The Drottkvaet or Old Court Skaldic meter is one of the earliest of the Skaldic stanzaic forms. The ancient poems in this stanzaic form were full of kenning to the point of sometimes being a riddle. The two word metaphoric descriptions which dominated the poems were often so loosely connected to the meaning that it obscured understanding.
The Drottkvaet is:
• stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains. The quatrains often appear as octaves because the lines are Germanic “long lines” which break in half, the half line will often be separated into a 2nd line.
• accentual, lines of 12 syllables each, broken into two halves of 6 syllables each. Each half line has 3 stressed and 3 unstressed syllables, the last two syllable of the half line must be a trochee (Su).
• rhymed, rhyme scheme aBaB a being near rhymed by assonance, B being true rhyme.
• linked as couplets by assonance.
• odd lines should have double alliteration.
Mind Melt by Judi Van Gorder
Wishing to write in sync with old Nordic climate,
breaking a bigger line, into just two tortured
halves. Hawking trochaic meter, mental, I’m at
my wits end. Wiley words don’t dance in an orchard.
Kenning clings to mind, making mystery with nonsense,
sea birds fly overhead, smoke in the sky trailing.
Most difficult to accomplish is assonance
rhyme. My brain melts down and I find myself failing.
Links to other Skaldic meters
Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1085
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.
Kenning: A metaphor using 2 substitute nouns. Buried diodes = brain synapse, liquid embers = synaptic activity.
My example
Poetic Stretching (Drottkvaet)
Minding measured metric feet invokes a testing,
stressing buried diodes, sparking liquid embers.
Assonance demands much more when it’s requested
Real rhymes rise rapidly. Those my brain remembers.
Digging deeper does delay retrieval, granted;
but the buried seed will blossom in my kettle
Maybe not right now, but someday after planting
practice such as this perhaps will boost my mettle.
© Lawrencealot – November 27, 2014
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