Hákonarmál is a skaldic poem which the skald Eyvindr skáldaspillir composed about the fall of the Norwegian king Hákon the Good and his reception in Valhalla. This poem emulates Eiríksmál and is intended to depict the Christian Hákon as a friend to the pagan gods. The poem is preserved in its entirety and is widely considered to be of great beauty.

These are the last three stanzas.

Góðu dœgri

verðr sá gramr of borinn,

es sér getr slíkan sefa.

Hans aldar

mun æ vesa

at góðu getit.

Mun óbundinn

á ýta sjǫt

Fenrisulfr of fara,

áðr jafngóðr

á auða trǫð

konungmaðr komi.

Deyr fé,

deyja frændr

eyðisk land ok láð.

Síz Hákon fór

með heiðin goð,

mǫrg es þjóð of þéuð.

On a good day

is born that great-souled lord

who hath a heart like his;

aye will his times

be told of on earth,

and men will speak of his might.

Unfettered will fare

the Fenriswolf,

and fall on the fields of men,

ere that there cometh

a kingly lord

as good, to stand in his stead.

Cattle die

and kinsmen die,

land and lieges are whelmed;

since Hákon

to the heathen gods fared

many a host is harried. — Hollander's translation

The last stanza is clearly related to a stanza from Hávamál. The traditional view is that Hákonarmál borrowed from that poem but it is also possible that the relation is reversed or that both poems drew on a third source.

External links

• Lee M. Hollander's English translation and commentary
• Samuel Laing's translation (within its Heimskringla context)
• One edition of the poem
• Two editions of the poem

Skaldic poems | Sources of Norse mythology