CORONAVIRUS KENNINGS

Over the last few weeks, I have set my Twitter followers the task of coming up with some 'Coronavirus Kennings'. A kenning is a figure of speech in which an object is described using circumlocution - you can read more about them here. Kennings were frequently employed on old Icelandic poetry, and the task I set was for writers to use them to describe either the virus itself, or some aspect of the current predicament. Here are some Coronavirus Kennings that I came up with to kick of people's ideas:

Using this as a basis, Anthony Parker came up with the following ideas:

Dan Page didn't describe the virus itself, but used the kenning format to describe the role of the homeschooler:

The famous writer Tony Bradman came up with the following kennings to describe the virus:

Street-emptier,

Fear-builder,

Dream-stirrer,

weakness-seeker,

breath-killer..

If anyone else feels like giving this idea a go, I would be more than happy to add your ideas to this blog post. Get writing!

[update: 06/06/20: I am delighted to say that Twitter users @missszbutt1 and @HeadOnTheHill got in touch with a wonderful kenning poem written by students in their Year 6 class. Here it is!