Scaldic Poetry and Grammatical Literature

Students are to develop a capacity for reading Old Norse grammatical texts in original. A central learning outcome will provide the students with a good understanding of the broad grammatical tradition that developed in Iceland in the 12th to 14th century. Students are also to be able to relate the Old Norse texts to the European grammatical traditions. The course will train the capacity for analysis and independent thinking when it comes to primary sources. The students will be given insights into what it entails to do research in the field of rhetorics and poetics and thus be provided a basis on which to build their own work in the field. The course will enable the students to summarize the research debate in an independent, well considered way, both orally and in writing.

NFI1101, NFI4120 or equivalent knowledge.

Students who have not taken Old Norse grammar and language history before should take NFI4120 parallel to this course.

NFI1101 - Norrøn grammatikk og eldre språkhistorie, NFI4120 - Old Norse - language and texts or equivalent knowledge.

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International applicants, if you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures for international applicants.

The examination in this course is not available for external candidates. Only students admitted to the course may sit for the examination.

The teaching will to a great extent be group teaching in form of seminars and individual tutorials, 28 hours in all. Active participation is required.

The student’s work is assessed by a semester assignment.

The subject of the assignment is to be agreed between the student and the teacher in co-operation.

The assignment shall comprise 10 pages à 2300 keystrokes, excluding spaces, and may be written in English, Norwegian, Swedish or Danish.

You can usually resit an exam, but the conditions depend on whether you had a valid reason for absence from the regular exam. Read more about resitting an exam.

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

You may request an explanation of your grades, and you may also appeal against your grades or make a complaint about formal examination errors. Read more about explanations and appeals.

All students need to acquire:

Margaret Clunies Ross: A history of Old Norse poetry and poetics , 2005. D. S. Brewer.

Vivien Law: The history of linguistics in Europe: from Plato to 1600 , 2003. Cambridge University Press.

Other texts will be distributed as needed

Suggested further reading: Primary literature

Latin Grammarians: "" in Rita Copeland and Ineke Sluiter: Medieval Grammar and Rhetoric. Language Arts and Literary Theory, AD 300-1475, 2009. Oxford University Press. c. 150 pages.

Einar Haugen: First Grammatical Treatise. The Earliest Germanic Phonology. An Edition, Translation and Commentary., 1972. pp 12-33.

Fabrizio D. Raschellà: The So-Called Second Grammatical Treatise. Edition, Translation and Commentary, 1982. Felice le Monnier. pp 48-75.

Lucy Grace Collings: The "Málskrúðsfræði" and the Latin Tradition in Iceland, 1967. Unpublished.

Björn M. Ólsen: Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske avhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske avhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg, 1884.

Various Old Norse Poetry and Texts (Eddas, Egils Saga etc.):

Augustine: "De doctrina Christiana" in R.P.H.Green: 1995. Clarendon Press. pp 125¿31.

Suggested further reading: Secondary literature

Bjarni Einarsson: "On the rôle of verse in saga-literature" in Mediaeval Scandinavia, 1974. 118-25.

Jane Chance: Medieval Mythography I: From Roman North Africa to the School of Chartres, A.D. 433-1177, 1994. University Press of Florida. pp 18¿44.

Margaret Clunies Ross: , A History of Old Norse Poetry and Poetics, 2005. D. S. Brewer. pp 141¿205.

Frank T. Coulson: "Ovid's Metamorphoses in the school tradition of France, 1180-1400. Texts, manuscript traditions, manuscript settings" in James G. Clark et al.: Ovid in the Middle Ages, 2011. Cambridge University Press. 48-70.

Morgan Thomas Davies: "Protocols of Reading in Early Irish Literature: Notes on Some Notes to Orgain Denna Ríg and Amra Coluim Ci

If you have a disability or a health problem that entails significant inconvenience in an examination situation, you may be considered for special examination arrangements. Mothers who are breastfeeding may apply for extra time to complete the exam.