For Borges, “the meaning is irrelevant, the suggestion of little value.” One should appreciate a kenning on different terms than those of modern figurative language: “They neither stir the imagination nor call up images or emotions…Their pleasure—their sufficient pleasure—lies in their variety, in the unexpected linking together of the words.”

I admit that there is a certain awe for anyone becoming the kind of literary figure that can be quoted as saying such things, such ridiculous things, as if they are profound.