Died 990 AD, Alstahaug, Norway | ||
Eyvindr Finnsson skáldaspillir was a 10th-century Norwegian skald. He was the court poet of king Hákon the Good and earl Hákon of Hlaðir. His son Hárekr later became a prominent chieftain in Norway.
His preserved longer works are:
Among Evyindr's most celebrated lausarvísur is the following, attested in Haralds saga Gráfeldar, supposedly composed during the 960s or 970s:
It is snowing on the spouse of Svǫlnir [i.e. the spouse of Óðinn, Jǫrð (whose name also means ‘earth’)] in the middle of summer; we have tied up the bark-stripping hind of the bud [i.e. goat] inside just like the Saami.
Eyvindr drew heavily on earlier poetry in his works. The cognomen skáldaspillir means literally "spoiler of poets" and is sometimes translated as "plagiarist", though it might also mean that he was better than any other poet.
He is mentioned in the second verse of the Norwegian national anthem.