Chapter 3

Clause arrangement in the poetry of Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson

This study examines aspects of clause arrangement in 9th and 10th-century skaldic verse with a particular focus on the dróttkvætt poetry of Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson. Despite the usefulness of Reichardt’s (1928) system for classifying patterns in the arrangement of clauses within half-stanzas, there have been relatively few studies of clause arrangement that compare individual skalds or consider changes in general stylistic tendencies over time. Following the empirical approach outlined in Edwards (1983) and revisited in Sundquist (1998), I argue that clause arrangement data from 121 half-stanzas attributed to Hallfreðr are useful in identifying distinctive characteristics of his style and consider how clause arrangement data shed light on issues of dating 9th- and 10th-century dróttkvætt poetry.