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113-737: Egil was born in Iceland , to Skalla-Grímr Kveldúlfsson and Bera Yngvarsdóttir; he was the grandson of Kveld-Úlfr (whose name means 'evening wolf'). Another of his ancestors, Hallbjörn, was Norwegian- Sami . Skalla-Grímr was a respected chieftain, and mortal enemy of King Harald Fairhair of Norway . He migrated to Iceland, settling at Borg where his father Kveld-Úlfr 's coffin landed after being ritualistically set adrift as Skalla-Grímr's boat approached Iceland. Skalla-Grímr and wife Bera had two daughters, Sæunn and Þórunn, and two sons, Þorolfr and Egil. Egil composed his first poem at three years old. He exhibited berserk behaviour, and this, together with

226-497: A caesura . Dactylic pentameter is never used in isolation. Rather, a line of dactylic pentameter follows a line of dactylic hexameter in the elegiac distich or elegiac couplet , a form of verse that was used for the composition of elegies and other tragic and solemn verse in the Greek and Latin world, as well as love poetry that was sometimes light and cheerful. An example from Ovid 's Tristia : The Greeks and Romans also used

339-557: A longhouse in Stöðvarfjörður that may date to as early as 800. Swedish Viking explorer Garðar Svavarsson was the first to circumnavigate Iceland in 870 and establish that it was an island. He stayed during the winter and built a house in Húsavík . Garðar departed the following summer, but one of his men, Náttfari , decided to stay behind with two slaves. Náttfari settled in what is now known as Náttfaravík, and he and his slaves became

452-464: A shield volcano with a magma chamber underneath). Several classifications of the systems exist, for example there is one of 30 systems, and one of 34 systems, with the later currently being used in Iceland itself. The climate of Iceland's coast is subarctic . The warm North Atlantic Current ensures generally higher annual temperatures than in most places of similar latitude in the world. Regions in

565-528: A summit in Reykjavík in 1986 between United States President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev , during which they took significant steps towards nuclear disarmament . A few years later, Iceland became the first country to recognise the independence of Estonia , Latvia , and Lithuania as they broke away from the USSR. Throughout the 1990s, the country expanded its international role and developed

678-463: A trochee ( daa-duh ). The initial syllable of either foot is called the ictus , the basic "beat" of the verse. There is usually a caesura after the ictus of the third foot. The opening line of the Aeneid is a typical line of dactylic hexameter: In this example, the first and second feet are dactyls; their first syllables, "Ar" and "rum" respectively, contain short vowels, but count as long because

791-536: A volcanic plateau with sand and lava fields , mountains and glaciers , and many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands . Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate , despite a latitude just south of the Arctic Circle . Its latitude and marine influence keep summers chilly, and most of its islands have a polar climate . According to the ancient manuscript Landnámabók ,

904-444: A 32 percent increase in Iceland's gross national income between 2002 and 2007. In 2003–2007, following the privatisation of the banking sector under the government of Davíð Oddsson , Iceland moved towards having an economy based on international investment banking and financial services. It was quickly becoming one of the most prosperous countries in the world, but was hit hard by a major financial crisis . The crisis resulted in

1017-520: A certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study and the actual use of metres and forms of versification are both known as prosody . (Within linguistics , " prosody " is used in a more general sense that includes not only poetic metre but also the rhythmic aspects of prose , whether formal or informal, that vary from language to language, and sometimes between poetic traditions.) An assortment of features can be identified when classifying poetry and its metre. The metre of most poetry of

1130-634: A convicted child sex offender. Snap elections in October 2017 brought to power a new coalition consisting of the Independence Party, the Progressive Party, and the Left-Green Movement , headed by Katrín Jakobsdóttir . After the 2021 parliamentary election , the new government was, just like the previous government, a tri-party coalition of the Independence Party, the Progressive Party, and

1243-529: A dactyl, then two more trochees. In the Sapphic stanza , three hendecasyllabics are followed by an "Adonic" line, made up of a dactyl and a trochee. This is the form of Catullus 51 (itself an homage to Sappho 31 ): The Sapphic stanza was imitated in English by Algernon Charles Swinburne in a poem he simply called Sapphics : The metrical system of Classical Arabic poetry, like those of classical Greek and Latin,

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1356-636: A defence agreement was signed with the United States. American troops returned to Iceland as the Iceland Defence Force and remained throughout the Cold War . The US withdrew the last of its forces on 30 September 2006. Iceland prospered during the Second World War. The immediate post-war period was followed by substantial economic growth , driven by the industrialisation of the fishing industry and

1469-460: A famine that killed nearly a quarter of the island's population. In addition, the eruption caused dust clouds and haze to appear over most of Europe and parts of Asia and Africa for several months afterwards, and affected climates in other areas. Iceland has many geysers , including Geysir , from which the English word is derived, and the famous Strokkur , which erupts every 8–10 minutes. After

1582-589: A foreign policy orientated towards humanitarian and peacekeeping causes. To that end, Iceland provided aid and expertise to various NATO-led interventions in Bosnia , Kosovo , and Iraq . Iceland joined the European Economic Area in 1994, after which the economy was greatly diversified and liberalised. International economic relations increased further after 2001 when Iceland's newly deregulated banks began to raise great amounts of external debt , contributing to

