SOURCE: Hallberg, Peter. “Elements of Imagery in the Poetic Edda.” In Edda: A Collection of Essays, edited by Robert J. Glendinning and Haraldur Bessason, pp. 47-85. Winnipeg, Can.: University of Manitoba Press, 1983.

In the following essay, Hallberg surveys and analyzes the various modes of metaphorical language employed in the poetry of the Elder Edda, identifying the aesthetic and thematic functions of mythological and heroic kennings, as well as examining other forms of imagery, epithet, and linguistic parallelism.

I

The purpose of this paper is to survey various forms of imagery in the Poetic Edda, their distribution among different types of poetry, and their function. This, of course, is not a new topic. The published literature on Eddic poetry has now reached such enormous proportions that no one can hope to absorb and utilize all of it. Many papers, and even books, have dealt specifically with the imagery of...