Viking Saga and Poetry

For a few years now, I’ve been reading up on Viking history, saga, and legends as well as enjoying all the Viking-related tv shows/documentaries and movies. It’s fascinating that, linguistically – modern Norwegians are unable to read Old Norse, yet Icelanders can read Old Norse. Of course, we’re talking about the fact that Norway has a lot of external cultural and linguistic influences, compared to Iceland which is surrounded by ocean. Sometimes last summer, I started to read about how Viking sagas and poetry tend to be written – heavy on alliterations, the use of kenning (the language of imagery – simple concepts described through layered metaphors to make it appear larger than life), extreme bluntness and right to the point, and my favorite – ending with an oath. Specifically, a warrior’s oath. I wrote a wee poem using this style sometimes in the fall of 2024; I have to find it and when I do, I’ll add it to my poetry section here.

Breaking my leg has left a huge impact on me in so many ways – it’s been one hell of a journey… a saga, even! Hey, wait, I’ve an idea… yes, let’s!

So, I started out by writing ideas, describing concepts and feelings. I visualized the accident, the brain fog from painkillers, my desire to return to what I once was. Slowly, I developed four significant sections that best describes what I was feeling and going through, during each stage of healing. Once I had this, I took a line or two and fed it into ChatGPT and asked it to suggest ideas so I can best fit with the style of Viking sagas and poetry. There were a good number of lines that I did not revise, but for the most part, it took a few revisions before I was satisfied with how that line came out. Wait a minute, this is in Viking style… hell yea, let’s throw in some Old Norse/Icelandic words – decided to have mercy on my readers and just do that for the title of each section.

BUT WAIT! NO! This needs a warrior’s oath! I looked up a buncha sayings and decided to combine two oaths together, leave it in Old Norse/Icelandic, as well as including how to pronounce these words and the English translation. I present to you, my personal saga of healing from a major leg break: FÓK (Fog, but not just fog… the moment the fog shatters.)

Ek mun eigi lúta. Eldr í æðum, stál í höndum.

I will not bow. Fire in my veins, steel in my hands.