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350
Craigie: Skaldic Metre.
The margin of the GPB. II. 265 point* out the resemblance
of this to brast rSnd vifr rdnd in Helgakvida, and the
similarity is perhaps not a mere accident, but this is not the
place to discuss its significance. It is of more importance
here to point out that the two latest poems in kviduh&ttr,
viz. Eonungatal and Sturla’s Hdkonarmdl are equally
strict in admitting only lines of the types Qunnkildar son,
% Gaulardal, or ok lausafL
§ 11. It is thus clear that, outside of a few
insignificant exceptions, which may in part be due to a corrupt
text, every skald of note carefully observed the rule that no
substantive could stand in the fourth place of a line unless
it had a short vowel, or ended in a vowel. With this result
to guide us, we are in a better position to examine the
relationship which the dateless and anonymous poems of the
Edda bear to the work of the professional skalds. To go
fully into the subject is not my intention; that is rather a
theme for special investigation in connection with many other
metrical peculiarities exhibited by these poems; but one or
two leading facts may be briefly indicated. It is well known
that of the various pieces in the Edda some approach more
closely to correct skaldic technique than others. Of these
the most correct is Hymiskvida, which in every respect
is a model of exact fornyrdislag. Now in Hymiskvida
(304 lines) there are 55 lines which end in a monosyllable,
and in 17 of these the word is a substantive. Here again
the rule is absolute, and the substantives are hair, Go&, verr
(2), ver (1), hver (3), 61, sal (2), mat, shut, war, sour, and
kni. In two lines the end-word is an adjective, prdgimi
vanr and pu’st 6tdr qf heitt, but the latter is doubtful, as
the Codex Regius has hat.
Hymiskvida apparently stands alone in this absolute
correctness of its metre, but the remaining poems do not
deviate very much from the established rule on this point If
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