He confirmed on Twitter that it's the same Olav we have on the show.
Couldn’t find anything about him, but saw he taught at some colleges in the states and his reviews were down bad. So should I avoid?
"Olav Trygvason" describes King Olav's vassals waiting for him to rejoin their fleet, after they got separated sailing home from an expedition to Pommerania. Unknown to them, Olav has been ambushed at Svolder by the combined fleets of the kings of Denmark and Sweden and the traitorous jarls of Lade. For decades after this, Norway was a fief of the Danish kings. The poem is often called "Brede Seil" in Norwegian, after its first words. I have translated it into English:
Broad the sails over North Sea go;
high on a fo'c'sle, morning lights show
Erling Skjalgson, of Sole -
watching over sea toward Denmark:
Comes not Olav Trygvason?
Six and fifty the dragons lie,
down come sails; towards Denmark spy
sunbitten men; - ask they then:
"What stays the Long Serpent?
Comes not Olav Trygvason?"
But when the second dawn comes nigh
sun from sea in a mastless sky
becomes as a storm to hear:
"What stays the Long Serpent?
Comes not Olav Trygvason?"
Silent then, they quietly rise
baring heads; for the wild surmise
bursts like a sigh from the sea:
"Taken - the Long Serpent;
fallen - Olav Trygvason."
After this, for a hundred year
Norwegian ships at sea may hear
mostly on moonlit nights:
"Taken - the Long Serpent;
fallen - Olav Trygvason."
This is possibly the most floridly romantic poetry from the national-romantic period in Norway, when many of its artists were deliberately trying to build a national feeling. Note particularly the image of the sea itself mourning, for a century no less, over human politics.
You can hear my sonorous recitation of the English text here, or hear the Norwegian words sung here. And for completeness, the Norwegian text:
Brede seil over Nordsjø går;
Høyt på skansen I morgnen står
Erling Skjalgsson fra Sole, -
Speider over hav mot Danmark:
"Kommer ikke Olav Trygvason?"
Seks og femti de drager lå,
Seilene falt, mot Danmark så
Solbrente menn; - da steg det:
"Hvor bliver Ormen lange?
Kommer ikke Olav Trygvason?"
Men da sol I det annet gry
Gikk av hav uten mast mot sky,
Ble det som storm å høre:
"Hvor bliver Ormen lange?
Kommer ikke Olav Trygvason?"
Stille, stille I samme stund
Alle stod; ti fra havets bunn
Skvulpet som sukk om flåten:
"Tagen er Ormen lange,
Fall
They're always embracing, making out, Hildur seems content, Olav always happy to see her after coming back from a raid.
Oh, and Orm's sex ed... completely forgot about that. Just wanted to put that out there that they were cute and kind of ironic with all the other craziness in the show.
Just finished the last episode so I'm ... just sad. When you happily enjoy a sandwich and realize it's all gone.
