Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VIII. Literary Influence. The Sagas of Iceland and Ireland
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
if not necessitated, by the extensive phonetic changes
which took place in Ireland in the fifth century. But into
this question it is not necessary to enter here. It is sufficient
to point out that Irish Saga literature, according to all
appearances, began in the heroic epic, a form which in all
other literatures, including Norse, originated in poetry.
The preservation of poetry, narrative or other, by oral
tradition is a common enough phenomenon among many
peoples, but the traditional prose narrative, except in such
primitive forms as folk-tales, is very rare. Since we find
it both in Ireland and Iceland–and apparently in no other
European countries–and since we have found so many
other connections between these two countries, the theory
that the Icelandic Saga owes its origin, however indirectly,
to the Irish Saga, seems to deserve more serious consideration
from scholars than it has yet received.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
