Essay Question: Why do the authors of the skáldasögur (Bjarnar saga Hítdœlakappa, Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar, Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu, Hallfreðar saga, and Kormáks saga) incorporate poetry in their sagas?
Song from History's Vikings series (Season 4 Episode 6) composed and performed by Einar Selvik. It combines lyrics from poems inRagnars saga loðbrókar ok sona hans and Egil Skallagrimsson's Höfuðlausn from Egils saga.More…
An edition and translation of the (anonymous?) skaldic poemLiðsmannaflokkr ('The Soldier’s Song')by Richard North, detailing the capture of London by Earl Thorkell the Tall andCnut in 1016. The edition and translation is excerpted fromThe…
An edition and translation of the (anonymous?) skaldic poemLiðsmannaflokkr ('The Soldier’s Song')by Richard North, detailing the capture of London by Earl Thorkell the Tall andCnut in 1016. The edition and translation is excerpted fromThe…
An edition and translation of the skaldic 'shield' poemHaustlǫng (Harvest-Long) by poetÞjóðólfr of Hvinir, c. 900. The edition and translation is excerpted fromThe Longman Anthology of Old English, Old Icelandic, and…
An edition and translation of the skaldic poem Vellekla ('Gold-Shortage') by poetEinarr skálaglamm ‘cup-tinkle’ Helgason, c. 980, in honour of Earl Hákon. The edition and translation is excerpted fromThe Longman Anthology…
An edition and translation of the skaldic poemHúsdrápa ('Eulogy on the House') by the poetÚlfr Uggason (early 990s). The edition and translation is excerpted fromThe Longman Anthology of Old English, Old Icelandic, and…
An edition and translation of the skaldic poem Þórsdrápa ('Eulogy on Þórr') by the court poet Eilífr Goðrúnarson, whosepatron was Earl Hákon of Hlaðir. The edition and translation is…
A useful introductory essay on Skaldic Poetry by Dr Debbie Potts, produced as part of the 'Modern Poets on Viking Poetry' Project and hosted by ASNC at Cambridge.
Extended essay questions from the seminar course 'Poetry of the Vikings' (Old Norse poetry in translation) which ran in 2013/2014 at University College Cork. The seminar was led by Dr Tom Birkett.
This memorial poem for St Olaf was composed by Sigvatr Þórðarson. The hyperlink takes you to the Skaldic Poetry project where the text is available in Old Norse and in English.
Readings of skaldic verse produced for the Orkney Project. Orri Tomasson reads the Old Norse, and David Baker reads the translations of the following poems:
1. Earl Rögnvaldr Kali Kolsson, a Lausavísur from Orkneyinga saga, ch 58 in which he…