The Poetic Edda is the main source for Norse mythology, a collection of Old Norse poems preserved in a thirteenth-century manuscript known as the Codex Regius. The mythological poems tell how the world was made and will end, in Voluspa, and how Odin gained wisdom, how Thor fought giants and won back his hammer, and how Loki quarreled with the gods. The heroic poems follow Sigurd the dragon-slayer, Brynhild, and the Volsung and Gjuki families toward betrayal and revenge.
This is for readers who want the older source behind modern retellings and Marvel, Tolkien, and Wagner. The verse is terse and strange, but the stories of gods and heroes are easy to follow, and notes make the allusions clearer.
Deep and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Deep Diver. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1270
- Language
- EN
