niðurlögum

Niðurlög is a term used in Icelandic literary studies to denote the concluding portion of a poem, song, or chant. The word is formed from niðr- meaning 'down, ending' and lög meaning 'lay' or 'song', and it is used to identify the final lines that bring a work to a close. In medieval and early modern Icelandic poetry, niðurlög often serves to wrap up the narrative, reiterate a moral or message, or address the audience with a blessing or admonition. The form and length of niðurlög vary widely, from a short couplet to a brief stanza, and they may be characterized by a shift in mood, a pivot to a concluding statement, or a ritual cadence that signals closure.

Scholars discuss niðurlög in relation to the overall stanzaic structure of a work, alongside the more formally defined openings or middle sections. In practice, editors of sagas, skaldic poems, and rímur sometimes mark or interpret the final lines as a distinct structural unit, though explicit labeling is not universal and the features are tradition-bound.

Niðurlög is primarily a literary and linguistic term rather than a musical category, but it reflects how Icelandic verse historically used cadence, repetition, and formulaic endings to frame a performance or reading. See also Icelandic poetry, skaldic tradition, and rímur.