The Poetic Edda Read online

  {xxiii} What Is Included in This Translation

  This translation includes all the poems and prose material from the Codex Regius manuscript, with one exception. One of the heroic poems, Atlamal, has been excluded, since its story is redundant with the superior, and much older, Atlakvitha. As one of the longest poems in the Codex Regius manuscript, too much space would have been devoted to Atlamal to justify the inclusion of a poem that casual readers would probably find the least interesting.

  As in most other translations of the Poetic Edda, four poems about the gods that do not appear in the Codex Regius, but which are found in other medieval Icelandic manuscripts, have been included because of their similarity in metrical form and content to the poems of the Codex Regius. These are Baldrs draumar, Rigsthula, Voluspa en skamma (or Hyndluljoth), and Grottasongr.

  Further Reading

  The following books are recommended for readers who wish to become more closely acquainted with the Eddic poems, Norse myth or literature more broadly, or the Old Norse language.

  Barnes, Michael. A New Introduction to Old Norse. 3 vols. Viking Society for Northern Research, 2008.

  The most accessible and complete resource for anyone who wants to learn the Old Norse language.

  Cook, Robert (translator). Njal’s Saga. Penguin Classics, 2002.

  The most famous of the Icelandic sagas. Its action takes place in Viking Age Iceland and Norway, the same culture that produced the Poetic Edda.

  Edwards, Cyril (translator). The Nibelungenlied. Oxford. Oxford University Press, 2010.

  The Nibelungenlied is an epic poem in Middle High German that relates a very different version of the story of the heroes of the Volsung and Gjukung families from the latter half of the Poetic Edda.

  {xxiv} Edwards, Paul, and Hermann Palsson (translators). Seven Viking Romances. Penguin Classics, 1986.

  A collection of adventure stories, written in medieval Iceland but set in the Viking Age and earlier. These sagas (especially Arrow-Odd’s Saga and Gautrek’s Saga) have many mythical elements in common with the Poetic Edda, and even some of the gods take part in the action.

  Faulkes, Anthony (translator). Edda. Everyman’s Library, 1995.

  A translation not of the Poetic Edda but of the Prose Edda, a work by Snorri Sturluson (1178–1241) that summarizes many of the same mythological traditions. This particular translation is very highly recommended.

  Finch, R. G. (translator). Volsunga saga. Nelson, 1965.

  This is the best available translation of Volsunga saga, an Old Norse saga that retells the story of the Volsungs that is related in the hero-poems of the Poetic Edda.

  Haymes, Edward R. (translator). The Saga of Thidrek of Bern. Garland, 1988.

  A sprawling, medieval Norse saga, which includes many alternative versions of the myths related in the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda.

  Kellogg, Robert, Jane Smiley, et al. (editors). The Sagas of Icelanders. Penguin Classics, 2001.

  A collection of Icelandic sagas set in Viking Age Scandinavia. Egil’s Saga is particularly recommended for its sweeping plot and in-depth look inside medieval Norse culture.

  Ringler, Dick (translator). Beowulf: A New Translation for Oral Delivery. Hackett, 2007.

  A remarkably well-done translation of Beowulf, an Old English poem that relates a traditional story distantly related to the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda.

  Turville-Petre, E. O. G. Myth and Religion of the North. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1964.

  Not an easy book to find outside of large university libraries, but the most useful and complete secondary resource available in English.

  {1} POEMS ABOUT GODS AND ELVES

  Voluspa (The Prophecy of Ragnarok)

  Voluspa (literally “The Witch’s Prophecy”) is told through the person of a deceased witch or soothsayer (volva), awakened by the god Odin and interviewed for information on the beginning and end of the world. The poem contains the somewhat infamous “Catalogue of the Dwarves” (st. 10–16), a list purporting to name all these creatures, which was mined by J. R. R. Tolkien for the names of characters in his imaginary world. Two versions of Voluspa are preserved, one in the Codex Regius alongside the bulk of the remainder of the Eddic poems, and one in isolated context in Hauksbok, a later manuscript. The poem is also quoted extensively in Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda, and occasionally the text in the other manuscripts can be corrected from that source. The following translation follows the text of Codex Regius, and does not include the additional stanzas from Hauksbok, which are likely to be later interpolations.

  The poem is highly allusive, and the witch often refers to stories that she does not tell in their entirety. In particular, the story of the first war (st. 21–24) is told in only the vaguest detail, but seems to have involved fighting between the Aesir gods and the Vanir gods. In stanzas 25–26, we also see an allusion to a story that is told more fully in the Prose Edda (see translation by Faulkes under “Further Reading” in the Introduction), of a giant who built a wall around Asgard but demanded Odin’s wife as his price. The gods accepted his service, but cheated him out of his prize; in stanza 26 Thor seems to reject their deceitfulness and calls for a straight fight.