1695-704: A fully sovereign and independent state in a personal union with Denmark. The Government of Iceland established an embassy in Copenhagen and requested that Denmark carry out on its behalf certain defence and foreign affairs matters, subject to consultation with the Althing. Danish embassies around the world displayed two coats of arms and two flags: those of the Kingdom of Denmark and those of the Kingdom of Iceland . Iceland's legal position became comparable to those of countries belonging to

1808-400: A line with six iambic feet. Sometimes a natural pause occurs in the middle of a line rather than at a line-break. This is a caesura (cut). A good example is from The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare ; the caesurae are indicated by '/': In Latin and Greek poetry, a caesura is a break within a foot caused by the end of a word. Each line of traditional Germanic alliterative verse

1921-466: A low- silica lava associated with effusive volcanism as has occurred also in Hawaii . Iceland, however, has a variety of volcanic types (composite and fissure), many producing more evolved lavas such as rhyolite and andesite . Iceland has hundreds of volcanoes with about 30 active volcanic systems. Surtsey , one of the youngest islands in the world, is part of Iceland. Named after Surtr , it rose above

2034-458: A man-to-man fight on an island (a hólmganga ). Berg-Önundr refused the challenge but was later killed along with his brother Hadd by Egil. Egil later killed the last of the brothers, Atli the Short, by biting through Atli's neck during a holmgangr. Later, after being grievously insulted, Egil killed Bárðr of Atley, a retainer of King Eiríkr Bloodaxe and kinsman of Queen Gunnhildr, both of whom spent

2147-411: A non-trivial case). The most famous writers of heroic couplets are Dryden and Pope . Another important metre in English is the common metre , also called the "ballad metre", which is a four-line stanza, with two pairs of a line of iambic tetrameter followed by a line of iambic trimeter ; the rhymes usually fall on the lines of trimeter, although in many instances the tetrameter also rhymes. This

2260-471: A number of lyric metres, which were typically used for shorter poems than elegiacs or hexameter. In Aeolic verse , one important line was called the hendecasyllabic , a line of eleven syllables. This metre was used most often in the Sapphic stanza , named after the Greek poet Sappho , who wrote many of her poems in the form. A hendecasyllabic is a line with a never-varying structure: two trochees, followed by

2373-448: A peace for half a month and traded with the men of the land (ch. 46). That same summer, Haraldr Fairhair died. In order to secure his place as sole King of Norway, Eiríkr Bloodaxe murdered his two brothers. He then declared Egil an outlaw in Norway. Berg-Önundr gathered a company of men to capture Egil, but was killed in the attempt. Before escaping from Norway, Egil also killed Rögnvaldr,

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2486-406: A phase of inactivity, Geysir started erupting again after a series of earthquakes in 2000 . Geysir has since grown quieter and does not erupt often. With the widespread availability of geothermal power and the harnessing of many rivers and waterfalls for hydroelectricity , most residents have access to inexpensive hot water, heating, and electricity. The island is composed primarily of basalt ,

2599-399: A poem's metre is to use a concatenation of various derivations of the verbal root F-ʿ-L (فعل). Thus, the following hemistich قفا نبك من ذكرى حبيبٍ ومنزلِ Would be traditionally scanned as: فعولن مفاعيلن فعولن مفاعلن That is, Romanized and with traditional Western scansion: Al-Kʰalīl b. ˀAḫmad al-Farāhīdī's contribution to the study of Arabic prosody is undeniably significant: he was

2712-620: A popular holiday destination. In 2016, Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson resigned after being implicated in the Panama Papers scandal. Early elections in 2016 resulted in a right-wing coalition government of the Independence Party , the Reform Party and Bright Future . This government fell when Bright Future quit the coalition due to a scandal involving then-Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson 's father's letter of support for

2825-429: A republic in 1944, ending the remaining formal ties to Denmark. Although the Althing was suspended from 1799 to 1845, Iceland nevertheless has a claim to sustaining one of the world's longest-running parliaments. Until the 20th century, Iceland relied largely on subsistence fishing and agriculture. Industrialization of the fisheries and Marshall Plan aid after World War II brought prosperity, and Iceland became one of

2938-479: A society where subsistence depended almost entirely on agriculture. The Black Death swept Iceland twice, first in 1402–1404 and again in 1494–1495. The former outbreak killed 50% to 60% of the population, and the latter 30% to 50%. Around the middle of the 16th century, as part of the Protestant Reformation , King Christian III of Denmark began to impose Lutheranism on all his subjects. Jón Arason ,

3051-406: A syllable to end in more than one consonant or a consonant to occur in the same syllable after a long vowel. In other words, syllables of the type -āk- or -akr- are not found in classical Arabic. Each verse consists of a certain number of metrical feet ( tafāʿīl or ʾaǧzāʾ ) and a certain combination of possible feet constitutes a metre ( baḥr ). The traditional Arabic practice for writing out

3164-406: A warrior of immense might in literary sources, Egil is also celebrated for his poetry, considered by many historians to be the finest of the ancient Scandinavian poets and Sonatorrek , the dirge over his own sons, has been called "the birth of Nordic personal lyric poetry". His poems were also the first Old Norse verses to use end rhyme . The following works are attributed to Egil: The following

3277-414: Is tetrameter ; five is pentameter ; six is hexameter , seven is heptameter and eight is octameter . For example, if the feet are iambs, and if there are five feet to a line, then it is called an iambic pentameter . If the feet are primarily dactyls and there are six to a line, then it is a dactylic hexameter . In classical Greek and Latin, however, the name " iambic trimeter " refers to

