Hallvarðr Háreksblesi was one of theskalds ofCanute the Great. Nothing is known about his life or family but eight fragments of his poetry on Canute have been preserved. While Hallvarðr's poetry resembles that of Canute's other poets in many respects it is unusual in its heavy use of pagan imagery.
Six fragments of poetry by Hallvarðr are quoted in theSkáldskaparmál section ofSnorri Sturluson'sProse Edda. One additional fragment is quoted inKnýtlinga saga and one inHeimskringla andkings' sagas derived from it. InFinnur Jónsson's complete edition ofskaldic poetry the fragments are conjectured to be all from the same poem, aKnútsdrápa ("Lay of Canute"), and arranged in a suggested order.[1] The first complete English translation was published byRoberta Frank in 1994.[2]
The extant fragments are mainly about Canute's expedition to England and his becoming king there in 1015–1016.[3] Apart from what little can be conjectured from this, nothing is known about the poet's life or origin. Finnur Jónsson believed he became one of Canute's court poets after the king's conquest of Norway in 1028.[4]
The refrain of Hallvarðr'sKnútsdrápa compares Knútr's role on earth to that of the Christian God in Heaven.
Hallvarðr's refrain is very similar to that composed by his fellow poet,Þórarinn loftunga, who also compared the roles of Canute and God in hisHöfuðlausn. It is also reminiscent of the refrain ofGunnlaugr Wormtongue's poem about kingEthelred and, to a lesser extent, to those in Þórarinn loftunga'sTøgdrápa andSighvatr Þórðarson'sKnútsdrápa, both about King Canute.[5]
Like Canute's other skalds, Hallvarðr emphasizes Canute's Danish ancestry and how his rule benefits Danish interests.[6] He, however, differs somewhat from the other poets in describing Canute with imagery derived fromNorse mythology, including references tovalkyries,giants, theMidgard Serpent and theWorld Tree. In his kennings, he even refers to Canute with the names of pagan gods.[7]
Finnur Jónsson described Hallvarðr's poetic expressions as strong but not very original and the surviving verses as formally quite good but not very individual in character. Despite this, he noted that one of Hallvarðr's poems has an apparently newkenning for the breast (as seat of emotion and thought), based on the new religion; "the ship of prayer".[4]Roberta Frank is more positive, describing Hallvarðr's poetry as "skaldic verse at its richest and most allusive, a startling blend of Christian and pagan imagery like that carved on theGosforth cross."[7]