Crimsoning the Eagle's Claw : The Viking Poems of Rognvaldr Kali Kolsson, Earl of Orkney

A genuinely unique European treasure, this volume bristles with the Viking verses of Rognvaldr, Earl of Orkney, recorded in Orkneyinga Saga. Full of highly stylised, often grotesque images, Ian Crockatt’s masterly translations convey the skill, vigour and daring of the original. Skaldic poetry is one of the most elaborate and original in European literature and this collection finally brings it to the deserved attention of the English-language reader. Rich narratives and old Norse mythology blend with familiar place-names and landscapes to create a peculiarly alluring, sometimes comic, world that never quite settles around the reader. Spirited and generous, these poems give us precious glimpses of a life lived to the full.