3390-553: Is a sitka spruce planted in 1949 in Kirkjubæjarklaustur ; it was measured at 25.2 m (83 ft) in 2013. Algae such as Chondrus crispus , Phyllphora truncata and Phyllophora crispa and others have been recorded from Iceland. The only native land mammal when humans arrived was the Arctic fox , which came to the island at the end of the ice age, walking over the frozen sea. On rare occasions, bats have been carried to

3503-496: Is also where most settlements are situated. The island's interior, the Highlands of Iceland , is a cold and uninhabitable combination of sand, mountains, and lava fields . The major towns are the capital city of Reykjavík , along with its outlying towns of Kópavogur , Hafnarfjörður , and Garðabær , nearby Reykjanesbær where the international airport is located, and the town of Akureyri in northern Iceland. The island of Grímsey on

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3616-495: Is based on the weight of syllables classified as either "long" or "short". The basic principles of Arabic poetic metre Arūḍ or Arud ( Arabic : العروض al-ʿarūḍ ) Science of Poetry ( Arabic : علم الشعر ʿilm aš-šiʿr ), were put forward by Al-Farahidi (718 - 786 CE) who did so after noticing that poems consisted of repeated syllables in each verse. In his first book, Al-Ard ( Arabic : العرض al-ʿarḍ ), he described 15 types of verse. Al-Akhfash described one extra,

3729-451: Is classified according to the same system as Classical metre with an important difference. English is an accentual language, and therefore beats and offbeats (stressed and unstressed syllables) take the place of the long and short syllables of classical systems. In most English verse, the metre can be considered as a sort of back beat, against which natural speech rhythms vary expressively. The most common characteristic feet of English verse are

3842-456: Is closer to continental Europe than to mainland North America, although it is closest to Greenland (290 kilometres; 155 nautical miles), an island of North America. Iceland is generally included in Europe for geographical, historical, political, cultural, linguistic and practical reasons. Geologically, the island includes parts of both continental plates. The closest bodies of land in Europe are

3955-682: Is described as follows Egil was large-featured, broad of forehead, with large eyebrows, a nose not long but very thick, lips wide and long, chin exceeding broad, as was all about the jaws; thick-necked was he, and big-shouldered beyond other men, hard-featured, and grim when angry. He was well-made, more than commonly short, had hair wolf-gray and thick, but became early bald. He was black-eyed and brown-skinned. According to Egils saga , Egil has five children with Ásgerðr Björnsdóttir: Þorgerðr Egilsdóttir , Bera Egilsdóttir, Böðvar Egilsson, Gunnar Egilsson and Þorsteinn Egilsson. In later years, Iceland's Mýrar clan claimed descent from him. Apart from being

4068-469: Is divided into two half-lines by a caesura. This can be seen in Piers Plowman : By contrast with caesura, enjambment is incomplete syntax at the end of a line; the meaning runs over from one poetic line to the next, without terminal punctuation. Also from Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale : Poems with a well-defined overall metric pattern often have a few lines that violate that pattern. A common variation

4181-435: Is equivalent to two morae. A long syllable contains either a long vowel, a diphthong , or a short vowel followed by two or more consonants. Various rules of elision sometimes prevent a grammatical syllable from making a full syllable, and certain other lengthening and shortening rules (such as correption ) can create long or short syllables in contexts where one would expect the opposite. The most important Classical metre

4294-414: Is low compared with other countries (over one million species have been described worldwide). Iceland is essentially free of mosquitoes . Metre (poetry) In poetry , metre ( Commonwealth spelling ) or meter ( American spelling ; see spelling differences ) is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse . Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or

4407-407: Is often compared to a musical measure and the long and short syllables to whole notes and half notes. In English poetry, feet are determined by emphasis rather than length, with stressed and unstressed syllables serving the same function as long and short syllables in classical metre. The basic unit in Greek and Latin prosody is a mora , which is defined as a single short syllable. A long syllable

4520-545: Is often considered alien to English). The use of foreign metres in English is all but exceptional. The most frequently encountered metre of English verse is the iambic pentameter , in which the metrical norm is five iambic feet per line, though metrical substitution is common and rhythmic variations are practically inexhaustible. John Milton 's Paradise Lost , most sonnets , and much else besides in English are written in iambic pentameter. Lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter are commonly known as blank verse . Blank verse in

4633-548: Is one of Egil's Lausavísur (no. 3), found in chapter 40 of Egils Saga : Egil was also a scholar of runes . His apparent mastery of their magic powers assisted him several times during his journeys. During a feast at Atla-isle, Bard's attempt to poison Egil failed when runes carved by Egil shattered his poisoned cup. At a companion's request, he examined a sick woman. A local land owner, after being denied her hand in marriage, had attempted to carve love-runes. Instead, he had mistakenly carved runes causing illness. Egil burned

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4746-399: Is the dactylic hexameter , the metre of Homer and Virgil. This form uses verses of six feet. The word dactyl comes from the Greek word daktylos meaning finger , since there is one long part followed by two short stretches. The first four feet are dactyls ( daa-duh-duh ), but can be spondees ( daa-daa ). The fifth foot is almost always a dactyl. The sixth foot is either a spondee or

4859-420: Is the dactylic pentameter . This was a line of verse, made up of two equal parts, each of which contains two dactyls followed by a long syllable, which counts as a half foot. In this way, the number of feet amounts to five in total. Spondees can take the place of the dactyls in the first half, but never in the second. The long syllable at the close of the first half of the verse always ends a word, giving rise to

