Hello everyone, and happy Icelandic Language Day!
If you would like to hear me read this post, click on the audio below:
That’s correct: today is Dagur íslenskrar tungu, literally The Day of the Icelandic Tongue. 😁 Yep, the Icelanders love their language so much that they dedicate a special day to it each year. They choose November 16 because it is the birthday of the late poet Jónas Hallgrímsson, whom they revere and consider one of their most important personages throughout the ages.
No doubt this reverence stems partly from the contribution made by the early Icelandic poets to Icelandic culture - and, indeed, world literature as a whole. Yet I am sure it is not just that. There is also the sheer skill required to write poetry in Icelandic. You see, not only does traditional Icelandic poetry have to rhyme, it also has to conform to a set of rules called bragfræði, or prosody.
First, let's look at the rules of alliteration. According to this system, a line of verse has to have two words beginning with the same consonant or a vowel, and the first word of the next line also has to begin with either that same consonant, or a vowel.
Confused? Here is an example, a poem called Sláttuvísa (Mowing Song) by Iceland's late great national poet Jónas Hallgrímsson:
Fellur vel á velli
verkið karli sterkum,
syngur enn á engi
eggjuð spík og rýkur
grasið grænt á mosa,
grundin þýtur undir,
blómin bíða dóminn,
bítur ljár í skára.
You see: the first line has two words beginning with "v", and the next line of the verse also begins with "v". The third line has two words beginning with "e" and the first word of the next line begins with "e". And so on.
There are a couple of exceptions to this.
One, the consonant "s" has its own rules, dictated by the letter that comes after the "s". So "st" only alliterates with "st", "sp" with "sp", and "sk" with "sk".
Two, a single-syllable word is permitted before the alliterated word in the second line, if needed.
If all that seems complicated, it was way worse in the old days. Traditional poetry had requirements for internal rhymes (where one word within a line or passage rhymes with another), various requirements regarding poetic feet, and more.
Now if that sounds like those folks in the old days were making things unduly difficult for themselves, consider: it was done not merely for fun, or to weed out the charlatans. Rather it was so that verses could be more easily remembered, as they were generally not written down. Epic poetry often constituted accounts of very real and important historical events, and people had to commit them to memory. And committing very long passages to memory was far easier if there were rhymes and alliterations and such, all throughout the poem.
Icelandic poetry more or less adhered to the prosody rules until around 1950, when poets began to buck the system and write experimental poetry. This poetry did not necessarily rhyme, it used new-fangled imagery, and was unconcerned with “the rules”. Not that this entirely replaced the old way of doing things, though, and even today many people consider this form of poetry to be inferior to the traditional form.
And here is something remarkable: almost all translations of verse from other languages into Icelandic are still done in accordance with the rules of prosody. This includes Shakespearean text, songs in musicals and films, and more. Strangely these translators do not get awarded the same sort of respect that the poets do, even though they totally should. After all, it is hard enough to make up your own poetry while conforming to the rules, but when you have to force someone else’s meaning into that form it becomes a task that is only for true aces to master.”
Special offer!
Today, to commemorate this special day, I would like to offer you a special 15 percent discount on my Little Book of Icelandic. The discount applies to the hardcover and ebooks if purchased directly from my website, and to the paperback book if purchased via Amazon.
To purchase from my website, please use the coupon code JONAS.
To purchase from Amazon there is no coupon needed.
The offer is good for today, Thursday November 16, and tomorrow Friday November 17th, 2023. Links to all of those are below.
I hope you enjoy!
Don’t forget to use coupon code JONAS on the website!
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Congrats on today's article in my hometown rag, the Washington Post!
That's so interesting! I had no idea about those rules. Makes the poems sound good, too.