Glymdrápa
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Glymdrápa ("Drápa of din[1]") is a skaldic poem composed by Þorbjörn hornklofi toward the end of the 9th century. It recounts several battles waged by Haraldr hárfagri ("Fairhair"), mostly as he was subduing Norway.
Composed in dróttkvætt, only seven stanzas and two half-stanzas of it were preserved, chiefly in the Heimskringla (Haralds saga hárfagra). Glymdrápa is the oldest praise poem to a king (konungsdrápa) which has come down to us[2].
The poem has few clear geographical or historical points of reference, and the two sagas which quote it, Heimskringla and Fagrskinna interpret it differently. In Heimskringla, the poem is said to recount Haraldr's fight against the people of Orkdal at Oppdal forest (Uppdalsskógr), the two battles of Solskjel, the first against king of Møre Húnþjófr, his son Sölvi and his father-in-law Nökkvi, king of Romsdal, the second against Sölvi and his allies Arnviðr, king of Sunnmøre, and Auðbjörn, who ruled over the Fjords[3], his battles agains the Gotlanders and finally his expedition westwards to fight vikings, which led him to the Isle of Man. According to Fagrskinna's account, part of the poem relates events of the battle of Hafrsfjord, the decisive battle in Haraldr's unification of Norway.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Anthony Faulkes gives the following meanings for glymr : "resounding noise", "roaring", "din". The word is frequently used in kennings for battle (see Jörmungrund).
- ^ Boyer 1990:195.
- ^ I.e. the districts of Nordfjord and Sunnfjord.
[edit] References
- Boyer, Régis. 1990. La Poésie scaldique. Paris: Éd. du Porte-glaive. ISBN 2-906468-13-4.
- Faulkes, Anthony (ed.). 1998. Snorri Sturluson: Edda. Skáldskaparmál. Vol. 2, Glossary and Index of Names. London: Viking Society for Northern Research. ISBN 0-903521-38-5.