4972-449: Is the inversion of a foot, which turns an iamb ("da-DUM") into a trochee ("DUM-da"). A second variation is a headless verse, which lacks the first syllable of the first foot. A third variation is catalexis , where the end of a line is shortened by a foot, or two or part thereof – an example of this is at the end of each verse in Keats' "La Belle Dame sans Merci": Most English metre

5085-625: Is the metre of most of the Border and Scots or English ballads. In hymnody it is called the "common metre", as it is the most common of the named hymn metres used to pair many hymn lyrics with melodies, such as Amazing Grace : Emily Dickinson is famous for her frequent use of ballad metre: Versification in Classical Sanskrit poetry is of three kinds. Standard traditional works on metre are Pingala's Chandaḥśāstra and Kedāra's Vṛttaratnākara . The most exhaustive compilations, such as

5198-462: Is the region's westernmost and most sparsely populated country . Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík , which is home to about 36% of the country's roughly 380,000 residents (excluding nearby towns/suburbs which are separate municipalities). The official language of the country is Icelandic . Iceland is on a rift between tectonic plates , and its geologic activity includes geysers and frequent volcanic eruptions . The interior consists of

5311-524: Is the surface expression of the Iceland Plateau , a large igneous province forming as a result of volcanism from the Iceland hotspot and along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge , the latter of which runs right through it. This means that the island is highly geologically active with many volcanoes including Hekla , Eldgjá , Herðubreið , and Eldfell . The volcanic eruption of Laki in 1783–1784 caused

5424-521: The Althing , one of the world's oldest functioning legislative assemblies. After a period of civil strife , Iceland acceded to Norwegian rule in the 13th century. In 1397, Iceland followed Norway's integration into the Kalmar Union along with the kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden, coming under de facto Danish rule upon its dissolution in 1523. The Danish kingdom introduced Lutheranism by force in 1550, and

5537-596: The Battle of Brunanburh in the service of King Æthelstan; his brother Þórólfr died there, for which Egil received two chests of silver from Æthelstan in compensation. Ultimately, Egil returned to his family farm in Iceland , where he remained a force to be reckoned with in local politics. He lived into his eighties, grew blind, and died shortly before the Christianisation of Iceland . Before Egil died he buried his silver near Mosfellsbær . In his last act of violence he killed

5650-456: The Boreal Kingdom . Plantlife consists mainly of grassland, which is regularly grazed by livestock. The most common tree native to Iceland is the northern birch ( Betula pubescens ), which formerly formed forests over much of Iceland, along with aspens ( Populus tremula ), rowans ( Sorbus aucuparia ), common junipers ( Juniperus communis ), and other smaller trees, mainly willows. When

5763-583: The Faroe Islands (420 km; 225 nmi); Jan Mayen Island (570 km; 310 nmi); Shetland and the Outer Hebrides , both about 740 km (400 nmi); and the Scottish mainland and Orkney , both about 750 km (405 nmi). The nearest part of Continental Europe is mainland Norway, about 970 km (525 nmi) away, while mainland North America is 2,070 km (1,120 nmi) away, at

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5876-582: The Little Ice Age , and overgrazing by sheep imported by settlers caused a loss of critical topsoil due to erosion . Today, many farms have been abandoned. Three-quarters of Iceland's 100,000 square kilometres (39,000 sq mi) is affected by soil erosion; 18,000 km (6,900 sq mi) is affected to a degree serious enough to make the land useless. Only a few small birch stands now exist in isolated reserves. The Icelandic Forest Service and other forestry groups promote large-scale reforestation in

5989-524: The Mid-Atlantic Ridge , a ridge along which the oceanic crust spreads and forms new crust. This part of the mid-ocean ridge is located above a mantle plume, causing Iceland to be subaerial (above the surface of the sea). The ridge marks the boundary between the Eurasian and North American Plates , and Iceland was created by rifting and accretion through volcanism along the ridge. Many fjords punctuate Iceland's 4,970-km-long (3,088-mi) coastline, which

6102-686: The Treaty of Kiel formally ceded Iceland to Denmark in 1814. Influenced by ideals of nationalism after the French Revolution , Iceland's struggle for independence took form and culminated in the Danish–Icelandic Act of Union in 1918, with the establishment of the Kingdom of Iceland , sharing through a personal union the incumbent monarch of Denmark . During the occupation of Denmark in World War II, Iceland voted overwhelmingly to become

6215-456: The Vestmannaeyjar archipelago. Lakes and glaciers cover 14.3% of its surface; only 23% is vegetated. The largest lakes are Þórisvatn reservoir: 83–88 km (32–34 sq mi) and Þingvallavatn : 82 km (32 sq mi); other important lakes include Lagarfljót and Mývatn . Jökulsárlón is the deepest lake, at 248 m (814 ft). Geologically, Iceland is part of

6328-408: The hendecasyllable favoured by Catullus and Martial, which can be described as: x x — ∪ ∪ — ∪ — ∪ — — (where "—" = long, "∪" = short, and "x x" can be realized as "— ∪" or "— —" or "∪ —") Macron and breve notation: – = stressed/long syllable , ◡ = unstressed/short syllable If the line has only one foot, it is called a monometer ; two feet, dimeter ; three is trimeter ; four

