Egil Skallagrimsson (10th-century Viking era poet)
“West over water I fared,
bearing poetry’s waves to the shore
of the war-god’s heart;
my course was set.
I launched my oaken craft
at the breaking of ice,
loaded my cargo of praise
aboard my ship aft.”
- A poem attributed to Egil Skallagrimsson in Egil’s Saga (chapter 61), recorded c. 13th century possibly by Snorri Sturluson, translated by Bernard Scudder. New York: Penguin Classics, 2004 edition.
