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Essay Questions from the Course 'Poetry of the Vikings' (Old Norse Poetry in Translation)
Extended essay questions from the seminar course 'Poetry of the Vikings' (Old Norse poetry in translation) which ran in 2013/2014 at University College Cork. The seminar was led by Dr Tom Birkett.
Reading list for essay question on Norse mythological material in Beowulf
Essay Title: ‘The incorporation of Norse mythological material in Beowulf is nothing more than a random assortment of half-remembered stories.’ Discuss.
Reading list for essay question on Thomas Gray's Norse sources
Essay Question: How does Thomas Gray adapt his sources (Baldrs draumar and Darraðarljóð) in ‘The Descent of Odin’ and ‘The Fatal Sisters’?
Reading list for essay question on J. R. R. Tolkien and Norse sources
Essay Question: Which aspects of Norse mythology are borrowed and adapted by J. R. R. Tolkien in the construction of Middle-earth?
Reading list for essay question on Joanne Harris and Norse sources
Essay Question: What motivates Joanne Harris’s employment of Norse mythology in Runemarks, Runelight, and The Gospel of Loki?
Reading list for essay question on eddic poetry and Snorri Sturluson
Essay Title: ‘The primary value of eddic poetry and Snorri Sturluson’s Edda is located not in their aesthetic accomplishments but in their status as mythological sources.’ Discuss.
Reading list for essay question on Eddic poetry and Odinic wisdom dialogue
Essay Title: ‘There is ample evidence in the eddic corpus of a distinct genre of Odinic wisdom dialogue. The poems belonging to this genre are uniform in their themes and formulaic in their execution.’ Discuss.
Reading list for essay question on the figure of the poet presented in the skáldasögur
Essay Question: How is the figure of the poet presented in the skáldasögur (Bjarnar saga Hítdœlakappa, Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar, Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu, Hallfreðar saga, and Kormáks saga)?
Reading list for essay question on the role of poetry in the skáldasögur
Essay Question: Why do the authors of the skáldasögur (Bjarnar saga Hítdœlakappa, Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar, Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu, Hallfreðar saga, and Kormáks saga) incorporate poetry in their sagas?
Reading list for essay question on the legend of the Vǫlsungar and its sources
Essay Question: What are the major differences between the telling of the legend of the Vǫlsungar in eddic poetry and that in Vǫlsunga saga?
Reading list for essay question on the figure of the hero in Ǫrvar-Odds saga
Essay Question: How is the figure of the hero presented in Ǫrvar-Odds saga?
Reading list for essay question on mythological stories in Bragi Boddason’s Ragnarsdrápa
Essay Question: How are mythological stories depicted in Bragi Boddason’s Ragnarsdrápa?