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The Poetic Edda

Anonymous, c. 13th c.

Held by Project Gutenberg, PG 73533read here

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The Poetic Edda is a collection of anonymous Old Norse poems in alliterative verse. Some tell of the gods, including the prophecy of the wise-woman that opens the Codex Regius and the sayings of the High One. Others tell hero tales, among them the lay of Völund, the Helgi lays and the cycle around Sigurth, Brynhild, Guthrun and Atli. The site carries a translation with an introduction and a note on each poem, which explains the sources and the stories behind each lay.

Where it happens

  1. Reykjavík The Codex Regius is kept here at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies.2
  2. Skálholt Seat of Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson, who held the manuscript in 1643.2
  3. Copenhagen The Codex Regius sat in the Royal Library here until 1971.2
  4. Greenland The poem Atlamál hin groenlenzku claims by its title to have been composed here, after about 985.134

Through time

  1. 985Atlamál hin groenlenzku, if composed in Greenland, dates from after about this year.14
  2. 1270The Codex Regius is thought to be written in the 1270s.2
  3. 1643Brynjólfur Sveinsson gets the Codex Regius.2
  4. 1662Brynjólfur sends the codex to King Frederick III of Denmark.2
  5. 1797A. S. Cottle publishes the earliest printed English translation.1
  6. 1923The American-Scandinavian Foundation publishes the Bellows translation.3
  7. 1971The Codex Regius returns to Reykjavík by ship on 21 April.2

Who is in it, and behind it

Henry Adams Bellows translator

Made the 1923 English translation with introduction and notes that this site carries.3

Brynjólfur Sveinsson patron

The Bishop of Skálholt who obtained the Codex Regius in 1643 and sent it to Denmark in 1662.2

Frederick III of Denmark patron

The king who received the Codex Regius as a gift in 1662.2

Snorri Sturluson author

Compiler of the Prose Edda, a handbook for poets that quotes many Eddic poems; he died in 1241.13

A. S. Cottle translator

Produced the earliest printed English translation of the Edda in 1797.1

Olive Bray translator

Translated the poems about the gods for the Viking Club of London in 1908.3

Sigurth character

Called Fafnir's slayer in the poems; the Sigurth story is by far the largest part of the Volsung tradition.3

What it is about

Oral poems, late manuscript

The poems were the work of many poets over several periods and lived in oral tradition for generations before being written down.13

Gods and heroes

The collection splits into lays of the gods and lays of the heroes, with the Sigurth story the longest.3

Alliterative verse forms

Most poems use fornyrðislag, with a quarter in ljóðaháttr, and they use fewer kennings than skaldic poetry.1

In its own words

There is even less agreement about the birthplace, authorship and date of the Eddic poems themselves than about the nature of the existing collection
THE ORIGIN OF THE EDDIC POEMS. The translator on who made the poems and when. Read on
Hearing I ask | from the holy races, From Heimdall’s sons, | both high and low; Thou wilt, Valfather, | that well I relate Old tales I remember | of men long ago
Introductory Note. The wise-woman's prophecy opens. Read on
Cattle die, | and kinsmen die, And so one dies one’s self; But a noble name | will never die, If good renown one gets
Introductory Note. A famous stanza from the sayings of the High One. Read on
Thruthheim (“the Place of Might”): the place where Thor, the strongest of the gods, has his hall, Bilskirnir, described in stanza 24
NOTES. A note on the halls of the gods. Read on
Between the Thrymskvitha and the Alvissmol in the Codex Regius stands the Völundarkvitha
Introductory Note. Introduces the Lay of Völund. Read on
Of this tradition we may recognize three distinct parts: the Volsung-Sigmund-Sinfjotli story; the Helgi story, and the Sigurth story, the last of these three being by far the most extensive, and suggesting an almost limitless amount of further subdivision
Introductory Note. Explains how the Volsung stories divide. Read on
Atli : Brynhild here blames her brother, following the frequent custom of transferring the responsibility for a murder (cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II , 33), because he compelled her to marry Gunnar against her will, an idea which the poet seems to have gained from Sigurtharkvitha en skamma , 32–39
NOTES. A note on a Brynhild lay. Read on
Men : Atli and his advisers, with whom he planned the death of the sons of Gjuki , Gunnar and Hogni. The poet’s reference to the story as well known explains the abruptness of his introduction, without the mention of Atli’s name, and his reference to Guthrun in stanza 3 simply as “the woman” (“husfreyja,” goddess of the house)
NOTES. A note on the Atli poem. Read on

The shape of the book

120 chapters, 161,312 words. Point at a bar.

How it came to be here

The poems were composed over several centuries and passed from poet to poet by mouth before they were written down. Most of them survive in the Codex Regius, an Icelandic manuscript thought to date from the 1270s. It came to Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson in 1643, and he sent it to the Danish king in 1662. It was returned to Reykjavík in 1971. English versions began in 1797, and this site carries the 1923 translation by Henry Adams Bellows for the American-Scandinavian Foundation.

Free to read elsewhere

Sources

  1. Poetic Edda (Wikipedia)
  2. Codex Regius (Wikipedia)
  3. The Poetic Edda, translated by Henry Adams Bellows (Project Gutenberg)
  4. Erik the Red (Wikipedia)

Text: PG 73533 | translator: Henry Adams Bellows. US public domain (Project Gutenberg licence).

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