Norse Skalds: Court Poets of the Viking Age

The Skald (Old Norse skáld) was the court poet of the Viking and medieval Scandinavian world. The skald was a member of the king’s retinue, composing and reciting praise-poems in honour of the king and the chief, and the skald’s role was both an artistic and a political one. The great skalds of the sagas — Egill Skallagrímsson, Snorri Sturluson, Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld, Kormákr Ögmundarson — are remembered by name, and the skaldic tradition was preserved, in the centuries after the Conversion, in the Skáldskaparmál of the Prose Edda.

This article traces the history and craft of the Norse skald. It treats the court poets of the Viking world, the dróttkvætt and other verse forms, the kenning system, the role of the skald as the memory of the king, the famous skalds of the sagas, the preservation of the skaldic tradition in the Skáldskaparmál, the connection to the Norse mythology of Odin, and the revival of skaldic practice in modern Heathenry.

The Court Poets of the Viking and Medieval Scandinavian World

The skald was a member of the king’s hirð, the retinue of warriors, advisors, and poets who followed the king. The skald was not only a poet but also a kind of historian, diplomat, and advisor. The skald composed praise-poems (lofkvæði) and occasional verses (lausavísur) on the events of the day, and the skald’s praise was a public performance, in the king’s hall, in front of the assembled courtiers.

The skald’s role was hereditary in many cases, but it was also open to talent. A young person of unusual poetic gifts could be taken into the retinue of a king and trained as a skald. The training was long and rigorous: the skald had to master the dróttkvætt verse form, the kenning system, and the rules of skaldic composition.

The Dróttkvætt and Other Verse Forms

The dróttkvætt (“court metre”) was the most prestigious of the skaldic verse forms, and the one most closely associated with the praise of kings. The dróttkvætt is an eight-line stanza, with two half-stanzas of four lines each, and a strict alternation of syllables (six syllables per line in the odd lines, five in the even). The dróttkvætt requires a careful placement of alliterative staves, and the odd lines typically contain two alliterating syllables (one of which is the höfuðstafr, the main stave).

Other skaldic verse forms include the hrynhent, the ljóðaháttr, the kviðuháttr, and the rúnhent. Each has its own rules, and the skald was expected to master all of them. The lausavísa, the occasional verse, was often composed in a simpler form, but the lofkvæði, the praise-poem, was typically in the dróttkvætt.

The Kenning System

The kenning (Old Norse kenna, “to know” or “to name”) is the central poetic device of the skaldic tradition. A kenning is a figurative compound that stands for a simpler noun: brjótar (literally, “breaker”) for “rock,” sól (literally, “sun”) for “gold,” swan-road for “sea.” The kennings are often two-stage: a “swan” is a kenning for “poetry” (because of the swan’s song), and “swan-road” is a kenning for “sea” (because the swan swims on it), so “swan’s road of poetry” is a kenning for “tongue.”

The kenning system was not merely decorative. It was a way of encoding the skaldic knowledge in a compact and memorable form, and a way of demonstrating the skald’s mastery. A skald who could compose a complex kenning in the middle of a dróttkvætt stanza, in front of the king’s hall, had demonstrated the depth of his learning. The system was also a way of praising the king: the king’s sword could be a “leek of battle,” the king’s ship could be a “horse of the sea,” the king himself could be a “ring-giver” or a “land-protector.”

The Skald as the Memory of the King

The skald was, in the Viking and medieval Scandinavian world, the memory of the king. The skald preserved the king’s deeds in the lofkvæði, the king’s ancestry in the ættvísur, the king’s battles in the erfidrápa. The skald was, in this sense, the human archive of the dynasty, and a king without a skald was, in a real sense, a king without memory. The skald is, in the Scandinavian context, the parallel of the West African Griot, the Celtic bard, and the Indian kathakaar.

The Famous Skalds of the Sagas

The sagas of Iceland and Norway preserve the names of many great skalds, and the skaldic verses are quoted in the sagas as historical evidence.

