Kormákr Ögmundarson was a 10th century Icelandic skald

Skald

The skald was a member of a group of poets, whose courtly poetry is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking Age, who composed and performed renditions of aspects of what we now characterise as Old Norse poetry .The most prevalent metre of skaldic poetry is...

. He is the protagonist of Kormáks saga

Kormáks saga

Kormáks saga is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It tells of the tenth-century Icelandic poet, Kormákr Ögmundarson, and Steingerðr, the love of his life. The saga preserves a significant amount of poetry attributed to Kormákr, much of it dealing with his love for Steingerðr. Though the saga is...

which preserves a significant amount of poetry attributed to him. According to Skáldatal

Skáldatal

Skáldatal is a short prose work in Old Norse. It is preserved in two manuscripts: DG 11, or Codex Uppsaliensis, which is one of the four main manuscripts of the Prose Edda , and AM 761 a 4to , which also contains Skaldic poems...

he was also the court poet of Sigurðr Hlaðajarl and fragments of a drápa to the jarl are preserved in Skáldskaparmál

Skáldskaparmál

The second part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda the Skáldskaparmál or "language of poetry" is effectively a dialogue between the Norse god of the sea, Ægir and Bragi, the god of poetry, in which both Norse mythology and discourse on the nature of poetry are intertwined...

.

The following stanzas represent some of Kormákr's love poetry. He tells of the first time he met Steingerðr, the love of his life. Read aloud.

Brunnu beggja kinna	The bright lights of both	Brightly beamed the lights-of-
ljós á mik drósar,	her cheeks burned onto me	both-her-cheeks upon me—
oss þat eigi,	from the fire-hall's felled wood;	e'er will I recall it—
eldhúss of við felldan;	no cause of mirth for me in that.	o'er the heaped-up wood-pile;
enn til svanna	By the threshold I gained a glance	and the instep saw I
ítrvaxins gatk líta,	at the ankles of this girl	of the shapely woman—
muna oss of ævi	of glorious shape; yet while I live	no laughing matter, lo! my
eldask, hjá þreskeldi.	that longing will never leave me.	longing—by the threshold.
Brámáni skein brúna	The moon of her eyelash—that valkyrie	Brightly shone the beaming
brims und ljósum himni	adorned with linen, server of herb-surf—	brow-moons of the goodly
Hristar glæstrar	shone hawk-sharp upon me	lady linen-dight, how
haukfránn á mik lauka;	beneath her brows' bright sky;	like a hawk's, upon me;
en sá geisli sýslir	but that beam from the eyelid-moon	but that beam from forehead's-
síðan gullmens Fríðar	of the goddess of the golden torque	bright-hued-orbs, I fear me,
hvarmatungls ok hringa	will later bring trouble to me	of the Eir Eir In Norse mythology, Eir is a goddess and/or valkyrie associated with medical skill. Eir is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; and in skaldic poetry, including a runic... -of-gold doth
Hlín Hlín In Norse mythology, Hlín is a goddess associated with the goddess Frigg. Hlín appears in a poem in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in kennings found in skaldic poetry... ar óþurft mína.	and to the ring goddess herself.	ill spell for us later.
— Einar Ól. Sveinsson's edition	— Rory McTurk's translation	— Lee M. Hollander's adaptation

External links

• All of Kormákr's poetry in the original language
• http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~alvismal/7kormak.pdf Russell Poole, "Composition Transmission Performance: The First Ten lausavísur in Kormáks saga," Alvíssmál 7 (1997): 37–60.