heiti

poetic device

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In skaldic poetry
…their language was ornamented with heiti and kennings. Heiti (“names”) are uncompounded poetic nouns, fanciful art words rather than everyday terms; e.g., “brand” for “sword,” or “steed” for “horse.” Kennings are metaphorical circumlocutions such as “sword liquid” for “blood” or “wave-horse” for “ship.” Sometimes kennings are extremely indirect; for example,…
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