In the assessment of Margaret Clunies Ross, Sonatorrek "has probably received, from the second half of the nineteenth century onwards, the greatest literary approbation accorded to any single skaldic poem".
[1]: 296 According to the saga, after Egill placed Böðvarr in the family burial mound, he locked himself in his bed-chamber, determined to starve himself to death.
Egill’s daughter, Thorgerdr, diverted him from this plan in part by convincing him to compose a memorial poem for Böðvarr, to be carved on a rune-staff.
According to Bjarni Einarsson, 'the text of the poem is the result of a long series of copies and is in some instances corrupt beyond correction'.
[3] Thus the first stanza, as edited and translated by Margaret Clunies Ross (with glosses on kennings and names in brackets),[1]: 298 reads Mjǫk erum tregt tungu at hrœra eðr loptvætt ljóðpundara.