Horse Grammar.

Abstract

This is a literary and grammatical analysis of the long narrative poem entitled Jimmen by Øyvind Rimbereid, which was nominated for the 2011 Nordic Literary Prize. The book has two narrators: The coachman, who drives the kitchen leftovers from the town to a pig farmer, and his horse. The coachman speaks a dialect from the Stavanger/ Sandnes-area in southwest Norway, while the horse has a particularly designed language with special vocabulary, declensions and syntax. The horse’s language has something in common with Old Norse, the language of folk songs, archaic Nynorsk and some dialects. However since the rules of declension, cases and syntax are neither according to Old Norse nor modern Norwegian, a new language is created with its own rules and conditions. The rhythm is heavy and clumsy like the movements of an old cart horse. With this language Rimbereid describes the horse as a beast, workmate and literary phenomenon. The coachman is described as caring and conscious of the changes in society. Their relationship is based on work, trust and love. The unit of coachman and horse is about to disappear from the streets, but will live on in literature. At the end of the book the language of the coachman dissolves and merges  with that of the horse. The man is gone, probably dead, and the horse is looking for him. Their passing is foreseen in the poems. In addition to being a warm description of the cooperation between man and beast, the book is an ode to an age which is fading into the realm of literature.

Keywords: Øyvind Rimbereid, analysis of poetry, grammar, Norwegian literature, horse