The Viking Culture
EXPERIMENTAL #1 RELATED RESEARCH
By Julie Williams
Updated on Sep 18, 2008
When little kids write the alphabet for the first time, it’s hard to know who’s more excited—the kids themselves, or their parents. After all, we adults know the glories to come: sounds, then words, then all kinds of writing adventures. And we can hardly wait.
But back at the desk with a kid who's learning to read and write, you’ll probably notice that literary progress often comes not by steady paces but by somersaults—some of them backward. Inkindergarten and first grade, for example, many children write “b” instead of “d,” and may sometimes confuse “p,” “q,” and “g.” Teachers see these errors all the time, and gradually work to help kids fix them. But as a caring …show more content…
In the Viking age, runes were used for short notes only. The Viking culture was oral, and long works were remembered using poetry. Runes certainly could have been used for longer messages in the same way as Roman characters, but they were not. Perhaps the Norse people saw no need to preserve long works in written form, even though everything was in place to do so. Only a single rune stone containing a complete poem survives, although many stones contain individual verses. In chapter 78 of Egils saga, Þorgerður asked her father Egill to compose a memorial poem, telling him she would carve the verses into a rune stick (rísta á kefli). Whether that was common practice or not is …show more content…
Scholars combed Iceland during the 17th and 18th century in search of surviving manuscripts. One of the best known of these scholars was the Icelander Árni Magnússon (right). When found, the manuscripts were brought to Denmark (which governed Iceland at that time) for preservation. Tragically, fire swept through Copenhagen in 1728. While the best manuscripts were saved, many lesser works were lost.
Of the Sagas of Icelanders, about 80 works survive, ranging from short-story length (called þáttur) to long-novel length.
Some of the manuscripts survive only in a single copy. For instance, most of the poems in The Elder Edda exist only in the manuscript called the Codex Regius. (A portion of a leaf of the Codex Regius is shown to the right.)
On the other hand, seven manuscripts or fragments of Snorri Sturluson's Edda survive. Today, most of the manuscripts have been repatriated to Iceland for safekeeping at Stofnun Árna Magnússonar (the Árni Magnússon Institute) in Reykjavík
By Julie Williams
Updated on Sep 18, 2008
When little kids write the alphabet for the first time, it’s hard to know who’s more excited—the kids themselves, or their parents. After all, we adults know the glories to come: sounds, then words, then all kinds of writing adventures. And we can hardly wait.
But back at the desk with a kid who's learning to read and write, you’ll probably notice that literary progress often comes not by steady paces but by somersaults—some of them backward. Inkindergarten and first grade, for example, many children write “b” instead of “d,” and may sometimes confuse “p,” “q,” and “g.” Teachers see these errors all the time, and gradually work to help kids fix them. But as a caring …show more content…
In the Viking age, runes were used for short notes only. The Viking culture was oral, and long works were remembered using poetry. Runes certainly could have been used for longer messages in the same way as Roman characters, but they were not. Perhaps the Norse people saw no need to preserve long works in written form, even though everything was in place to do so. Only a single rune stone containing a complete poem survives, although many stones contain individual verses. In chapter 78 of Egils saga, Þorgerður asked her father Egill to compose a memorial poem, telling him she would carve the verses into a rune stick (rísta á kefli). Whether that was common practice or not is …show more content…
Scholars combed Iceland during the 17th and 18th century in search of surviving manuscripts. One of the best known of these scholars was the Icelander Árni Magnússon (right). When found, the manuscripts were brought to Denmark (which governed Iceland at that time) for preservation. Tragically, fire swept through Copenhagen in 1728. While the best manuscripts were saved, many lesser works were lost.
Of the Sagas of Icelanders, about 80 works survive, ranging from short-story length (called þáttur) to long-novel length.
Some of the manuscripts survive only in a single copy. For instance, most of the poems in The Elder Edda exist only in the manuscript called the Codex Regius. (A portion of a leaf of the Codex Regius is shown to the right.)
On the other hand, seven manuscripts or fragments of Snorri Sturluson's Edda survive. Today, most of the manuscripts have been repatriated to Iceland for safekeeping at Stofnun Árna Magnússonar (the Árni Magnússon Institute) in Reykjavík