Götars skymning : En komparativ analys av Götiska förbundets skildring av vikingen inom poesi och sång i jämförelse med nutida skildringar inom nordisk musik

Sammanfattning

This master's thesis explores the historiographical change in the perception of the Vikings from the early 19th century to that of the 21st century within a primarily Swedish context. By comparing and analyzing written sources in the shape of lyrical texts such as songs and poems from both eras, a new understanding regarding the similarities and differences between them is obtained. Through the development of academic disciplines tied to our understanding of the past such as history and archeology, our view of the past and its inhabitants has changed. The results of this study show that the image of the Viking is in some ways unchanged in the examined material from both eras, but some differences can be pointed out. The Viking is usually a ferocious, male adventurer who prefers the open sea and bloody combat to the comforts of a sedentary life in most of the source material. However, a paradigm shift can be seen in the way that the Viking has gone from a highly nationalistic symbol, as it was in the 19th century, to a less defined but still recurring symbol today. In some cases, as with the band Ultima Thule, the Viking remains an obvious symbol of nationalism, but in other cases the Viking and the time which we’ve come to associate with this figure is wholly non-nationalistic and mostly free of that kind of political bias, giving way to new interpretations where female Vikings and a wider interest in the non-violent parts of the Viking image can be allowed to take place.