mansöngur'', plural ''mansöngvar'') is a form of Norse poetry. In scholarly usage the term has often been applied to medieval skaldic love-poetry; and it is use ...
'', a lyric address, traditionally to or about a woman whom the poet supposedly loves, usually in vain.[
]
History
The earliest ''rímur'' date from the fourteenth century, evolving from eddaic poetry
The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poetry, narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from ...
and skaldic poetry
A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditional ...
with influences from Continental epic poems. ''Óláfs ríma Haraldssonar'', preserved in ''Flateyjarbók
''Flateyjarbók'' (; "Book of Flatey") is an important medieval Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name ''Codex Flateyensis''. It was commissioned by Jón Hákonarson and produced by the priests and scribes ...
'', is the ''ríma'' attested in the oldest manuscript and is sometimes considered the oldest ''ríma''; the earliest large collection of ''rímur'' is in Kollsbók, dated by Ólafur Halldórsson to 1480–90. '' Skíðaríma'', ''Bjarkarímur
''Bjarkarímur'' is a 15th-century Icelandic ''rímur'' cycle on the Skjöldungs (the Scyldings of '' Beowulf''), and retells among other things the adventures of Hróarr (Hroðgar) and his brother Helgi (Halga), and those of Böðvarr Bjarki. It ...
'', and ''Lokrur
''Lokrur'' is an Icelandic mythological ''rímur'' cycle dated to . It narrates the journey of the god Thor to Útgarða-Loki, a myth also preserved in Snorri Sturluson's 13th century ''Prose Edda'' part ''Gylfaginning''. Compared with the version ...
'' are other examples of early ''rímur''. The key work on editing ''rímur'' focused on medieval examples like these and was undertaken by Finnur Jónsson
Finnur Jónsson (May 29, 1858 – March 30, 1934) was an Icelandic-Danish philologist and Professor of Nordic Philology at the University of Copenhagen. He made extensive contributions to the study of Old Norse literature.
Finnur Jónsson was b ...
. ''Rímur'' were usually adapted from existing prose sagas, and occasionally comprise the only surviving evidence for those sagas. One example of such a ''rímur'' is the fifteenth-century ''Skáld-Helga rímur
''Skáld-Helga rímur'' ('the ''rímur'' of Poet-Helgi', also ''Skáldhelga rímur'' or ''Skáldhelgarímur'') is an Icelandic ''rímur''-poem from the 1400s. The poem comprises seven ''rímur'', based on a now lost '' Íslendingasaga'', '' Skáld- ...
''.
''Rímur'' were the mainstay of epic poetry in Iceland for centuries: 78 are known from before 1600, 138 from the seventeenth century, 248 from the eighteenth, 505 from the nineteenth and 75 from the twentieth. Most have never been printed and survive only in manuscripts, mostly in the National and University Library of Iceland
Landsbókasafn Íslands – Háskólabókasafn ( Icelandic: ; English: ''The National and University Library of Iceland'') is the national library of Iceland which also functions as the university library of the University of Iceland. The librar ...
: about one hundred and thirty popular editions of rímur were printed between 1800 and 1920, but there are more than one thousand nineteenth-century manuscripts containing ''rímur''. In the large majority of cases the ''rímur'' cycles were composed on a subject about which a written story already existed. As a twist of fate, quite a number of now lost sagas now survive in the form of rímur composed based on them, and then the sagas were recomposed based on the corresponding rímur.
The twenty-first century has seen something of a revival of ''rímur'' in Icelandic popular music. The central figure in this revival has been Steindór Andersen, particularly noted for collaborations Sigur Rós (leading to the 2001 EP ''Rímur
In Icelandic literature, a ''ríma'' (, literally "a rhyme", pl. ''rímur'', ) is an epic poem written in any of the so-called ''rímnahættir'' (, "rímur meters"). They are rhymed, they alliterate and consist of two to four lines per stanza. T ...
'') and Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson
Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson (; born 23 April 1958), also known as HÖH, is a musician, an art director, and '' allsherjargoði'' (''chief goði'') of Ásatrúarfélagið ("the Ásatrú Association").
Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson was a pioneer in the use ...
(leading, for example, to the 2013 album ''Stafnbúi'').
