This article suggests that skaldic verse — as a direct result of its famously complex formal features — is able to encode and convey complex, dynamic emotional interiorities in ways that move beyond the possibilities of saga prose. Through a close analysis of Sigvatr Þórðarson’s lausavísa 20 that is attuned to the temporal nature of reading, it is shown that common features of skaldic poetics — including dislocated syntax, tmesis, and obscure and ambiguous diction — can function to stage the unfolding of emotion through time and to evoke the oscillation between, and synthesis of, varied emotional states.

Leeds Medieval Studies, 2 (2022)