Egill Skallagrímsson (c. 910–990) was one of the great skalds of the Viking Age. His Höfuðlausn (“Head-Ransom”) was composed in praise of King Eiríkr Bloodaxe, who had spared Egill’s life. His Sonatorrek (“The Loss of Sons”) is a moving lament for the death of two of his sons. Egill is treated in the sagas as the greatest of the Icelandic skalds.

Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241) was the great Icelandic historian and poet who composed the Prose Edda and the Heimskringla. The Skáldskaparmál of the Prose Edda is the single most important source for the skaldic tradition.

Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld (c. 965–1007) was the skald of King Óláfr Tryggvason, and his verse records the conversion of Iceland to Christianity. Kormákr Ögmundarson (c. 935–970) was the skald whose love poetry to Steingerðr is preserved in the Kormáks saga.

The Preservation of the Skaldic Tradition in the Skáldskaparmál

The Skáldskaparmál (“The Language of Poetry”) is the second part of the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson, composed in Iceland around 1220. The Skáldskaparmál is a kind of poetic handbook, in which Snorri sets out the rules of skaldic composition, the kenning system, and the examples of the great skalds. The Skáldskaparmál is the single most important source for the skaldic tradition, and it has been the basis of all subsequent study of the skaldic art. The Skáldskaparmál also preserves the Norse mythology of poetry, in particular the story of how Odin won the Mead of Poetry from the giants, and how the god Bragi became the patron of skalds. The connection to the Norse mythology of Odin is treated in the wider Norse folklore section.

The Connection to the Norse Mythology of Odin

The skaldic tradition was, in the Norse imagination, of divine origin. Odin, the god of poetry, was the original skald, and the mead of poetry, the Óðrerir, was the source of the skald’s gift. The skald was, in this sense, a representative of Odin on earth.

The myth of Odin’s winning of the mead of poetry is told in the Skáldskaparmál and in the Hávamál. According to the myth, Odin stole the mead from the giants and brought it to Asgard, and from there he gave it to the skalds of the world. The connection to the Norse mythology of Odin is central to the skaldic tradition.

The Relationship to the Celtic Bardic Tradition

The skaldic tradition has striking parallels with the Celtic bardic tradition of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Both the skald and the bard were members of a hereditary professional caste, both composed in a highly developed verse form, and both occupied a central place at the court of the king.

The Revival of Skaldic Practice in Modern Heathenry

The skaldic tradition has been revived, in the modern Heathen movement, as a form of contemporary religious and literary practice. The modern Heathen skald composes praise-poems to the Norse gods, to the ancestors, and to the natural world, in the older dróttkvætt and other verse forms. The Heathen skaldic revival is treated, by folklorists, as a striking example of the survival of an ancient tradition in a modern religious context, and as a way of connecting to the Norse mythology of Odin and to the wider Norse folklore tradition.

The Skald in the Wider Oral Tradition

The skald is, in the framework of the oral storytelling section, one of the great examples of the human art of oral composition. The skald’s combination of technical mastery, political weight, and religious depth has kinship with the West African Griot, the Celtic bard, the Homeric rhapsode, and the Indian kathakaar.

The skaldic tradition has also left a deep mark on the modern literary world. The kenning has been taken up by modern poets from W. H. Auden to Seamus Heaney. The Norse sagas, in which the skaldic verses are preserved, are the foundation of the modern Scandinavian literary tradition. The skald is, in this sense, a living ancestor of the modern poet.

Sources and Further Reading

Snorri Sturluson. The Prose Edda. Translated by Anthony Faulkes. Everyman’s Library, 1987.
Hollander, Lee M., trans. The Skalds: A Selection of Their Poems. Princeton University Press, 1945.
Clunies Ross, Margaret. Skáldskaparmál: Snorri Sturluson’s ars poetica and Medieval Theories of Language. Odense University Press, 1987.
Fidjestøl, Bjarne. The Skald’s Verse. Translated by Peter Foote. F. Lewis, 1997.
Marold, Edith, and Hiley, Thorgil, eds. Skaldsagas: Text, Vocation, and Desire in the Icelandic Sagas of Poets. de Gruyter, 2014.