6441-704: The iamb in two syllables and the anapest in three. (See Metrical foot for a complete list of the metrical feet and their names.) The number of metrical systems in English is not agreed upon. The four major types are: accentual verse , accentual-syllabic verse , syllabic verse and quantitative verse . The alliterative verse found in Old English, Middle English, and some modern English poems can be added to this list, as it operates on somewhat different principles than accentual verse. Alliterative verse pairs two phrases (half-lines) joined by alliteration; while there are usually two stresses per half-line, variations in

6554-521: The settlement of Iceland began in 874 AD, when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the island's first permanent settler. In the following centuries, Norwegians , and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians , immigrated to Iceland, bringing with them thralls (i.e., slaves or serfs) of Gaelic origin. The island was governed as an independent commonwealth under the native parliament,

6667-542: The 16th. A short syllable contains a short vowel with no following consonants. For example, the word kataba, which syllabifies as ka-ta-ba , contains three short vowels and is made up of three short syllables. A long syllable contains either a long vowel or a short vowel followed by a consonant as is the case in the word maktūbun which syllabifies as mak-tū-bun . These are the only syllable types possible in Classical Arabic phonology which, by and large, does not allow

6780-609: The 1850s under the leadership of Jón Sigurðsson , based on the burgeoning Icelandic nationalism inspired by the Fjölnismenn and other Danish-educated Icelandic intellectuals. In 1874, Denmark granted Iceland a constitution and limited home rule. This was expanded in 1904, and Hannes Hafstein served as the first Minister for Iceland in the Danish cabinet. The Danish–Icelandic Act of Union , an agreement with Denmark signed on 1 December 1918 and valid for 25 years, recognised Iceland as

6893-607: The Arctic Circle contains the northernmost habitation of Iceland, whereas Kolbeinsey contains the northernmost point of Iceland. Iceland has three national parks : Vatnajökull National Park , Snæfellsjökull National Park , and Þingvellir National Park . The country is considered a "strong performer" in environmental protection, having been ranked 13th in Yale University 's Environmental Performance Index of 2012. A geologically young land at 16 to 18 million years old, Iceland

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7006-625: The Commonwealth of Nations, such as Canada, whose sovereign is King Charles III . During World War II, Iceland joined Denmark in asserting neutrality. After the German occupation of Denmark on 9 April 1940, the Althing replaced the King with a regent and declared that the Icelandic government would take control of its own defence and foreign affairs. A month later, British armed forces conducted Operation Fork ,

7119-442: The English language is most famously represented in the plays of William Shakespeare and the great works of Milton, though Tennyson ( Ulysses , The Princess ) and Wordsworth ( The Prelude ) also make notable use of it. A rhymed pair of lines of iambic pentameter make a heroic couplet , a verse form which was used so often in the 18th century that it is now used mostly for humorous effect (although see Pale Fire for

7232-677: The Left-Green Movement, headed by Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir. In April 2024, Bjarni Benediktsson of the Independence party succeeded Katrín Jakobsdóttir as prime minister. Iceland is at the juncture of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. The main island is entirely south of the Arctic Circle , which passes through the small Icelandic island of Grímsey off the main island's northern coast. The country lies between latitudes 63 and 68°N , and longitudes 25 and 13°W . Iceland

7345-680: The US Marshall Plan programme, through which Icelanders received the most aid per capita of any European country (at US$ 209, with the war-ravaged Netherlands a distant second at US$ 109). Vigdís Finnbogadóttir assumed Iceland's presidency on 1 August 1980, making her the first elected female head of state in the world. The 1970s were marked by the Cod Wars —several disputes with the United Kingdom over Iceland's extension of its fishing limits to 200 nmi (370 km) offshore. Iceland hosted

7458-535: The Western world and elsewhere is based on patterns of syllables of particular types. The familiar type of metre in English-language poetry is called qualitative metre , with stressed syllables coming at regular intervals (e.g. in iambic pentameters , usually every even-numbered syllable). Many Romance languages use a scheme that is somewhat similar but where the position of only one particular stressed syllable (e.g.

7571-471: The accomplished scholar cannot utilize and apply it with ease and total confidence. Dr. ˀIbrāhīm ˀAnīs, one of the most distinguished and celebrated pillars of Arabic literature and the Arabic language in the 20th century, states the issue clearly in his book Mūsīqā al-Sʰiˁr: “I am aware of no [other] branch of Arabic studies which embodies as many [technical] terms as does [al-Kʰalīl’s] prosody, few and distinct as

7684-566: The country's climate continued to grow colder, resulting in mass emigration to the New World , particularly to the region of Gimli , Manitoba in Canada, which was sometimes referred to as New Iceland . About 15,000 people emigrated, out of a total population of 70,000. A national consciousness arose in the first half of the 19th century, inspired by romantic and nationalist ideas from mainland Europe. An Icelandic independence movement took shape in

7797-416: The country's total exports. Birds, especially seabirds, are an important part of Iceland's animal life. Atlantic puffins , skuas , and black-legged kittiwakes nest on its sea cliffs. Commercial whaling is practised intermittently along with scientific whale hunts. Whale watching has become an important part of Iceland's economy since 1997. Around 1,300 species of insects are known in Iceland. This

7910-417: The country. Due to the reforestation efforts, the forest cover of Iceland increased six-fold since the 1990s. This helps to offset carbon emissions, prevent sand storms and increase the productivity of farms. The planting of new forests has increased the number of trees, but the result does not compare to the original forests. Some of the planted forests include introduced species . The tallest tree in Iceland