  The use of a spear made from the mistletoe “tree” to kill the god Balder (st. 31–32) has been interpreted in various ways; most scholars have seen it as evidence that this poem was composed {2} in Iceland (where there are few trees, and mistletoe might be mistakenly thought to be a tree).

  Large bold capitals have been inserted at the beginning of stanzas when the witch abruptly changes subject.

  Voluspa

  [1] HEED MY WORDS,

  all classes of men,

  you greater and lesser

  children of Heimdall.

  You summoned me, Odin,

  to tell what I recall

  of the oldest deeds

  of gods and men.

  [2] I remember the giants

  born so long ago;

  in those ancient days

  they raised me.

  I remember nine worlds,

  nine giantesses,

  and the seed

  from which Yggdrasil sprang.

  [3] It was at the very beginning,

  it was Ymir’s time,

  there was no sand, no sea,

  no cooling waves,

  no earth,

  no sky,

  no grass,

  just Ginnungagap.

  [4] But Odin and his brothers

  created the earth,

  it was they

  who made Midgard.

  The sun shone from the south

  upon the stones of their hall,

  {3} and the land turned green

  with growing plant-life.

  [5] The sun, companion of the moon,

  shone from the south,

  as the heavenly horses

  pulled it east to west.

  The sun did not yet know

  where it rested at evening,

  the stars did not yet know

  their places in the sky,

  the moon did not yet know

  what kind of power it had.

  [6] Then all the gods

  went to their thrones,

  those holy, holy gods,

  and came to a decision:

  they named

  the night and the hours,

  the morning,

  the midday,

  the afternoon and evening,

  so they could tell the time.

  [7] The gods had their meeting

  at Ithavoll,

  where they built

  temples and high shrines;

  they made workshops,

  they made treasures,

  they made tongs

  and other tools.

  [8] They played in the grass,

  they were cheerful;

  they had no

  lack of gold,

  till three

  giantesses came,

&nb
sp; fiendish giantesses

  from Jotunheim.

  {4} [9] Then all the gods

  went to their thrones,

  those holy, holy gods,

  and came to a decision:

  they would make

  the lord of the dwarves

  out of Ymir’s blood

  and his rotting limbs.

  [10] Then they made Motsognir,

  he was the lord

  of all the dwarves,

  and next they made Durin.

  They made many

  man-like little creatures,

  dwarves of the earth,

  and Durin named them:

  [11] Nyi and Nithi,

  Northri and Suthri,

  Austri and Vestri,

  Althjof, Dvalin,

  Bivor, Bavor,

  Bombur, Nori,

  An and Anar,

  Ai, Mjothvitnir,

  [12] Veig and Gandalf,

  Vindalf, Thrain,

  Thekk and Thorin,

  Thror, Vit, and Lit,

  Nar and Nyrath,

  Regin and Rathsvith,

  now I’ve named

  the dwarves correctly;

  [13] Fili, Kili,

  Fundin, Nali,

  Hepti, Vili,

  Hannar, Sviur,

  Frar, Hornbori,

  {5} Fraeg and Loni,

  Aurvang, Jari,

  Oakenshield.

  [14] Now the names

  of Dvalin’s family,

  the dwarves descended

  from Lofar, as men tell:

  The ones who left

  their stone halls

  for a home

  on Joruvoll:

  [15] These were Draupnir

  and Dolgthrasir,

  Har, Haugspori,

  Hlevang, Gloi,

  Skirfir, Virfir,

  Skafith, Ai,

  [16] Alf and Yngvi,

  Oakenshield,

  Fjalar and Frosti,

  Fith and Ginnar.

  The names of these dwarves,

  the descendants of Lofar,

  will be famous

  as long as the world exists.

  [17] THREE GODS,

  powerful and passionate,

  left Asgard

  for Midgard.

  They found Ask and Embla,

  weak,

  fateless,

  in that land.

  {6} [18] They had no breath,

  no soul,

  no hair, no voice,

  they looked inhuman.

  Odin gave them breath,

  Honir gave them souls,

  Loth gave them hair

  and human faces.

  [19] I know an ash tree,

  named Yggdrasil,

  a high tree, speckled

  with white clay;

  dewdrops fall from it

  upon the valleys;

  it stands, forever green,

  above Urth’s well.

  [20] Three wise women

  live there,

  by that well

  under that tree.

  Urth is named one,

  another is Verthandi,

  the third is named Skuld.

  They carve men’s fates,

  they determine destiny’s laws,

  they choose the lifespan

  of every human child,

  and how each life will end.

  [21] I remember the first murder

  ever in the world,

  when Gullveig

  was pierced by spears

  and burned

  in Odin’s hall.

  They burned her three times,

  she was reborn three times;

  often killed—not a few times!—

  still she would live again.

  {7} [22] They named her Heith

  when she came into their homes,

  a sorceress who foresaw good things.

