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Poetic Edda

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The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends.

Codex Regius was written in the 13th century but nothing is known of its whereabouts until 1643 when it came into the possession of Brynjólfur Sveinsson, then Bishop of Skálholt. At that time versions of Snorri's Edda were well known in Iceland but scholars speculated that there once was another Edda—an Elder Edda—which contained the pagan poems which Snorri quotes in his book. When Codex Regius was discovered it seemed that this speculation had proven correct. Brynjólfur attributed the manuscript to Sæmundr the Learned, a larger-than-life 12th century Icelandic priest. While this attribution is rejected by modern scholars the name Sæmundar Edda is still sometimes encountered.

Bishop Brynjólfur sent Codex Regius as a present to the Danish king, hence the name. For centuries it was stored in the Royal Library in Copenhagen but in 1971 it was returned to Iceland.

Contents

Style

The Eddic poems are composed in alliterative verse. Their bread and butter meter is fornyrðislag, while málaháttr is a common variation. The rest, about a quarter, are composed in ljóðaháttr.

The language of the poems is usually clear and relatively unadorned. While kennings are often employed they do not rise to the frequency or complexity found in skaldic poetry.

Authorship

Like most early poetry the Eddic poems were minstrel poems, passing orally from singer to singer and from poet to poet for centuries. None of the poems are attributed to a particular author though many of them show strong individual characteristics and are likely to have been the work of individual poets. Scholars sometimes speculate on hypothetical authors but firm and accepted conclusions have never been reached.

Time of composition

The dating of the poems has been a lively source of scholarly argument for a long time. Firm conclusions are hard to reach. While lines from the Eddic poems sometimes appear in poems by known poets such evidence is difficult to evaluate. For example Eyvindr skáldaspillir, composing in the latter half of the 10th century, uses in his Hákonarmál a couple of lines also found in Hávamál. It is possible that he was quoting a known poem but it is also possible that Hávamál, or at least the strophe in question, is the younger derivative work.

The few demonstrably historical characters mentioned in the poems, like Attila, provide a terminus post quem of sorts. The dating of the manuscripts themselves provides a more useful terminus ante quem.

Individual poems have individual clues to their age. For example Atlamál hin groenlenzku is claimed by its title, and seems by some internal evidence, to have been composed in Greenland. If so, it can be no earlier than about 985 since there were no Scandinavians in Greenland until that time

Location of composition

The problem of dating the poems is linked with the problem of finding out where they were composed. Since Iceland wasn't settled until about 870, anything composed before that time would necessarily have been elsewhere, most likely in Norway. Any young poems, on the other hand, are likely Icelandic in origin.

Scholars have attempted to localize individual poems by studying the geography, flora and fauna which they refer to. This approach usually doesn't yield firm results. While there are, for example, no wolves in Iceland we can be sure that Icelandic poets were familiar with the species. Similarly the apocalyptic descriptions of Völuspá have been taken as evidence that the poet who composed it had seen a volcanic eruption in Iceland - but this is hardly certain.

In later years scholars have tended to avoid this debate.

Editions

Some poems similar to those found in Codex Regius are normally also included in editions of the Poetic Edda. Important manuscripts include AM 748 I 4to, Hauksbók and Flateyjarbók. Many of the poems are quoted in Snorri's Edda but usually only in bits and pieces.

What poems are included in an edition of the Poetic Edda depends on the editor. Those not in Codex Regius are sometimes called Eddica minora from their appearance in an edition with that title edited by Andreas Heusler and Wilhelm Ranisch in 1903.

English translators are not consistent on the translations of the names of the Eddic poems or on how the Old Norse forms should be rendered in English. Up to three translations are given below, taken from the translations of Bellows, Hollander, and Larrington with proper names in the normalized English forms found in Lindow's Norse Mythology and in Orchard's Cassell's Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend.

Poems included by various editors

Mythological Poems

In Codex Regius

Völuspá Wise-woman's prophecy, The Prophecy of the Seeress, The Seeress's Prophecy
Hávamál The Ballad of the High One, The Sayings of Hár, Sayings of the High One
Vafþrúðnismál The Ballad of Vafthrúdnir, The Lay of Vafthrúdnir, Vafthrúdnir's Sayings
Grímnismál The Ballad of Grímnir, The Lay of Grímnir, Grímnir's Sayings
Skírnismál The Ballad of Skírnir, The Lay of Skírnir, Skírnir's Journey
Hárbarðsljóð The Poem of Hárbard, The Lay of Hárbard, Hárbard's Song
Hymiskviða The Lay of Hymir, Hymir's Poem
Lokasenna Loki's Wrangling, The Flyting of Loki, Loki's Quarrel
Þrymskviða The Lay of Thrym, Thrym's Poem
Alvíssmál The Ballad of Alvís, The Lay of Alvís, All-Wise's Sayings
Völundarkviða The Lay of Völund