8023-525: The description of his large and unattractive head, has led to the theory that he might have suffered from Paget's disease , which causes a thickening of the bones and may lead eventually to blindness. At the age of seven, Egil was cheated in a game with local boys. Enraged, he went home, procured an axe, and, returning to the boys, split the skull to the teeth of the boy who had cheated him. After Berg-Önundr refused to allow Egil to claim his wife Ásgerðr's share of her father's inheritance, he challenged Önundr to

8136-513: The eruption, known as the Mist Hardships ( Icelandic : Móðuharðindin ), over half of all livestock in the country died. Around a quarter of the population starved to death in the ensuing famine . In 1814, following the Napoleonic Wars , Denmark-Norway was broken up into two separate kingdoms via the Treaty of Kiel , but Iceland remained a Danish dependency. Throughout the 19th century,

8249-570: The events known locally as the Turkish Abductions , in which hundreds of residents were taken into slavery in North Africa and dozens killed; this was the only invasion in Icelandic history to have casualties. The 1707–08 Iceland smallpox epidemic is estimated to have killed a quarter to a third of the population. In 1783 the Laki volcano erupted, with devastating effects. In the years following

8362-415: The first permanent residents of Iceland to be documented. The Norwegian-Norse chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson built his homestead in present-day Reykjavík in 874. Ingólfr was followed by many other emigrant settlers, largely Scandinavians and their thralls , many of whom were Irish or Scottish . By 930, most arable land on the island had been claimed; the Althing , a legislative and judicial assembly

8475-439: The first scholar to subject Arabic poetry to a meticulous, painstaking metrical analysis. Unfortunately, he fell short of producing a coherent theory; instead, he was content to merely gather, classify, and categorize the primary data—a first step which, though insufficient, represents no mean accomplishment. Therefore, al-Kʰalīl has left a formulation of utmost complexity and difficulty which requires immense effort to master; even

8588-462: The great drápa . This twenty-stanza long head-ransom poem appears in Chapter 63 of Egils saga . Eiríkr was so surprised by the quality of the poem that he decided to give Egil his life, even though Egil has killed Eiríkr's own son. The complex nature of these poems, with complex poetic metres and metaphors (including kennings ), as well as the fact that they were often about kings reliably attested in

8701-463: The greatest migration from Iceland since 1887, with a net emigration of 5,000 people in 2009. Iceland's economy stabilised under the government of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir and grew by 1.6% in 2012. The centre-right Independence Party was returned to power in coalition with the Progressive Party in the 2013 election. In the following years, Iceland saw a surge in tourism as the country became

8814-421: The historical record, provides some basis for supposing that they might have been composed by a historically real Egil Skallagrímsson, descending more or less unchanged through oral tradition from the time of their composition to the writing of Egils saga . Egils saga and some other Icelandic sagas appear to hang on a skeletal framework of such complex poetry, a spine of historical truth. Egil also fought at

8927-476: The invasion and occupation of the country, violating Icelandic neutrality . In 1941, the Government of Iceland, friendly to Britain, invited the then-neutral United States to take over its defence so that Britain could use its troops elsewhere. On 31 December 1943, the Danish–Icelandic Act of Union expired after 25 years. Beginning on 20 May 1944, Icelanders voted in a four-day plebiscite on whether to terminate

9040-523: The island was first settled, it was extensively forested, with around 30% of the land covered in trees. In the late 12th century, Ari the Wise described it in the Íslendingabók as "forested from mountain to sea shore". Permanent human settlement greatly disturbed the isolated ecosystem of thin, volcanic soils and limited species diversity . The forests were heavily exploited over the centuries for firewood and timber. Deforestation , climatic deterioration during

9153-440: The island was then called Garðarshólmur, which means "Garðar's Isle". Then came a Viking named Flóki Vilgerðarson ; his daughter drowned en route, then his livestock starved to death. The sagas say that the rather despondent Flóki climbed a mountain and saw a fjord ( Arnarfjörður ) full of icebergs, which led him to give the island its new and present name. The notion that Iceland's Viking settlers chose that name to discourage

9266-604: The island with the winds, but they are not able to breed there. No native or free-living reptiles or amphibians are on the island. The animals of Iceland include the Icelandic sheep , cattle , chickens , goats , the sturdy Icelandic horse , and the Icelandic Sheepdog , all descendants of animals imported by Europeans. Wild mammals include the Arctic fox, mink , mice, rats, rabbits, and reindeer . Polar bears occasionally visit

9379-415: The island, travelling from Greenland on icebergs, but no Icelandic populations exist. In June 2008, two polar bears arrived in the same month. Marine mammals include the grey seal ( Halichoerus grypus ) and harbour seal ( Phoca vitulina ). Many species of fish live in the ocean waters surrounding Iceland, and the fishing industry is a major part of Iceland's economy, accounting for roughly half of

9492-437: The last Catholic bishop of Hólar , was beheaded in 1550 along with two of his sons. The country subsequently became officially Lutheran, and Lutheranism has since remained the dominant religion. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Denmark imposed harsh trade restrictions on Iceland. Natural disasters, including volcanic eruptions and disease, contributed to a decreasing population. In the summer of 1627, Barbary Pirates committed

9605-455: The last) needs to be fixed. The alliterative metre of the old Germanic poetry of languages such as Old Norse and Old English was radically different, but was still based on stress patterns. Some classical languages, in contrast, used a different scheme known as quantitative metre , where patterns were based on syllable weight rather than stress. In the dactylic hexameters of Classical Latin and Classical Greek , for example, each of

