Why can skaldic poetry be difficult to understand?

Skaldic poetry is often considered difficult to understand due to its highly specialized language, complex syntax, and rigid structural requirements. Several factors contribute to this complexity:12

• Ornamented Diction: Poets employed heiti (fanciful, uncompounded poetic nouns) and kennings (metaphorical circumlocutions). Kennings can be extremely indirect, such as referring to the sea as the "land of Haki" (a sea king), which requires specific knowledge of Norse mythology to decipher.132
• Complex Syntax: Unlike the simpler, more direct style of Eddaic poetry, skaldic verse features a freer word order, which can make the intended meaning resemble a riddle.2
• Strict Formal Constraints: Skaldic poetry utilized strictly syllabic metres—such as the dróttkvætt—that required precise syllable counts, regular alliteration, internal rhyme, and assonance.12

These stylistic choices, while demonstrating the poet's technical skill, often result in abstruse language that can limit the accessibility of the work for modern readers.12