Not in Codex Regius

Baldrs draumar Baldr's Dreams
Rígsþula The Song of Ríg, The Lay of Ríg, The List of Ríg
Hyndluljóð The Poem of Hyndla, The Lay of Hyndla, The Song of Hyndla
:Völuspá in skamma The short Völuspá, The Short Seeress' Prophecy, Short Prophecy of the Seeress - This poem is included as an interpolation in Hyndluljóð.
Svipdagsmál The Ballad of Svipdag, The Lay of Svipdag - This title, originally suggested by Bugge, actually covers two separate poems:
:Grógaldr Gróa's Spell, The Spell of Gróa
:Fjölsvinnsmál Ballad of Fjölsvid, The Lay of Fjölsvid
Gróttasöngr The Mill's Song, The Song of Grotti (Not included in many editions.)
Hrafnagaldur Óðins Odins's Raven Song, Odin's Raven Chant. (A late work not included in most editions).

Heroic lays

In Codex Regius

After the mythological poems Codex Regius continues with heroic lays about mortal heroes.

The Helgi Lays
:Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar The Lay of Helgi the Son of Hjörvard, The Lay of Helgi Hjörvardsson, The Poem of Helgi Hjörvardsson
:Helgakviða Hundingsbana I or Völsungakviða The First Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane, The First Lay of Helgi the Hunding-Slayer, The First Poem of Helgi Hundingsbani
:Helgakviða Hundingsbana II or Völsungakviða in forna The Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane, The Second Lay of Helgi the Hunding-Slayer, A Second Poem of Helgi Hundingsbani
:Note: Helgi Hjörvarðsson and Helgi Hundingsbani are two different characters, though the connecting prose of the Poetic Edda states that the second is the first reborn.''
The Niflung Cycle
:Frá dauða Sinfjötla Of Sinfjötli's Death, Sinfjötli's Death, The Death of Sinfjötli (A short prose text.)
:Grípisspá Grípir's Prophecy, The Prophecy of Grípir
:Reginsmál The Ballad of Regin, The Lay of Regin
:Fáfnismál The Ballad of Fáfnir, The Lay of Fáfnir
:Sigrdrífumál The Ballad of The Victory-Bringer, The Lay of Sigrdrífa
:Brot af Sigurðarkviðu Fragment of a Sigurd Lay, Fragment of a Poem about Sigurd
:Guðrúnarkviða I The First Lay of Gudrún
:Sigurðarkviða hin skamma The Short Lay of Sigurd, A Short Poem about Sigurd
:Helreið Brynhildar Brynhild's Hell-Ride, Brynhild's Ride to Hel, Brynhild's Ride to Hell
:Dráp Niflunga The Slaying of The Niflungs, The Fall of the Niflungs, The Death of the Niflungs
:Guðrúnarkviða II The Second Lay of Gudrún or Guðrúnarkviða hin forna The Old Lay of Gudrún
:Guðrúnarkviða III The Third Lay of Gudrún
:Oddrúnargrátr The Lament of Oddrún, The Plaint of Oddrún, Oddrún's Lament
:Atlakviða The Lay of Atli. (The full manuscript title is Atlakviða hin grœnlenzka, that is, The Greenland Lay of Atli, but editors and translators generally omit the Greenland reference as a probable error from confusion with the following poem.)
:Atlamál hin groenlenzku The Greenland Ballad of Atli, The Greenlandish Lay of Atli, The Greenlandic Poem of Atli
The Jörmunrekkr Lays
:Guðrúnarhvöt Gudrún's Inciting, Gudrún's Lament, The Whetting of Gudrún.
:Hamðismál The Ballad of Hamdir, The Lay of Hamdir
The heroic lays are to be seen as a whole in the Edda, but they consist of three layers, the story of Helgi Hundingsbani, the story of the Nibelungs and the story of Jörmunrekkr, king of the Goths. These are, respectively, Scandinavian, German and Gothic in origin. It is interesting to note, that as far as historicity can be ascertained, Attila, Jörmunrekkr and Brynhildr actually existed, taking Brynhildr to be partly based on Brunhilda of Austrasia, but the chronology has been reversed in the poems.

Not in Codex Regius

Several of the legendary sagas contain poetry in the Eddic style. Its age and importance is often difficult to evaluate but Hervarar saga, in particular, contains interesting poetic interpolations.

Hlöðskviða Lay of Hlöd, also known in English as The Battle of the Goths and the Huns. Extracted from Hervarar saga.
The Waking of Angantýr Extracted from Hervarar saga.

Sólarljóð

Sólarljóð Poems of the sun.
This poem, also not in Codex Regius, is sometimes included in editions of the Poetic Edda even though it is Christian and belongs, properly speaking, to the visionary literature of the Middle Ages. It is, however, written in ljóðaháttr and uses some heathen imagery.

See also

References

Bibliography in reverse chronological order

External links

 

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