The theme of this book is the structure and ideological significances of old Germanic poetic form as it lived on in Iceland and to some extent in other related cultures.

Among the subjects discussed are the so–called alliterative revival in England in the 14th century and the persistence of traditional styles in Icelandic poetry down to the 19th century.

An international team of authors considers the rules for verb placement and alliteration, the metrical entanglement of kennings in the Icelandic dróttkvætt, and different ways of analyzing Eddic and other old Germanic forms, reinterpreting or even replacing Eduard Sievers’ Funftypensystem.