Having reviewed the modern division of Old Norse poetry into eddic- and skaldic-type verse, and discovered a number of complicating factors that make a simple division of the corpus difficult, I will now examine ways in which Viking Age and medieval Scandinavians classified Old Norse poetry and what that can tell us of the uses to which they put the poetic arts and the values they ascribed to them. This poetry and medieval Norse attitudes towards it developed first in an oral society and many signs are displayed of a close relationship between poetic genres and social interactions. Much of the verse is agonistically toned, meaning that it represents direct interpersonal interaction and confrontation between protagonists, often of an aggressive kind. In a great deal of the poetry the speaking voice of the poet or the protagonist of the action is audible.

Titles and types of poetry

The nomenclature of eddic poems whose medieval titles are known indicates that they were classified as speech-related genres of various kinds, that is, they were conceptualised as speech acts in an Austinian sense. In terms of their form, they are either catalogue poems, often presented as dramatic dialogues, or narratives of mythic or heroic adventures. Their names suggest that, to medieval people, their role as speech acts was predominant and it is notable that, particularly among the mythological poems, the verses are often presented as the direct discourse of gods and heroes or other authoritative beings. Titles of individual poems distinguish the mál (‘speech, words’) at the most general discourse level (e.g. Hávamál, ‘Speech of the High One [Óõinn]’, Skírnismál, ‘Speech of Skírnir’, Alvíssmál, ‘The Words of All-Wise [a dwarf]’, Hamõismál, ‘Words of [or about] Hamõir’) from the spá (‘prophecy’, e.g. Vǫluspá, ‘Prophecy of the Sibyl’, Merlínússpá, ‘Prophecy of Merlin’), the ljóõ (‘chant’, e.g. Hárbarõsljóõ ‘ Chant of Hárbarõr [Óõinn]’, Hyndluljóõ, ‘Chant of Hyndla [a giantess]), the senna (‘diatribe or invective’, e.g. Lokasenna, ‘Loki's Invective’), the hvǫt (‘incitement’, e.g. Guõrúnarhvǫt, ‘Incitement of Guõrún’) and the grátr (‘lament’, e.g. Oddrúnargrátr, ‘Lament of Oddrún’). Mythological poems like Hymiskviõa and Ãrymskviõa (‘Poem about Ãrymr [a giant]’), whose titles’ second element, kviõa, probably denotes a narrative poem, embody continuous narratives of one or more known myths but are less common than the speech genres within the mythological group (see Klingenberg 1983).