and each of these halves is again divided into two parts, which form a fourth part of the whole strophe, and contain two lines belonging together and united by alliteration. The nature of this alliteration, which also occurs frequently in prose far down in the middle ages, especially when something is to be fixed in the memory, as for instance laws, proverbs and the like, when applied to poetry, is this, that in the two lines belonging together, three words occur (in the oldest poems frequently only two), beginning with the same letters, two of which must be in the first, while the third is usually at the beginning of the second line. The third and last of these letters is called the chief letter (höfuðstafr, head-stave), because it is regarded as ruling over the two others, which depend on it, and have the name sub-letters (studlar, supporters). The lines are metrically divided into accented and unaccented syllables. These simple rules of versification govern the lays of the Edda. The principal metre is the so-called Fornyrðalag, with two feet or accents in each of the eight verses or lines. Still we also find exceptions to this rule in the Edda, some of the poems being written in the so-called Ljóðaháttr, a strophe of six lines, of which the third and sixth are alliterated independently, while the first and second, and the fourth and fifth, belong together.[1]
In the age of the skaids there is a much greater variety
- ↑ An example of Fornyrdalag:
Heiði hana hétu Seid hon hvars hon kunni,
Hvars til húsa kom Seid hon hugleikin,
Völu velspá Æ var hon angan
Vitti hon ganda; Illrar bruðar.
Elder Edda. Völuspa, 22.
In this it is to be noted that the alliterations in the seventh and eighth lines are in every way perfect, for according to the rules of Old Norse poetry, it was only necessary that the consonants should be the same. This applies also to the double consonants st, sk, and sp. If the alliterated words on the other hand began with a vowel, it was thought most elegant to vary the vowels, as in the example given above.
The following is an example of Ljódaháttr:
Deyr fé. Ek veit einn
Deyja frændr At aldri deyr
Deyr sjálfr it sama Dómr umdauðan hvern
Elder Edda. Havamál, 77.
