«Nýtask mér máltól». Allusive Art and Exegetical Thought in Einarr Skúlason’s «Geisli»

Abstract

As recent studies have made increasingly clear, the Icelandic priest and court
poet Einarr Skúlason (c. 1090-1160) played a pivotal role in the transition from the pre-literate
to the learned phase of skaldic composition. Among the first skalds to actively engage
with the poetic canon as an object of scholarly reflection, Einarr approached the old
poets with an emulative intent, reviving the flourishing style that had distinguished the late
pagan period of skaldic composition. His contribution to the history of dróttkvæði is especially
evident in his stylistic renewal of the genre, most notably in Geisli, his panegyric
for Saint Óláfr. Through a qualitative intertextual analysis, this article will illustrate how,
in Geisli, the dialogue with the past is infused with theological resonances, revealing an
allegorical and exegetical reading of the pre-Christian matter of traditional Norse poetry.
Einarr’s allusive art finds typological parallels in the techniques of the late-antique authors
of Christian epics and conceptual parallels in contemporary theological reflections, thereby
disclosing the doctrinal underpinnings of the thorough renovation of the skaldic genre
in the course of the twelfth century.