The Poets of Haraldr gráfeldr and Hákon inn góði
This chapter looks at two sequences of verse in which poets use their commemoration of one king to reinforce their relationship with his successor. In the commemorative poem Gráfeldardrápa the poet Glúmr Geirason constructs a eulogy that exhibits his own poetic abilities, in an attempt to secure the king’s successors as his new patrons. Conversely, a series of verses by the poet Eyvindr skáldaspillir expresses deep personal grief over the death of his patron, inhibiting his own integration in the retinue of the king’s killer. In both cases, the poet’s representation of his previous lord, and of his relationship with that lord, is constructed to negotiate his own position within the structure of the new court.
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