Hárbarðsljóð

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Hárbarðsljóð^[1] (Lay of Hárbarðr) is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda, found in the Codex Regius and AM 748 I 4to manuscripts. It is a flyting poem with figures from Norse mythology

In the conventional interpretation of this poem the deities Odin and Thor compete with each other. Odin, disguised as Hárbarðr (Greybeard), a ferry man, is rude and obnoxious towards Thor who is returning to Asgard after a journey in Jötunheimr, the land of the giants. Hárbarðr boasts of his sexual prowess, his magical powers and his tactical abilities. Thor then tells of how the giants were defeated by him.

In this take on Hárbarðsljóð, the poem appears to draw a stark contrast between two of the principal gods of the Nordic cosmogony; Odin, the cunning warmonger, Thor, the protector of mortals against the ravages of the giants.

Some early commentators, including Viktor Rydberg, argued that there is doubt to be cast on assigning the persona of Odin to Hárbarðr; many of the characteristics of Hárbarðr are more akin to those of Loki than Odin. [1] For example, throughout the entirety of Hárbarðsljóð, Hárbarðr boasts of his prowess among women, as does Loki in Lokasenna and both Lokasenna and Hárbarðsljóð accuse Thor's wife Sif of adultery. This theory has fallen out of favor.

The poem is significantly less structured than most Eddic poems, and is predominantly written in a metric form known as málaháttr or "conversational style". However, other metrical forms are also to be discerned, while some of the text is pure prose.