The Poetic Edda
Anonymous Norse poets; translated by Henry Adams Bellows
The primary source of Norse mythology: the anonymous poems of the Codex Regius, including the Völuspá’s account of the world’s creation and destruction and Odin’s winning of the runes.
- Composed
- Poems 9th to 13th century CE; manuscript circa 1270
- Original language
- Old Norse
- In the SOL library
- 420 searchable passages
- Rights
- Public domain
What this text is
The Poetic Edda is the collection of anonymous Old Norse poems preserved mainly in the Codex Regius, a small Icelandic manuscript written around 1270 that went unnoticed until a bishop recognized its contents in 1643. It contains nearly everything that is actually known about Norse mythology from primary sources: the Völuspá, in which a seeress narrates the creation of the world and its coming destruction at Ragnarök; the Hávamál, sayings attributed to Odin, including his self-sacrifice on the world-tree to win the runes; and the heroic cycle of Sigurd the dragon-slayer.
Why researchers read it
The Edda preserves a complete non-Mediterranean cosmology: world ages, a world-tree joining the realms, knowledge purchased through ordeal. For SOL’s comparative work on how distant cultures structure creation, cyclical time, and initiation, the Norse material is an independent witness of the first importance.
Othin spake: 46. “Much have I fared, | much have I found, Much have I got of the gods: Whence comes the sun | to the smooth sky back, When Fenrir has snatched it forth?” Vafthruthnir spake: 47. “A daughter bright | Alfrothul bears Ere Fenrir snatches her forth; Her mother’s paths | shall the maiden tread When the gods to death have gone.” Othin spake: 48. “Much have I fared, | much have I found, Much have I got of the gods: What maidens are they, | so wise of mind, That forth o’er the sea shall fare?” Vafthruthnir spake: 49. “O’er Mogthrasir’s hill | shall the maidens pass, And three are their throngs that come; They all shall protect | the dwellers on earth, Though they come of the giants’ kin.” Othin spake: 50. “Much have I fared, | much have I found, Much have I got of the gods: Who then shall rule | the realm of the gods, When the fires of Surt have sunk?” Vafthruthnir spake: 51.
The Poetic Edda, Anonymous Norse poets; translated by Henry Adams Bellows · Public domain
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