Ugh, this chapter. What a waste of time. I'm firmly convinced it exists solely and only for Paolini to show off his "song", if it can be called that.
Paolini tried to get clever with kennnings, despite the fact that (a) he seems to have little idea how they work, (b) this is very much not Old England, and (c) this is the only poem in Paolini's unfortunately extensive collection that features kenning prominently, which means that kenning is probably not a common technique in dwarfish poetry writing.
Plus, his kennings just plain don't make sense. Sky vat? Forest bowls? Hand ringer?
"Bearded gaper" is obviously an axe, of a very particular style and design used by a very particular group of people at a very particular time in our world's history...
"Battle leaf" could refer to a leaf-shaped shield, but it's really not clear. Kennings are meant to be unambiguous and meaningful, but Paolini throws them together like he's playing mad libs with a magnetic poetry set.
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Date: 2019-02-28 08:42 pm (UTC)Paolini tried to get clever with kennnings, despite the fact that (a) he seems to have little idea how they work, (b) this is very much not Old England, and (c) this is the only poem in Paolini's unfortunately extensive collection that features kenning prominently, which means that kenning is probably not a common technique in dwarfish poetry writing.
Plus, his kennings just plain don't make sense. Sky vat? Forest bowls? Hand ringer?
"Bearded gaper" is obviously an axe, of a very particular style and design used by a very particular group of people at a very particular time in our world's history...
"Battle leaf" could refer to a leaf-shaped shield, but it's really not clear. Kennings are meant to be unambiguous and meaningful, but Paolini throws them together like he's playing mad libs with a magnetic poetry set.