  She knew magic,

  she knew witchcraft,

  she practiced witchcraft.

  She was the pride

  of an evil family.

  [23] Then all the gods

  went to their thrones,

  those holy, holy gods,

  and came to a decision,

  about whether they should endure

  Gullveig’s depradations

  or whether they

  should seek revenge.

  [24] Odin let a spear fly

  and shot it into the fray;

  that was the first war

  ever in the world.

  The outer wall

  of Asgard was broken.

  The Vanir knew war-magic,

  they trampled the valleys.

  [25] Then all the gods

  went to their thrones,

  those holy, holy gods,

  and came to a decision:

  all the air would be poisoned

  with their deceit,

  or Odin’s wife

  would have to be married to a giant.

  [26] Thor alone

  was in the mood to fight;

  he does not take it lightly

  when he hears of such things:

  broken promises,

  {8} broken oaths and vows,

  such false speech

  as even the gods had uttered.

  [27] I KNOW WHERE HEIMDALL

  hid his ear

  under the heaven-bright

  holy branches of Yggdrasil.

  I see a river that feeds

  the muddy waterfall

  where Odin’s eye hides.

  Have you learned enough yet, Allfather?

  [28] I sat alone

  when that ancient one came to me,

  Odin of the Aesir,

  and he looked into my eye.

  What do you seek from me, Odin?

  Why do you seek me, Odin?

  Odin, I know

  where you hid your eye

  in the shining waters

  of the well of Mimir.

  But Mimir can drink every morning

  from those waters

  where your own eye drowns.

  Have you learned enough yet, Allfather?

  [29] Odin opened my eyes

  to rings and necklaces,

  in exchange he got wisdom

  and prophecy.

  I saw more and more,

  looking out over all the worlds.

  [30] I saw Valkyries

  come from far away,

  ready to ride

  to the homes of the gods.

  {9} Skuld held a shield,

  and Skogul another,

  Gunn, Hild, Gondul,

  and Geirskogul.

  Now the Valkyries

  are counted,

  ready to ride

  to the earth, the Valkyries.

  [31] I saw Balder,

  the bloodied victim,

  Odin’s son,

  resigned to his fate.

  There stood

  the mistletoe,

  growing slender and fair,

  high above the plain.

  [32] That tree,

  which seemed harmless,

  caused a terrible sorrow

  when Hoth took a shot.

  Balder’s brother

  was born soon thereafter,

  he was Odin’s son; he took vengeance

  while still just one night old.

  [33] He had never washed his hands

  nor combed his hair

  when he put Balder’s killer

  on the funeral pyre.

  Frigg wept

  in Fensalir

  for the woe of Valhalla.

  Have you learned enough yet, Allfather?

  [34] I saw a prisoner

  lying in a certain wood,

  the liar himself,

  none other than Loki.

  There sits Sigyn, his wife,

  {10} although she finds no glee

  in her husband.

  Have you
learned enough yet, Allfather?

  [35] A river falls from the east,

  full of daggers and swords,

  through valleys of poison.

  It is named Slith.

  [36] There stands

  north of the dark valleys

  a golden hall

  of the kin of Sindri,

  and another stands

  at Okolnir,

  the beer-hall of a giant

  named Brimir.

  [37] I saw a hall that stood

  far from the sun

  on the beaches of corpses;

  the doors face north.

  Drops of poison

  fall through the roof;

  its walls are encircled

  by serpents.

  [38] I saw oathbreakers

  wading in

  those thick streams,

  and murderers,

  and those who seduce

  others’ lovers.

  There Nithhogg

  sucks the corpses of the fallen,

  snaps them in his jaws.

  Have you learned enough yet, Allfather?

  [39] In the east sat an aged giantess,

  in Ironwood,

  and there she raised

  Fenrir’s brood.

  {11} Among them

  is a certain one

  who bites the moon

  in a troll’s shape.

  [40] Dead men

  are filled with life,

  the home of the gods

  turns red with gore,

  the sun shines black

  through the summers,

  the weather is never cheerful.

  Have you learned enough yet, Allfather?

  [41] A giant, a herder by trade,

  sits there on a burial mound,

  striking a harp,

  he is the cheerful Eggther.

  A bright red rooster

  named Fjalar

  sings near him

  in Birdwood.

  [42] Near the Aesir

  sings the rooster named Golden-Comb,

  he wakes the men

  who fight for Odin, Lord of Battle.

  But another sings

  below the earth,

  a soot-red rooster

  in the halls of Hel.

  [43] Fenrir howls terribly

  before the doors to Hel;

  the wolf will break its bonds

  and run.

  I know much wisdom,

  I see deep in the future,

  all the way to Ragnarok,

  a dark day for the gods.

  {12} [44] Brothers will fight one another

  and kill one another,

  cousins will break peace

  with one another,

  the world will be a hard place to live in.

  It will be an age of adultery,