Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/62

Rh his grief at the death of the beloved king, and expresses his regret that he was not permitted to die at his side. There is in these songs a tenderness which is seldom found in the many similar ones by other skalds. After his return from Rome he entered the service of Magnus, the son of St. Olaf, whose chief counsellor he became, and to this epoch of his career belong the celebrated "Bersöglisvisur" (songs of free speech), which he composed when the king began to be tyrannical toward the peasants, and in which he in powerful strains brings the complaints of the people to the ears of the king. Another of the many Icelandic skalds who gathered around St. Olaf was, so called because he composed a laudatory poem on Thorbjorg Kolbrun (the lady with the black eye-brows). He was also one of those who were particularly intimate with the king, but unlike Sighvat, he was a man of firm and unyielding temperament. He was present at the battles of Stiklestad, where the king had appointed a place for him and a few other skalds near his standard, in order that they might have a good opportunity of watching the progress of the battle, and afterward describe the events faithfully in their songs. But Thormod fell in the battle. We have no long poems from him, but only a few short lays produced on various occasions. One of the most beautiful and spirited ones he sang on the evening before the battle, when each one of the king's skalds composed a song for the encouragement of the army. The wild enthusiasm for the battle finds a peculiarly strong expression in Thormod's verses, and the clashing of the swords is heard throughout the song in spite of the rigid form to which he was limited. (Earl-skald) was so called because he had lived with the jarls on the Orkneys, before he came to Norway, where he entered the service of Magnus the Good and Harald the Stern (Hardraði). The numerous poems by him which have been preserved give evidence of considerable talent, and are especially remarkable for easy style, for a more sparing and judicious use of metaphors, for