Old Norse Skaldic Meters, the Hrynhent

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Nordic Verse

The Hrynhent, a Skaldic stanzaic form which came along after Drottkvaet, also generously employed kenning but the imagery was more natural and connected to the meaning making the poems more understandable than its predecessor.

The elements of the Hrynhent are:

1. stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains. The quatrains often appear as octaves because the lines are Germanic "long lines" which break in half, the half line will often be separated into a 2nd line.
2. rhymed, rhyme scheme aBaB a being near rhymed by assonance, B being true rhyme.
3. linked as couplets by assonance.
4. accentual, lines of 16 syllables each, broken into two halves of 8 syllables each. Each half line has 4 stressed and 4 unstressed syllables,
5. the last two syllables of the half line must be a trochee (Su).

Links to other Skaldic meters

Old Norse Skaldic Meters
Drottkvaet
Kviotattr
Runnhent