SCAN 3203- Final Exam Guide - Comprehensive Notes for the exam ( 39 pages long!)
Document Summary
Conversion to christianity in the 8th century: took many generations for a full conversion, resulted in periods of religious hybridity. Norse countries : norway, sweden, denmark, iceland, greenland, finland. Myth: a narrative about the creation of the cosmos. Written sources: pagan oral tradition, christian"s valued the written word and had the knowledge and tools to write. Therefore, most of norse mythology is written down by christians. Poetic edda : 1270 a. d, found in the codex regius, given to the danish king in 1662, made up of anonymous poetic material from pre christian scandinavia. Snorri sturluson : 1179-1241, law speaker and icelandic skald (poet), king"s spokesman in iceland, killed by his cousin. Kennings : a norse and anglo saxon poetic device, compound word metaphor, often mythological. Poets were called skalds; this was an honorable position. Poetry began to be replaced by prose. Gylfagginning : tricking of gylfi, the first part of snorri"s edda.
