137

pretty closely. The tale selected for conversion into this metrical form,
's almost without exception divided into several sections each of which
is worked into a separate rima (or fytte). Almost every rima begins.
with a certain number of introductory lines (a kind of exordium),
called “man-séngur® or maid-song, as the theme is in most cases
either love, a lady, or the poet's own private affairs. Kennings or
circumlocutions are extensively used after the style of the old scaldic
verse, but not always with as clear an understanding of their original
meaning. In the evening the rimur were sung century after century
in the homes of rich and poor alike, and have thus helped the people
to understand the ancient lays. The rimur chants are among the most
characteristic musical compositions produced in Iceland.
The usual number of lines in a rimur-stanza is four, but somelimes
 only three or even two; they end in a rime of one syllable (or
more’, internal rimes are not infrequent, and alliteration after the
manner of the court-poetry. By varying the number and length of the
lines, and by shifting the position of the riming syllables, a great
variety was obtained, and the number of metres increased to an incredible
 extent. Scholars have recorded as many as 2267 metres. To
such a length was this artificial riming carried that the poets composed
even whole sets of rimur in such a way that every stanza could be
read, word for word, backward and forward without the least injury
to either thought, diction, alliteration or rime-syliables, as the following
 quatrain will make clear:
Grundar déma, hvergi hann
hallar réttu méli,
stundar séma, aldrei ann
Srqu pretta tali.

This metre is called sléttubénd (= palindrome). By changing the
order of words and sentences we obtain four variations of this stanza,
sach of which can be read backward and forward, so that in reality
here are eight variations, all metrically correct and in natural style.
Now, by placing the commas in the first and third lines after ‘hvergi
ind ‘aldrei’ respectively, this verse is changed into a libellous ditty.
There are even instances of palindromes that may be changed in ninety
 six different ways. Such playing upon words may seem useless and
excessive, but it shows the importance attached to the form, the metre,
by the Icelanders who have made of it an art for art’s sake, a proylem
 on which to exercise their ingenuity. In this way the language
has. in an ever increasing degree, been attuned to the most elaborate