The Poetic Edda: A Collection of Old Norse Poems

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In Eddic, or Eddaic, poetry, the metric structures are for the most part either in the form of fornyrðislag ("old story"/"epic meter") or ljóðaháttr ("song"/"chant meter"). Both fornyrðislag and ljóðaháttr verse form share similarities; such as, partial alliteration of stressed and grammatically important syllables, division of the verse into half lines or full lines and couplets, with fixed numbers of lines, line lengths determined by the number of stressed syllables (called "lifts"), and the linking of full lines or couplets by means of alliteration. [5] Epic meter [ edit ] Maybe the most important thing to understand about the Poetic Edda is that it was never one book. The different poems making up the collection we often perceive as a whole were originally separate poems. They were written by different poets, possibly hundreds of years apart as well as from different parts of Scandinavia and Iceland. Hollander, Lee M. The Poetic Edda. University of Texas Press (Austin), 1962. ISBN 0-292-73061-6. General Introduction, pp. xiv–xv. Revised and expanded as Auden, W.H.; Taylor, Paul B., eds. (1981), Norse Poems, London: Athlone, ISBN 0-485-11226-4 Old Norse poetry encompasses a range of verse forms written in the Old Norse language, during the period from the 8th century to as late as the far end of the 13th century. Old Norse poetry is associated with the area now referred to as Scandinavia. Much Old Norse poetry was originally preserved in oral culture, but the Old Norse language ceased to be spoken and later writing tended to be confined to history rather than for new poetic creation, which is normal for an extinct language. Modern knowledge of Old Norse poetry is preserved by what was written down. Most of the Old Norse poetry that survives was composed or committed to writing in Iceland, after refined techniques for writing (such as the use of vellum, parchment paper, pens, and ink) were introduced—seemingly contemporaneously with the introduction of Christianity: thus, the general topic area of Old Norse poetry may be referred to as Old Icelandic poetry in literature.

Thorpe, Benjamin, ed. (1866), Edda Sæmundar Hinns Froða: The Edda Of Sæmund The Learned, London: Trübner & Co. , (2 vols.) The Old Norse name Hávamál is a compound of the genitive form of Hávi, which is the inflexionally weak form of Odin's name Hár ('High One'), and the plural noun mál (from older mǫ́l), and means 'Song (or Words) of the High One'. [4] [5] Textual history [ edit ]

J. R. R. Tolkien, a philologist and de facto Professor of Old Norse familiar with the Eddas, utilized concepts in his 1937 fantasy novel The Hobbit, and in other works: Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1999. The dating of Eddic poetry: A historical survey and methodological investigation. Edited by Odd Einar Haugen. Copenhagen: C.A. Reitals Forlag. The prophetess then tells what she remembers as the first war in the world, between the godly families of the Æsir and the Vanir. The latter is rather linked to fertility and prosperity, although it must be said that Norse gods, in general, cannot be limited to well-defined characteristics. Either way, the story in the Völuspámentions the goddess Gollveig ( gold-might) as a reason for the war, as she was accused of bewitching the gods. The outcome of this war was that all gods received equal right to worship, possibly an allusion to the acceptance of other regional deities into their system of beliefs. Lokasenna tells the story of a flyting, or poetic insult contest, between the god Loki and the other gods and goddesses at a feast in Aegir’s hall. Loki crashes the feast and starts insulting and taunting the gods and goddesses. However this is mostly one-sided as no one of the gods take the bait.

