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Flytings and the War of Words

The Poems of William Dunbar, With Introd... (by William Dunbar)
Beowulf, Tr. Into Modern Rhymes by H. W.... (by Beowulf)
The Poetic Edda (by Bellows, Henry Adams)
William Shakespeares King Henry Iv, Part... (by Shakespeare, William)
The Comedy of Errors (by Shakespeare, William)
The Taming of the Shrew (by Shakespeare, William)

Conflict breeds creativity, some say. It is the art of dispute, a sparring of words, a logical brawl. The old practiced medieval bards of the flytings knew this adage well, and tested themselves and others constantly.

Flytings, conflicts of insults delivered in poetic verse by two parties, date back to the 5th century. These verbal duels are a mix of boasts and verbal cuts done both in public and in literature. It’s the Old English version of modern battle rapping, in which people rap insults and braggadocio over hip hop beats, or roasting as done by comedians when a group of people gather to cleverly insult one another for laughs.

In Anglo-Saxon England, flyting contests would take place in the dining hall where the rest of the dinner party determined the winner and awarded him another flagon of mead. The simultaneous drinking and the congeniality of feasting no doubt led to bolder insults.

In 15th century Scotland, flytings were a public entertainment, and allowed for open insults, profanities, and accusations that would have otherwise been punished if not delivered with wit and poetic charge. One such flyting was recorded as the battle between William Dunbar and Walter Kennedie, where they insult each other’s ability of flyte before the Court of James IV, intensifying in rhyme scheme and alliteration. Following is the first stanza from The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie:

Said Dunbar regarding Kennedy:
The earth shall tremble, the firmament shall shake,
And all the air with venom quickly stink,
And all the devils of hell in fear shall quake
To hear what I shall write with pen and ink;
For when I flyte, some man for shame will sink;
The seas will burn; the moon will be eclipsed;
Rocks will split; the world will lose its grip;
The bells will clang in bitter loud lament.

The second stanza contains language not suitable for a polite audience.

One of the best and oldest known flytings in literature comes from the Old English epic poem Beowulf. During a banquet, Unferth accuses Beowulf of engaging in a foolhardy, seven-day swimming contest and losing. Another example came down to us through The Poetic Edda, the collection of Norse mythology and Germanic heroes. The flyting within is “Lokasenna,” in which the trickster god Loki goes toe to toe with the gods.

And, of course, Shakespeare also dabbled in variants of the flyting. Some of the greatest hits being “Peace, ye fat guts!” from Henry IV, “The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes,” from The Comedy of Errors, and “Away, you three-inch fool!” from The Taming of the Shrew.

By Thad Higa