I've always been interested in fractured, demented, asymmetrical, incongruous textures, and indeed what I call “dysprosody” – the prosody of distressed sounds.
I don't think for a moment that Harold Hardrada is genuinely standing there composing poems, but I think this does capture something of the essence of the man.
An old man wrote a poem, which reads: Vermilion bows and scarlet arrows gave them the appearance of gods; Amid a great army they galloped with spinning wheels.
A bearded old man wrote a poem criticizing King Huan, who should not have attacked Zheng without considering the consequences for his own army, thus bringing humiliation upon himself.
A bearded old man wrote a poem bewailing what happened to Lady Li Ji: What was the point of murdering Shensheng, To allow a child to take over these lands?
A bearded old man wrote a poem that reads: Five lords met together here, resplendent in their official robes; This meeting at Linzi offered a gorgeous new spectacle.
Where other poets were limited by poetic diction and conventional themes, Su could write a poem on massage at a bathhouse, and he could incorporate slang and make it sound well in a poem.