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

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.