Þórarinn loftunga was an
Icelandicskald active during the first half of the 11th century.
He composed Tögdrápa, a poem in praise of King
Canute. Like
Sigvatr Þórðarson's poem in praise of the same king, Knútsdrápa, the Tøgdrápa is composed in the metrical form töglag, a variant of dróttkvætt which may have been invented at King Canute's court. According to Skáldatal, Þórarinn was also a court poet to
Sveinn Knútsson, son of Knút, and his mother
Ælfgifu of Northampton. In Sveinn's honour, he wrote Glælognskviða, which is also the oldest extant testimony to the sainthood of King
Olaf II of Norway.
Works
Höfuðlausn. Two lines referring to
Canute: Knútr verr grund sem gætir / Gríklands himinríki. ("As Christ the heavenly kingdom, / Knútr defends the country.").[1]
^Höfuðlausn, ed. Matthew Townend, Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages, ed.
Margaret Clunies Rosset al., volume 1; tr. Lee M. Hollander, Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway. University of Texas Press, 1964. Chapter 172, p. 461.