9718-435: The meters are: al-Kʰalīl’s disciples employed a large number of infrequent items, assigning to those items certain technical denotations which—invariably—require definition and explanation. …. As to the rules of metric variation, they are numerous to the extent that they defy memory and impose a taxing course of study. …. In learning them, a student faces severe hardship which obscures all connection with an artistic genre—indeed,

9831-465: The metre of a verse can be described as a sequence of feet , each foot being a specific sequence of syllable types – such as relatively unstressed/stressed (the norm for English poetry) or long/short (as in most classical Latin and Greek poetry). Iambic pentameter , a common metre in English poetry, is based on a sequence of five iambic feet or iambs , each consisting of a relatively unstressed syllable (here represented with "˘" above

9944-521: The modern ones by Patwardhan and Velankar contain over 600 metres. This is a substantially larger repertoire than in any other metrical tradition. The metrical "feet" in the classical languages were based on the length of time taken to pronounce each syllable, which were categorized according to their weight as either "long" syllables or "short" syllables (indicated as dum and di below). These are also called "heavy" and "light" syllables, respectively, to distinguish from long and short vowels. The foot

10057-450: The most artistic of all—namely, poetry. ………. It is in this fashion that [various] authors dealt with the subject under discussion over a period of eleven centuries: none of them attempted to introduce a new approach or to simplify the rules. ………. Is it not time for a new, simple presentation which avoids contrivance, displays close affinity to [the art of] poetry, and perhaps renders the science of prosody palatable as well as manageable?” In

10170-472: The northeastern hinterland. The temperature records for Reykjavík are 26.2 °C (79.2 °F) on 30 July 2008, and −24.5 °C (−12.1 °F) on 21 January 1918. The entire country is in a single ecoregion , the Iceland boreal birch forests and alpine tundra . Some areas are covered by glaciers . Phytogeographically , Iceland belongs to the Arctic province of the Circumboreal Region within

10283-410: The northern tip of Labrador . Iceland is the world's 18th-largest island , and Europe's second-largest island after Great Britain and before Ireland. The main island covers 101,826 km (39,315 sq mi), but the entire country is 103,000 km (40,000 sq mi) in size, of which 62.7% is tundra . Iceland contains about 30 minor islands, including the lightly populated Grímsey and

10396-419: The number of stresses do occur. Accentual verse focuses on the number of stresses in a line, while ignoring the number of offbeats and syllables; accentual-syllabic verse focuses on regulating both the number of stresses and the total number of syllables in a line; syllabic verse only counts the number of syllables in a line; quantitative verse regulates the patterns of long and short syllables (this sort of verse

10509-547: The number of syllables only. The most common form in French is the Alexandrin , with twelve syllables a verse, and in classical Chinese five characters, and thus five syllables. But since each Chinese character is pronounced using one syllable in a certain tone , classical Chinese poetry also had more strictly defined rules, such as thematic parallelism or tonal antithesis between lines. In many Western classical poetic traditions,

10622-401: The ocean in a series of volcanic eruptions between 8 November 1963 and 5 June 1968. Only scientists researching the growth of new life are allowed to visit the island. The country has around 30 active volcanic systems. Within each are volcano-tectonic fissure systems and many, but not all of them, also have at least one central volcano (mostly in the form of a stratovolcano , sometimes of

10735-404: The offending runes and carved runes for health, and the woman recovered. He then sang a poem declaring that "Runes none should grave ever/Who knows not to read them." As for the sick young woman, in addition to burning the runes, Egil ordered her to be lifted out of bed and her old bedding to be thrown away and replaced with new sheets. Recovery was swift. Runes were also employed by Egil during

10848-507: The personal union with Denmark, abolish the monarchy, and establish a republic. The vote was 97% to end the union, and 95% in favour of the new republican constitution. Iceland formally became a republic on 17 June 1944, with Sveinn Björnsson as its first president. In 1946, the US Defence Force Allied left Iceland. The nation formally became a member of NATO on 30 March 1949, amid domestic controversy and riots . On 5 May 1951,

10961-558: The raising of the Nithing Pole against King Eirik Bloodaxe and Queen Gunnhildr. In English : In [REDACTED] Icelandic : Iceland Iceland ( Icelandic : Ísland , pronounced [ˈistlant] ) is a Nordic island country between the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans , on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe . It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and

11074-573: The remainder of their lives trying to take vengeance. Gunnhildr ordered her two brothers, Eyvindr Braggart and Álfr Aksmann, to assassinate Egil and his brother Þórólfr, who had been on good terms with her previously. However, Egil killed the Queen's brothers when they attempted to confront him. In spring Þórólfr and Egil prepared a large warship and raid along the Eastern route ( Austrvegr ), where they won much wealth and had many battles. In Courland they made

11187-448: The servants who helped him bury his treasure. When a Christian chapel was constructed at the family homestead, Egil's body was exhumed by his son and re-buried near the altar . According to the saga, the exhumed skull bone was hit with an axe, and it turned white, showing the strength of the warrior, but also, according to one modern interpretation, suggesting the traits of Paget's disease . In chapter 55 of Egil's Saga, his appearance

11300-621: The settlement of their verdant isle is most likely a myth. According to both Landnámabók and Íslendingabók , monks known as the Papar lived in Iceland before Scandinavian settlers arrived, possibly members of a Hiberno-Scottish mission . An archaeological excavation has revealed the ruins of a cabin in Hafnir on the Reykjanes peninsula . Carbon dating indicates that it was abandoned sometime between 770 and 880. In 2016, archaeologists uncovered