Poetry played an important role in the social and religious world of the Vikings. In Skáldskaparmál, Snorri Sturluson, recounts the myth of how Odin brought the mead of poetry to Asgard. Poetry is referred to in such terms as 'the drink of the raven-god (= Odin)' even in the oldest preserved poetry, which is an indicator of its significance within the ancient Scandinavian culture. Boer, R.C., ed. (1922), Die Edda mit historisch-kritischem Commentar I: Einleitung und Text (in German), Haarlem: Willink & Zoon Much like the Vafthrudnirsmal, the poem contains a lot of mythological information that Snorri leaned on for his book Gylfaginning. Skírnismál – The Lay of Skírnir Richardson, Nathaniel Smith; Boggs, Edward Brenton; Baum, Henry Mason (1872). The Church Review. Bassett and Bradley. The verses are attributed to Odin; the implicit attribution to Odin facilitated the accretion of various mythological material also dealing with the same deity. [1]Bellows, Henry Adams, ed. (1923), "The Poetic Edda: Translated from the Icelandic with an Introduction and Notes", Scandinavian Classics, New York: American-Scandinavian Foundation, vol.XXI & XXII Larrington, Carolyne, ed. (1996), The Poetic Edda, Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-282383-3 the twelfth song (stanza 158), which takes up the motif of Odin hanging on the tree and its association with runes: In this poem, Odin shares his wisdom and advice, including moral codes, and how to live a good life. The Hávamál covers a wide range of topics including, wisdom, wit, and the importance of being a good host and guest. Covering many topics, quite a few of his words of wisdom would not be advisable to take literally today. The problem of dating the poems is linked with the problem of determining where they were composed. Iceland was not settled until approximately 870, so anything composed before that time would necessarily have been elsewhere, most likely in Scandinavia. More recent poems, on the other hand, are likely Icelandic in origin.

Eddic poetry is to indebted narratives describing heroes, which was part of a long oral tradition, as well as textual. Hávamál ( English: / ˈ h ɔː v ə ˌ m ɔː l/ HAW-və-mawl; Old Norse: Hávamál, [note 1] classical pron. [ˈhɒːwaˌmɒːl], Modern Icelandic pron. [ˈhauːvaˌmauːl̥], ‘Words of Hávi [the High One]’) is presented as a single poem in the Codex Regius, a collection of Old Norse poems from the Viking age. The poem, itself a combination of numerous shorter poems, is largely gnomic, presenting advice for living, proper conduct and wisdom. It is considered an important source of Old Norse philosophy. The parallelism of Odin and Christ during the period of open co-existence of Christianity and Norse paganism in Scandinavia (the 9th to 12th centuries, corresponding with the assumed horizon of the poem's composition) also appears in other sources. To what extent this parallelism is an incidental similarity of the mode of human sacrifice offered to Odin and the crucifixion, and to what extent a Pagan influence on Christianity, has been discussed by scholars such as Sophus Bugge. [11] All but a few of the poems in the Poetic Eddawere preserved in a single manuscript known as the Codex Regius, copied by an unknown Icelandic scribe in the 1270s and presented by the Lutheran Bishop of Skálholt, Brynjolf Sveinsson, to the Danish court nearly four centuries later. Bishop Brynjolf was convinced that this unassuming manuscript contained the hitherto lost source material for the great treatise on Norse poetry by the Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson (1179– 1241), which its author had referred to as an eddaor poetics. The Codex Regius was duly dubbed the Poetic Eddaor Elder Edda, to distinguish it from Snorri’s ‘younger’ prose work. The poem Harbardsljod recounts a time Thor meets Odin in diguise and an argument ensues. Thor is on his way home from one of his adventures in Jotunheim when he comes to a wide and deep sound. On the other side stands a ferryman that Thor shouts to come and get him. Odin, in the guise of the ferryman, Harbard refuses Thor and a shouting match of threats and insults ensues. Hymiskviða – Hymir’s PoemHallberg, Peter, translated by Paul Schach and Sonja Lindgrenson. Old Icelandic Poetry. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln (1975) ISBN 0-8032-0855-3, p. 12 The poem mainly consists of Hyndla reciting names from Óttarr’s ancestry. The wise-woman Hyndla, being asked by Freyja to trace the ancestry of her favorite Ottar for the purpose of a wager, gives a complex genealogy including many of the heroes who appear in popular sagas. Völuspá in skamma – The short Völuspá Ratecliff, John D. (2007), "Return to Bag-End", The History of The Hobbit, HarperCollins, vol.2, Appendix III, ISBN 978-0-00-725066-0 Alliterating pairs connected each line, with the first line of the pair having two alliterating syllables.