Critical reception
In the nineteenth century the poet Jónas Hallgrímsson
Jónas Hallgrímsson (16 November 1807 – 26 May 1845) was an Icelandic poet, author and naturalist. He was one of the founders of the Icelandic journal Fjölnir (journal), ''Fjölnir'', which was first published in Copenhagen in 1835. The mag ...
published an influential critique on a rímur cycle by Sigurður Breiðfjörð
Sigurður Breiðfjörð (4 March 1798 – 1846) was an Icelandic poet. He learned cooperage for four years in Copenhagen and worked as a cooper in Iceland and Greenland. He was a prolific and popular traditional poet, known for his ''rímur
...
and the genre as a whole. At the same time Jónas and other romantic poets were introducing new continental verse forms into Icelandic literature and the popularity of the ''rímur'' started to decline. Nevertheless, many of the most popular nineteenth- and twentieth-century Icelandic poets composed ''rímur'', including Bólu-Hjálmar
Hjálmar Jónsson (29 September 1796 – 25 July 1875), better known as Bólu-Hjálmar (after his homestead in ''Bóla''), was a 19th-century Icelandic farmer and poet, known for his sharp style and biting wit and for his mastery of the short Icel ...
, Sigurður Breiðfjörð
Sigurður Breiðfjörð (4 March 1798 – 1846) was an Icelandic poet. He learned cooperage for four years in Copenhagen and worked as a cooper in Iceland and Greenland. He was a prolific and popular traditional poet, known for his ''rímur
...
, Einar Benediktsson
Einar Benediktsson, often referred to as Einar Ben (31 October 1864 – 12 January 1940) was an Icelandic poet and lawyer.
Einar Benediktsson's poetry was a significant contribution to the nationalistic revival which led to Iceland's independenc ...
, Steinn Steinarr
Steinn Steinarr (born Aðalsteinn Kristmundsson, 13 October 1908 – 25 May 1958) was an Icelandic poet. He is one of Iceland's major poets and wrote both modernist and traditional poems.
Early life
Steinn Steinarr was nicknamed Alli (a standar ...
, Örn Arnarson and Þórarinn Eldjárn
Þórarinn Eldjárn (born 22 August 1949) is an Icelandic writer, particularly well known in Iceland for his humorous poetry books for children.
Life and work
Þórarinn is the son of Kristján Eldjárn, the third president of Iceland (in off ...
. In the late twentieth century Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson
Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson (4 July 1924 – 23 December 1993) was an Icelandic religious leader and singer of rímur who was instrumental in helping to gain Icelandic government's recognition of the pre-Christian Heathenry in the country.
Bi ...
was the best known ''rímur'' poet. Steindór Andersen is currently the leading ''rímur'' singer in Iceland: he often collaborates with the band Sigur Rós and has also contributed to some of Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson
Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson (; born 23 April 1958), also known as HÖH, is a musician, an art director, and '' allsherjargoði'' (''chief goði'') of Ásatrúarfélagið ("the Ásatrú Association").
Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson was a pioneer in the use ...
's works.
The scholar Sigurður Nordal Sigurður Nordal (14 September 1886 – 21 September 1974) was an Icelandic scholar, writer, and ambassador. He was influential in forming the theory of the Icelandic sagas as works of literature composed by individual authors.
Education
Nor ...
wrote on the ''rímur''.
Through the ages numerous authors would probably have agreed with this statement, since there is a substantial number of rímur that were turned into prose sagas.[Peter A. Jorgensen, The Neglected Genre of Rímur-Derived Prose and Post-Reformtion ''Jónatas saga,'' '' Gripla'', VII, (1990), 187-201.] However, it is worth mentioning that Nordal never denied the importance of rímur as an aspect of the history of literature, and in his lectures specifically emphasized their role in keeping the continuity of Icelandic literature, a subject close to his heart. He also recognized that among the mass of rímur composed, there were works of art to be found, although he was of the opinion that (according to his published lectures) none of the rímur might be called a "perfect work of art" with the possible exception of ''Skíðaríma''. But a "perfect work of art" is somewhat hard to achieve.
