Eall-feala Ealde Sæge: Poetic Performance and “The Scop's Repertoire” in Old English Verse

Abstract

This essay identifies “The Scop’s Repertoire” as an Old English traditional theme. The theme associates the making of verse with three motifs: copiousness, orality, and antiquity. With close analogues in Old Saxon, Old and Middle High German, and Old Norse poetry, “The Scop’s Repertoire” originates in an oral Germanic tradition of versification. The theme thus sheds light on the myth of the oral poet, who is either depicted as divinely inspired or as bearer of tradition.

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