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. 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.

Form

''Rímur'', as the name suggests, rhyme, but like older Germanic alliterative verse, they also contain structural alliteration. ''Rímur'' are stanzaic, and stanzas normally have four lines. There are hundreds of ''ríma'' meters: Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson counts 450 variations in his ''Háttatal''. But they can be grouped in approximately ten ''families''. The most common metre is ''ferskeytt''.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 kennings, heiti and other ornate features of medieval Icelandic poetic diction from skaldic verse. 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 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 and skaldic poetry with influences from Continental epic poems. ''Óláfs ríma Haraldssonar'', preserved in ''Flateyjarbók'', 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'', and ''Lokrur'' are other examples of early ''rímur''. The key work on editing ''rímur'' focused on medieval examples like these and was undertaken by Finnur Jónsson. ''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''.

''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: 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'') and Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson (leading, for example, to the 2013 album ''Stafnbúi'').

Critical reception

In the nineteenth century the poet Jónas Hallgrímsson published an influential critique on a rímur cycle by Sigurður Breiðfjörð 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, Sigurður Breiðfjörð, Einar Benediktsson, Steinn Steinarr, Örn Arnarson and Þórarinn Eldjárn. In the late twentieth century Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson 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's works.

The scholar Sigurður Nordal 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
', Rit Rímnafélagsins, 11, 2 vols (Reykjavík: Rímnafélagið, 1966). atalogue of ''rímur''.
Ísmús
nline Icelandic archive of traditional oral and musical culture

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

Karel
digitised rímur with digital analytical tools


by Hreinn Steingrímsson. A study of ''rímur'' that focuses on 16 performers in the Breiðafjörður 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 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 (''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.″)

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Icelandic literature
Music of Iceland