11413-597: The signing of the Old Covenant in 1262, which ended the Commonwealth and brought Iceland under the Norwegian crown. Possession of Iceland passed from the Kingdom of Norway (872–1397) to the Kalmar Union in 1415, when the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden were united. After the break-up of the union in 1523, it remained a Norwegian dependency, as a part of Denmark–Norway . Infertile soil, volcanic eruptions, deforestation, and an unforgiving climate made for harsh life in

11526-664: The six feet making up the line was either a dactyl (long-short-short) or a spondee (long-long): a "long syllable" was literally one that took longer to pronounce than a short syllable: specifically, a syllable consisting of a long vowel or diphthong or followed by two consonants. The stress pattern of the words made no difference to the metre. A number of other ancient languages also used quantitative metre, such as Sanskrit , Persian , Old Church Slavonic and Classical Arabic (but not Biblical Hebrew ). Finally, non-stressed languages that have little or no differentiation of syllable length, such as French or Chinese, base their verses on

11639-470: The smallest population of any NATO member and is the only one with no standing army , possessing only a lightly armed coast guard . The Sagas of Icelanders say that a Norwegian named Naddodd (or Naddador) was the first Norseman to reach Iceland; in the ninth century, he named it Snæland or "Snowland" because it was snowing. Following Naddodd, the Swede Garðar Svavarsson arrived, and so

11752-471: The son of King Eiríkr and Queen Gunnhildr. He then cursed the King and Queen, setting a horse's head on a Nithing pole and saying Gunnhildr also put a spell on Egil, cursing him to feel restless and depressed until they met again. Soon afterwards, Eiríkr and Gunnhildr were forced to flee to the Kingdom of Northumbria by Prince Hákon . In Saxon England , they became King and Queen of Northumbria in rivalry with King Athelstan of England . In time, Egil

11865-463: The south coast is warmer, wetter, and windier than the north. The Central Highlands are the coldest part of the country. Low-lying inland areas in the north are the aridest. Snowfall in winter is more common in the north than in the south. The highest air temperature recorded was 30.5 °C (86.9 °F) on 22 June 1939 at Teigarhorn on the southeastern coast. The lowest was −38 °C (−36.4 °F) on 22 January 1918 at Grímsstaðir and Möðrudalur in

11978-562: The syllable) followed by a relatively stressed one (here represented with "/" above the syllable) – "da-DUM"="˘ /": This approach to analyzing and classifying metres originates from Ancient Greek tragedians and poets such as Homer , Pindar , Hesiod , and Sappho . However some metres have an overall rhythmic pattern to the line that cannot easily be described using feet. This occurs in Sanskrit poetry; see Vedic metre and Sanskrit metre . It also occurs in some Western metres, such as

12091-445: The vowels are both followed by two consonants. The third and fourth feet are spondees, the first of which is divided by the main caesura of the verse. The fifth foot is a dactyl, as is nearly always the case. The final foot is a spondee. The dactylic hexameter was imitated in English by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his poem Evangeline : Notice how the first line: Follows this pattern: Also important in Greek and Latin poetry

12204-534: The world with similar climates include the Aleutian Islands , the Alaska Peninsula , and Tierra del Fuego , although these regions are closer to the equator. Despite its proximity to the Arctic, the island's coasts remain ice-free through the winter. Ice incursions are rare, with the last having occurred on the north coast in 1969. The climate varies between different parts of the island. Generally speaking,

12317-680: The world's wealthiest and most developed nations. In 1994 it became a part of the European Economic Area , further diversifying its economy into sectors such as finance, biotechnology, and manufacturing . Iceland has a market economy with relatively low taxes , compared to other OECD countries, as well as the highest trade union membership in the world . It maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides universal health care and tertiary education . Iceland ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as quality of life, education, protection of civil liberties, government transparency, and economic freedom. It has

12430-507: Was adopted by consensus around 999–1000, although Norse paganism persisted among segments of the population for some years afterward. The Icelandic Commonwealth lasted until the 13th century when the political system devised by the original settlers proved unable to cope with the increasing power of Icelandic chieftains. The internal struggles and civil strife of the Age of the Sturlungs led to

12543-539: Was initiated to regulate the Icelandic Commonwealth . The lack of arable land also served as an impetus to the settlement of Greenland starting in 986. The period of these early settlements coincided with the Medieval Warm Period , when temperatures were similar to those of the early 20th century. At this time about 25% of Iceland was covered with forest, compared to 1% in the present day. Christianity

12656-441: Was not impressed. He explained that Egil's wrongs to him were far too great to be forgiven so easily. Gunnhildr called for the immediate execution of Egil, but Arinbjörn convinced the king not to kill him until the morning. Arinbjörn told Egil that he should stay up all night and compose a mighty head-ransom poem or drápa fit for such a king, a poem in praise of his enemy. In the morning Egil went back before king Eiríkr and recited

12769-477: Was shipwrecked in Northumbria and learned who ruled the land. Egil sought out the house of his good friend Arinbjörn, where they armed themselves and marched to Eiríkr's court. Arinbjörn told Egil "now you must go and offer the king your head and embrace his foot. I will present your case to him." Arinbjörn presented Egil's case and Egil composes a short drápa , reciting it with Eiríkr's foot in his hand, but Eiríkr

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