Kveder

Stev is a form of Norwegian folk song consisting of four line lyric stanzas. The English version of the word is stave, meaning the stressed syllable in a metric verse.

There are various types of stev:

Of the gamlestev that have been preserved, most of them are from Setesdal and øvre Telemark . This poetic form is equivalent to the metre of the medieval ballad, and is used over most of Northern Europe:

The metre in most old staves is free, and the rhyming is always on the second and fourth line.

Some gamlestev might be remnants of folk songs that have been split up, and thereby losing completeness.

In Telemark, nystev have been replaced by rural folksongs, to a great extent. By contrast, nystev in Setesdal have held much of their ground. Many folksongs are based on the form, which rhymes in pairs:

Some researchers have presented theories about stev "relating to language and poetry rather than to slowed-down dance": Ivar Mortensson-Egnund (in 1914), Idar Handagard (in 1942), O.M. Sandvik, Eivind Groven (1971), Jon Storm-Mathisen (2002 and 2007) and Jacqueline Pattison Ekgren (1975 and 2007). ("Handagard points out that much Norwegian folk poetry, including stev, has strong elements of alliterative rhyme and rhythm which he claims shows an unbroken tradition from Old Norse folk poetry. Storm-Mathisen demonstrates in his writing and audio recordings of stanzas from Old Norse eddic Havamal sung-recited to gamlestev and ballad melodies that there are good arguments for the theory of an unbroken tradition and non-dance origin of stev.")

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