Skaldic poems

Ynglingatal or Ynglinga tal (Old Norse: 'Enumeration of the Ynglingar') is a Skaldic poem cited by Snorri Sturluson in the Ynglinga saga, the first saga of Snorri's Heimskringla. Þjóðólfr of Hvinir (Thjodolf), who was a poet for Harald Fairhair (r. 872–930), is traditionally credited with its authorship. Snorri quotes frequently from this poem and cites it as one of the sources of the saga. The composition of the poem is dated to the 9th century.

thumb|right|250px|Loki strikes Þjazi with a rod in this picture from an 18th-century Icelandic manuscript. Haustlǫng (Old Norse: 'Autumn-long'; anglicized as Haustlöng) is a skaldic poem composed around the beginning of the 10th century by the Norwegian skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir.

The Háttatal (Old Norse: 'Tally of Metres'; c. 20,000 words; Old Norse: , Modern Icelandic: ) is the last section of the Prose Edda composed by the Icelandic poet, politician, and historian Snorri Sturluson. Using, for the most part, his own compositions, it exemplifies the types of verse forms used in Old Norse poetry. Snorri took a prescriptive as well as descriptive approach; he has systematized the material, and often notes that "the older poets did not always" follow his rules.

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Hákonarmál (Old Norse: 'The Song of Hákon') is a skaldic poem which the skald Eyvindr skáldaspillir composed about the fall of the Norwegian king Hákon the Good at the battle of Fitjar and his reception in Valhalla. This poem emulates the approximately seven years older Eiríksmál and is intended to depict the Christian Hákon as a friend to the pagan gods. The poem is preserved in its entirety and is considered to be of great beauty.

right|thumb|250px|One of the decorations on Ragnarr's shield probably showed Thor's fishing trip. This illustration of the scene is from an 18th-century Icelandic manuscript. Ragnarsdrápa (Old Norse: ‘Drápa about Ragnarr’) is a skaldic poem attributed to the oldest known skald, Bragi inn gamli (‘the old’) Boddason, who lived in the 9th century. Bragi describes the myths depicted on a decorated shield given to him by a certain Ragnar.

right|thumb|200px|Thor goes fishing for Jörmungandr in this picture from an 18th-century [[Icelandic manuscript.]] Húsdrápa (Old Norse: 'House-Lay') is a skaldic poem partially preserved in the Prose Edda where disjoint stanzas of it are quoted. It is attributed to the skald Úlfr Uggason. The poem describes mythological scenes carved on kitchen panels. In the stanzas that have come down to us three such scenes are described.

Eiríksmál is a skaldic poem composed c. 954 at the behest of the Norwegian queen Gunnhild in honour of her slain consort Erik Bloodaxe. Only the beginning of the poem is extant.

thumb|A valkyrie speaks with a raven in a wood-engraving by Joseph Swain (engraver)|Joseph Swain after [[Frederick Sandys, 1862]]

__NOTOC__ Darraðarljóð is a skaldic poem in Old Norse found in chapter 157 of Njáls saga. It consists of 11 stanzas recounting the vision of a man named Dörruð, in which twelve valkyries weave and choose who is to be slain at the Battle of Clontarf (fought outside Dublin in 1014). Their loom uses human entrails as warp and woof, swords as treadles, an arrow as the batten and men's heads as weights. Of the twelve valkyries weaving, six of their names are given: Hildr, Hjörþrimul, Sanngriðr, Svipul, Guðr, and Göndul. Stanza 9 of the song has been translated: Now awful it is to be without, as blo

Þórsdrápa (also Thorsdrapa; Old Norse: 'The Lay of Thor') is a skaldic poem by Eilífr Goðrúnarson, a poet in the service of Jarl Hákon Sigurðarson. The poem is noted for its creative use of kennings and other metaphorical devices, as well as its labyrinthine complexity.

right|thumb|Ragnar Lodbrok during his presentation of KrákumálKrákumál or the Lay of Kraka is a skaldic poem, consisting of a monologue in which Ragnar Lodbrok is dying in Ælla's snake pit and looks back at a life full of heroic deeds. It was composed in the 12th century, almost certainly in the Scottish islands. It is composed in a kind of háttlausa in 29 stanzas, most of them with ten lines. Thomas Percy was the first to translate the poem into English.

Háleygjatal is a skaldic poem by Eyvindr Skáldaspillir written towards the end of the 10th century to establish the Hlaðir dynasty as the social equals of the Hárfagri dynasty

Bjarkamál (Bjarkemål in modern Norwegian and Danish) is an Old Norse poem from around the year 1000. Only a few lines have survived in the Old Norse version, the rest is known from Saxo's version in Latin. The latter consists of 298 hexameters, and tells the tale of Rolf Krake's downfall at Lejre on the isle of Sjælland, described in a dialogue between two of Rolf Krake's twelve berserkers, Bodvar Bjarke (hence the name of the poem), the most famous warrior at the court of the legendary Danish king Rolf Krake, and Hjalte (= hilt). The poem opens with Hjalte waking up his fellow berserkers, hav

Vellekla (Old Norse for "shortage of gold") is a partially preserved drápa (series of stanzas with refrain) composed in the late 10th century by the Icelandic skald Einar Helgason skálaglamm. It is one of the two drápas he made for Hákon jarl. It speaks of the Battle of Hjörungavágr and Hákon's campaign in Denmark, among other things.

skaldic poem by Egill Skallagrímsson

Jómsvikingadrápa is a 13th-century skaldic poem composed by Bjarni Kolbeinsson (d. 1222), Bishop of Orkney. It is a tribute in drápa form to the fallen Jomsvikings at the Battle of Hjörungavágr.

10th century skaldic poem

Sonatorrek ("the irreparable loss of sons") is a skaldic poem in 25 stanzas, that appears in Egil's Saga (written c.a. 1220–1240), an Icelandic saga focusing on the life of skald and viking, Egill Skallagrímsson (ca. 910–990). The work laments the death of two of the poet's sons, Gunnar, who died of a fever, and Böðvarr, who drowned during a storm. In the assessment of Margaret Clunies Ross, Sonatorrek "has probably received, from the second half of the nineteenth century onwards, the greatest literary approbation accorded to any single skaldic poem". According to the saga, after E

thumb|right|300 px|Gerhard Munthe: Illustration for Glymdråpa in Harald Hårfagres Saga (1899) Glymdrápa ("Drápa of din") is a skaldic poem composed by Þorbjörn Hornklofi, the court poet of King Harald I of Norway (Haraldr hárfagri). Composed toward the end of the 9th century, the poem recounts several battles waged by King Harald, mostly as he was uniting Norway.