Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1967, Page 54

Dr. STEFÁN EINARSSON:
The Poetry of
Egill Skalla-Grímsson
Of all the Old Icelandic poets Eg-
ill Skalla-Grímsson was by far the
most important. In him one can
detect the characteristics of two
different races. On one hand we see
the splendor-loving Viking leader;
on the other we notice unattractive
pliysical features that could have
been inherited from ancestors of the
peasant or Lapp hunter type. The
latter were known to be taciturn,
distrustful and introvert. It is also
of importance in our context that
Egill Skalla-Grímsson was torn be-
tween two opposing ways of life.
He was a member of a community
of family-conscious farmers who in
their earth-bound every day life
found it logical to depend on Thor,
but during his life Egill was also
deeply influenced by the radical
and individualistic philosophy of
adventurous V i k i n g s who had
chosen Óðinn as their supreme god.
The Vikings are known to have
sacrificed the timehonored reliance
upon the family for independence
of action1 and bonds of friendship.
Egill’s grandfather, Kveldulfr,
had a streak of the berserk in his
nature — and so did Skalla-Grímr,
Egill’s father. But Egill’s uncle Þór-
ólfr and his own brother, also by
the name of Þórólfr, fitted the con-
cept of the Nordic hero. Both the
Þórólfrs were dazzled by the splen-
dor of the rising monarchs of Nor-
way, King Haraldr Hairfair and
his son Eiríkr, but neither uncle
nor brother were crafty or pliable
enough to retain the king’s favor;
the uncle was slandered by enemies
and later killed by the king (Har-
aldr) himself. These events com-
pelled Skalla-Grímr and his family
to emigrate to Iceland.
Skalla-Grímr settled at Borg in
Borgarfjörd where he became an
excellent farmer and a mighty
worker. At Borg his son Egill was
born and there he grew up with
his transplanted kinsfolk. As has
already been implied, he inherited
the dark unattractive appearance of
his father and with it a crafty dis-
trustful outlook upon life. He be-
came a sorcerer like his Lapp an-
cestors, and he inherited the inordi-
nate avarice of his money-sav-
ing father, the farmer. But unlike
his father and grandfather he
possessed the mighty urge of the
Viking for adventure and travel.
In this he resembled his uncle
Þóiólfr. As a fighter and a stickler
for law and honor Egill stopped
at nothing, courting trouble wher-
ever he went. At home he was
a loyal member and protector of
his family and behaved in' ac-
cordance with the good old Ger-
manic tradition. Abroad he gave his
loyalty to Kings (Athelstan of Eng-
land) and struck up Viking friend-
ships which only death could
dissolve. But to even an1 amazing