Poems of the Elder Edda

By Charles W. Dunn

The great poetic tradition of pre-Christian Scandinavia is known to us almost exclusively though the Poetic Edda. The poems originated in Iceland, Norway, and Greenland between the ninth and thirteenth centuries, when they were compiled in a unique manuscript known as the Codex Regius.

The poems are primarily lyrical rather than narrative. Terry's readable translation includes the magnificent cosmological poem Völuspá ("The Sibyl's Prophecy"), didactic poems concerned with mythology and the everyday conduct of life, and heroic poems, of which an important group is concerned with the story of Sigurd and Brynhild.

Poems of the Elder Edda will appeal to students of Old Norse, Icelandic, and Medieval literature, as well as to general readers of poetry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
• Release date: Sep 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9780812291599

Reviews for Poems of the Elder Edda

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Met uitzondering van enkele liederen niet zo vlot leesbaar. Nog het meest interessant vanwege verwantschap met Nibelungen.Wel opvallend in godenliederen : zelfde attitude tav goden als grieken, namelijk sterk antropologisch geladen en eerder labiele tekening.

[jvioland_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Viking/Scandinavian heroes written by someone in Iceland around 950 AD. Brutal people who ruled the Baltic and North Atlantic.

[sylvester_olson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hollander's translation is the only book that I've ever bought twice; my first copy is locked away in storage and inaccessible, but I had a strong desire to read it, so bit my tongue and put down the money. I'm Norwegian-American down to my socks, but Norse mythology is something that I've had a bit of a love-hate relationship with over the years. While there's a flavor that hits home with me, there's also something distinctly foreign about the pre-Westernized Scandinavians that is off-putting. I think it's the anti-egalitarian, anti-altruism, "might is right" brutal spirit of the Vikings. It's fun for mild-mannered Scandinavians and those of the diaspora to joke about, but in reality Norway, Sweden, and Denmark have long since grown beyond that era and left it in the dust. I'm far more familiar with Asbjørnsen and Moe's collection of 19th century folktales, which I find to be more culturally relevant for me.

But the time had come for me to read the Viking-era myths, so I gave the Poetic Edda a read. Some takeaways:

1) I knew that "trolls" had some sort of representation in the Norse era. I did not realize how often the word would be used (alongside others such as "thurs") as a synonym for "giant" (Hollander's "etins"). I also did not realize that the same rule found in Asbjørnsen and Moe, that trolls turn to stone when exposed to daylight, was present in Viking times. I thought that was a development from eight hundred years later.

2) I found that I didn't care much for the Óthin. I found him sinister, not what I would expect for a king of gods. Conversely, I found Thór completely likeable. No wonder the common people in ancient times worshipped Thór, leaving Óthin to the Viking warriors and ruling class.

3) I've read "The Volsunga Saga" before, and I didn't like it. Nor did I like the Sigurd lays in this Edda. I think that, out of all the Old Norse material, the Volsungs story has the least connection to modern Scandinavia.

4) Lee Hollander refers to many different scholars in his translation, but the two that he seems to appreciate the most (based on the quantity of his footnote references) are Sophus Bugge and N.F.S. Grundtvig. There was a coffee shop in Oslo called "Bugges" (Bugge's) that I became fond of while visiting cousins a few years ago (they told me at the time that it was named after a famous writer). And as a Lutheran, I'm very familiar with some of Grundtvig's hymnody ("Built on a rock, the church shall stand, even as temples are falling" and "Den signede dag"). I had no idea that Grundtvig the theologian was also Grundtvig the Norse mythology buff. It was fun to make these two connections.

[meditationesmartini · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Scandis are the best because they cover both extremes. The Norse gods take us on a cosmic journey beyond our imagination, from the birth of the world out of the bones of the ice giant Ymir to its death at the hands of the fire demon Surtr, and then, like, fart on our pillow, or pants us in front of the whole fishing village. Essential if anything is.

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I totally didn't use my essay as an excuse to read this... This is a source for Snorri's Edda, so of course, it was appropriate reading. It's a bit harder to read than Snorri's Edda, I think, although that's partially the translation. The translator translated the names, which is a bit weird to read.

Fun seeing how much this mythology has influenced fantasy writing.

[laeviss · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you are at all interested in Asatru or Heathenry, then this book is a must-read. Hollander's translation is a pretty good start if you can't read it in the original language.

[isabelx_21 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a selection of old Norse mythological and heroic poetry. Most of these poems are only known from a single manuscript written in the 1270s and given to the Danish king by an Icelandic bishop in 1643. Among other subjects, it includes the same material as The Saga of the Volsungs, with some gaps in the story and some parts duplicated in different poems. Very enjoyable once I got into it.