Ragnarsdrápa

Old Norse Ragnarsdrápa = 'the poem about Ragnarr'

This is the oldest skaldic poem still in existence today. Bragi enn gamli (the Old) wrote it in the 9th century.

It is a shield-poem which means that it describes legendary and mythological scenes which had been carved or painted on a shield which Bragi had received from a certain Ragnarr. According to Skáldatal, he was the Danish king Ragnarr Loðbrók. In the Snorra Edda, Snorri has retained 20 stanzas and half-stanzas of the poem, which was probably somewhat longer. The four pictorial scenes described in the poem are:

• The fight of Hamðir and Sǫrli in Ermanarich's hall
• The myth of Gefjon
• Þórr and the Miðgarðsormr
• The giver and bringer of the shield