Eddic performance and eddic audiences

Frigg’s Cunning

“…The shift from individual to group may indicate the presence of an audience -perhaps the listeners of the skáld or storyteller, or a group of ritual participants whether imagined or actual in a performance of the myth. Terry Gunnell (2016) argues for the latter, and inspired by him, Simon Nygaard (2019a+b) offers a reading of the poem as more or less a 'transcription' of an actual ritual, as noted above. The young warriors are perceived as ritual participants identifying with the (unmentioned) retinue in Geirrøðr's hall, who transform into the einherjar in Valhǫll.…”

Exploring Religious Ritual Frameworks in the Oral Performance of the Old Norse, Eddic-Style Praise Poems <em>Hákonar­mál</em>, <em>Eiríksmál</em>, and <em>Hrafnsmál</em>

“…This could also 2 Other contributions to the scholarship on oral poetry, like that of Ruth Finnegan (1970,1977,1988) or John Miles Foley (1991Foley ( , 1995Foley ( , 2002 has even further nuanced the Oral-Formu laic Theory. These theories have also been used in an Old Norse context as indicated by, for instance, the articles in Rancovic, Melve, and Mundal (2010), and scholarship by, for instance, Gunnell (2011Gunnell ( , 2016Gunnell ( , 2020. ExploringReligiousRitualFrameworks be the context for the eddic-style praise poems in question.…”

“…In both Hákonarmáland Eiríksmálthere is, then, a confluence between the human hall which was the probable site of the 'original' oral perfor mance and Óðinn's hall, Valhǫll, something which also occurs in, for instance, Grímnis mál (Gunnell 2016;Nygaard 2018Nygaard , 2019b). As noted above, such a mention of a specific, Otherworldly hall being present hér (here) and now would most likely have aided the transformation of the hall-space of the performance into a ritual, liminal space by temporarily trans porting the ritual participants into Valhǫll.…”

“…T he performance of oral poetry in the Viking Age, as in many other preliterate cultures, seems to follow certain, culturally specific, structural pat terns. Upon closer analysis, some of the medieval, oral-derived eddic poems like Grímnismál (Gunnell 2016;Nygaard 2018;2019b), Skírnis mál (Gun nell 2006(Gun nell , 2011, and Vaf rúðnis mál (Gunnell 2011), seem to pre serve traits of orality and drama that in these poems' perfor mance capac ity can be viewed as a form of ritual -even one that has religious sig nifi cance. In this article, 1 this potential initial ritual performance will be ex plored for the poems Hákonarmál, Eiríksmál, and Hrafnsmál.…”

Performing the Vikings

“…This is relevant here because although Gunnell's explorations of ritual performance have won sufficient acceptance to now be incorporated in general handbooks and companion volumes to Old Norse textual studies (e.g. Gunnell 2008Gunnell , 2016Gunnell , 2018, there has also been pushback to such approaches from a few literary scholars, who extend their scepticism to archaeological research and interdisciplinary perspectives in the same vein.…”