Hallvarðr Háreksblesi

Six fragments of poetry by Hallvarðr are quoted in the Skáldskaparmál section of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda. One additional fragment is quoted in Knýtlinga saga and one in Heimskringla and kings' sagas derived from it. In Finnur Jónsson's complete edition of skaldic poetry the fragments are conjectured to be all from the same poem, a Knútsdrápa ("Lay of Canute"), and arranged in a suggested order. The first complete English translation was published by Roberta Frank in 1994. The extant fragments are mainly about Canute's expedition to England and his becoming king there in 1015–1016. 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.

The refrain of Hallvarðr's Knútsdrápa compares Knútr's role on earth to that of the Christian God in Heaven. • Knútr verr jörð sem ítran • alls dróttinn sal fjalla. • Cnut protects the land as the Lord of all [does] the splendid hall of the mountains [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 his Höfuðlausn. It is also reminiscent of the refrain of Gunnlaugr Wormtongue's poem about king Ethelred and, to a lesser extent, to those in Þórarinn loftunga's Tøgdrápa and Sighvatr Þórðarson's Knútsdrápa, both about King Canute. Like Canute's other skalds, Hallvarðr emphasizes Canute's Danish ancestry and how his rule benefits Danish interests. He, however, differs somewhat from the other poets in describing Canute with imagery derived from Norse mythology, including references to valkyries, giants, the Midgard Serpent and the World Tree. In his kennings, he even refers to Canute with the names of pagan gods.