Editing Alliterative verse (section)

=== Formal features ===
The inherited form of alliterative verse was modified somewhat in Old Norse poetry. In Old Norse, as a result of phonetic changes from the original common Germanic language, many unstressed [[syllable]]s were lost. This lent Old Norse verse a characteristic terseness; the lifts tended to be crowded together at the expense of the weak syllables. In some lines, the weak syllables have been entirely suppressed. As a result, while we still have the base pattern of paired half-lines joined by alliteration, it is very rare to have multiple-syllable dips. The following example from the ''[[Hávamál]]'' illustrates this basic pattern:{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|non|Deyr fé 
{{pad|1em}} deyja frændr}}
|
Cattle die; 
{{pad|1em}} kinsmen die...}}

==== Meter and rhythm ====
The terseness of the Norse form may be linked to another feature of Norse poetry that differentiates it from common Germanic patterns: In Old Norse poetry, syllable count sometimes matters, and not just the number of lifts and dips.<ref name="Poole 2005 Metre and Metrics">{{cite book |last1=Poole |first1=Russell |chapter=Metre and Metrics |pages=265–284 |editor1-last=McTurk |editor1-first=Rory |title=A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture |date=2005 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-631-23502-6 }}</ref> That depends upon the specific verse form used, of which Old Norse poetry had many. The base, Common Germanic alliterative meter is what Old Norse poets termed ''fornyrðislag'' ("old story meter"). More complex verse forms imposed an extra layer of structure in which syllable count, stress, alliteration (and sometimes, assonance and rhyme) worked together to define line or stanza structures.<ref name="Poole 2005 Metre and Metrics"/> For example, in kvi''ðuhattr ("lay form")'', the first half line had to contain four, and the second half-line, three syllables, while in ''ljóðaháttr'' ("song" or "[[ballad]]" meter), there were no specific syllable counts, but the lines were arranged into four-line stanzas alternating between four- and three-lift lines. More complex stanza forms imposed additional constraints.<ref name="Poole 2005 Metre and Metrics"/> The various names of the Old Norse verse forms are given in the [[Prose Edda]] by [[Snorri Sturluson]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Prose Edda |publisher=Penguin books |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-140-44755-2 |language=Old Norse |translator-last=Byock |translator-first=Jesse}}</ref> The ''[[Háttatal]]'', or "list of verse forms", contains the names and characteristics of each of the fixed forms of Norse poetry.<ref>Nordal, Guðrún, and Nordal Guðrún. ''Tools of literacy: the role of skaldic verse in Icelandic textual culture of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries''. University of Toronto Press, 2001.{{page needed|date=December 2023}}</ref>

==== Rules for alliteration ====
Old Norse followed the general Germanic rules for alliteration, but imposed specific alliteration patterns on specific verse forms, and sometimes rules for assonance and internal rhyme. For example, ''drottkvætt'' ("courtly meter") not only required alliteration between adjacent half-lines, but imposed requirements for consonance and internal rhyme at specific points in each stanza.<ref name="Poole 2005 Metre and Metrics"/>

==== Diction ====
Old Norse was rich in poetic synonyms and kennings, where it closely resembled Old English.<ref name="Kennings in Old English Verse and i"/><ref>Townend, Matthew. ''Antiquity of diction in Old English and Old Norse poetry''. University of Cambridge, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic, 2015.{{page needed|date=December 2023}}</ref> Norse poets were sometimes described as creating "riddling" kennings whose meaning was not necessarily self-evident to the audience, perhaps reflecting competition among skalds.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Burrows |first1=Hannah |title=Riddles and Kennings |journal=European Journal of Scandinavian Studies |date=26 April 2021 |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=46–68 |doi=10.1515/ejss-2020-2017 |s2cid=233186205 }}</ref>