Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sneglu-Halli, Lausavísur 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 328-9.
Ortak eina of jarl þulu;
verðrat drápa með Dǫnum verri;
fǫll eru fjórtán ok fǫng tíu;
opits ok ǫndvert, ǫfugt stígandi:
svá skal yrkja, sás illa kann!
Ortak eina þulu of jarl; verðrat drápa verri með Dǫnum; eru fjórtán fǫll ok tíu fǫng; opits ok ǫndvert, ǫfugt stígandi: svá skal yrkja, sás kann illa!
‘I composed a þula about an earl; a drápa cannot be worse among the Danes; there are fourteen dips and ten lifts; it is open-ended and twisted, moving backwards: that’s how he shall compose who is poorly skilled!’
When Halli returns from England, King Haraldr asks him whether he has composed poetry about other kings while away. Halli replies with the following st.
The metre is fornyrðislag. For a discussion of the metrical terminology in this st., see Gade 1991.
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
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