From runic inscriptions to sagas, this book introduces readers to the colourful world of Old Norse Icelandic literature. An introduction to the colourful world of Old Norse Icelandic literature. Covers mythology and family sagas, as well as less well known areas, such as oral story telling, Eddaic verse and skaldic verse. From runic inscriptions to sagas, this book introduces readers to the world of Old Norse-Icelandic literature. It covers mythology and family sagas, as well as less well-known areas, such as oral story-telling, Eddaic verse and skaldic verse. It shows how a range of authors from Shakespeare to Seamus Heaney have been influenced by this literature. List of Illustrations vii Chronology viii Preface x Iceland 1(21) The Beginnings 1(4) Language 5(4) Cultural Heritage 9(8) Discovery and Settlement 17(5) The Saga 22(39) What Is a Saga? 22(2) Are Family Sagas Medieval Novels? 24(12) Are Family Sagas Chronicles of Time Past? 36(11) Three Extracts: Egils saga, Vatnsdœla saga and Laxdœla saga 47(14) New Knowledge and Native Traditions 61(45) Latin Learning 61(1) Eddaic and Skaldic Verse 62(31) Historical Writings 93(6) Fornaldarsogur 99(3) Riddarasogur and Rimur 102(4) The Politics of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature 106(43) Iceland and Scandinavian Nationalism 107(3) Old Norse-Icelandic as `Ancient Poetry' 110(1) Bishop Percy's Translations 111(5) Gray's `Norse Odes' 116(4) The Romantic Viking 120(4) Our Friends in the North 124(4) Old Norse-Icelandic Studies in Academia 128(2) The Debate about Saga Origins 130(4) Why is Old Norse English Literature? 134(2) Old Norse-Icelandic and English Medieval Literature 136(13) The Influence of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature 149(53) Blake 149(5) Tolkien and Fantasy Literature 154(3) Scott, Kingsley and Haggard 157(9) Landor, Arnold and Morris 166(10) Stevenson, Hardy and Galsworthy 176(8) MacDiarmid, Mackay Brown, and Auden and MacNeice 184(12) Heaney and Muldoon 196(6) Appendix: Hrafnkel's Saga 202(22) Glossary 224(3) Notes 227(2) Bibliography 229(3) Index 232