Editions and further reading
Editions
* Colwill, Lee (trans.),
Grettis rímur
', ''Apardjón Journal for Scandinavian Studies'' (2021)
* Colwill Lee and Haukur Þorgeirsson (ed. and trans.), ''The Bearded Bride: a critical edition of Þrymlur'' (London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 2020)
* W. A. Craigie (ed.),
Icelandic Ballads on the Gowrie Conspiracy
' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908). dition of Einar Guðmundsson's ''Skotlands rímur''.* Finnur Jónsson (ed.),
Fernir forníslenskir rímnaflokkar
' (Copenhagen, 1896). Four Old Icelandic Rímur Cycles": edition of ''Lokrur'', ''Þrymlur'', ''Griplur'' and ''Völsungsrímur''.* Finnur Jónsson (ed.),
Rímnasafn: Samling af de ældste islandske rimer
', Samfund til udgivelse af gammel nordisk litteratur, 35, 2 vols (Copenhagen: Møller and Jørgensen, 1905–22). dition of the earliest ''rímur''.h2>
Resources
* Finnur Jónsson, ''Ordbog til de af Samfund til Udg. ad Gml. Nord. Litteratur Udgivne Rímur samt til de af Dr. O. Jiriczek Udgivne Bósarimur'' (Copenhagen: Jørgensen, 1926–28). ictionary of early ''rímur''.* Finnur Sigmundsson,
Rímnatal
' (Reykjavík: Rímnafélagið, 1966). atalogue of ''rímur''.
Ísmús
nline Icelandic archive of traditional oral and musical cultureh2>
Key studies
* Davíð Erlingsson, 'Rímur', ''Íslensk þjóðmenning VI. Munnmenntir og bókmenning'', ed. by Frosti F. Jóhannsson (Reykjavík: Þjóðsaga, 1989), pp. 330–55.
* Hallfreður Örn Eiríksson, 'On Icelandic Rímur: An Orientation', ''Arv'', 31 (1975), 139–150.
* Svend Nielsen,
Rímnakveðskapur tíu kvæðamanna: Rannsókn á tilbrigðum
', ed. and trans. by Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir (Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í Íslenskum Fræðum, 2022),
* Sverrir Tómasson, 'Hlutverk rímna í íslensku samfélagi á síðari hluta miðalda', ''Ritið'', 5.3 (2005), 77–94.
Notes
References
* Neijmann, Daisy L. (1996). ''The Icelandic Voice in Canadian Letters: The Contribution of Icelandic-Canadian Writers to Canadian Literature.'' McGill-Queen's Press.
* Hreinn Steingrímsson. (2000). ''KVÆDASKAPUR: Icelandic Epic Song.'' Dorothy Stone and Stephen L. Mosko (eds.).
External links
''KVÆDASKAPUR: Icelandic Epic Song''
by Hreinn Steingrímsson. A study of ''rímur'' that focuses on 16 performers in the Breiðafjörður
Breiðafjörður (, ''wide fjord'') is a large shallow bay, about 50 km wide and 125 km long, in the west of Iceland. It separates the region of the Westfjords (Vestfirðir) from the Snæfellsnes peninsula to the south. Breiðafjörðu ...
region. Includes recordings and transcriptions.
Kvæðamennafélagið Iðunn
Eponymous homepage of a society devoted to the revival of traditional Icelandic singing. Includes information in Icelandic on traditional performance styles, and an online edition of ''Bragfræði og Háttatal'' by Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson
Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson (4 July 1924 – 23 December 1993) was an Icelandic religious leader and singer of rímur who was instrumental in helping to gain Icelandic government's recognition of the pre-Christian Heathenry in the country.
Bi ...
which catalogues the meters used by ''rímur'' poets, with examples performed by the author.
Historical recordings
of ''rímur'' in Icelandic sound archives. In Icelandic, but clicking on the recording number (in the ''Safnmark'' column) will load the recording.
* Recordings o
(1940) and his so
(1939) chanting ''rímur'', recorded by Sidney Robertson Cowell
Sidney Robertson Cowell (born Sidney William Hawkins; June 2, 1903 – February 23, 1995) was an American ethnomusicologist, collector of folk songs, and the wife of the composer Henry Cowell.
Life and career
She was born on June 2, 1903, ...
(''California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collection'').
CFUV radio Interview with Matthew Driscoll
from the University of Copenhagen about his Beck Trust lecture, ″The Icelandic Rimur” at the University of Victoria.
"The Icelandic Rímur"
(powerpoint presentation for Matthew Driscoll's Beck Lecture on "The Icelandic Rimur.″)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rimur
Icelandic literature
Icelandic music