Elder Edda
The Elder Edda, also known as the "Poetic Edda" is a collection of Norse mythology. It is traditionally attributed to Sæmundr the Wise. The main manuscript is called Codex Regius which came into the possession of the then Bishop of Skálholt, Brynjólfur Sveinsson in 1643. It dates back at least to the 13th century containing many verses which had been referenced by Snorri Sturluson in the Younger Edda. The main meter of the Eddic poems is fornyrðislag. Málaháttr is a variation thereof. The rest of the Eddic poems (about a quarter) are composed in ljóðaháttr. Regarding all of these, see alliterative verse.
Scholars agree, that whoever wrote the Eddic poems, whether in the sense of being the compiler or the poet, it can't have been Sæmundr. The attribution is due to Brynjólfur Sveinsson, but it is not known how he reached that conclusion. What seems to be obvious, is multiple authorship over a long period of time. Named poets cited them in their own works, for instance Eyvindr skaldaspillir composing in the latter half of the tenth century. On the other hand the few demonstrably historical characters (for instance Attila) do provide a terminus post quem of sorts. Atlamál hin grœnlenzku; is believed to have been composed in Greenland, which then can be no earlier than around 985 or so.
Codex Regius (R2365) was stored in the Royal Library in Copenhagen. In 1971 it was brought back to Reykjavík.
The term Eddukvæði (Eddic poems) is used for other poems of the genre as well. The precise composition depends on the editor. The poems commonly referred to as Eddic are:
- Vǫluspá; (also spelt Voluspo, known also as "The Prophecy of the Vala")
- Hávamál (also spelt Hovomol) (also known as Sayings of the High One)
- Vafþrúðnismál; (also known as Vafthrudnir's sayings)
- Grímnismál (also known as Grimnir's Sayings)
- Skírnismál; (also known as Skirnir's Journey)
- Hárbarðsljóð; (also spelt Harbarzljoð, also known as "The Lay of Harbarth")
- Hymiskviða (also known as "The Lay of Hymir")
- Lokasenna (also known as "Loki's Mocking")
- Þrymskviða (also known as "The Lay of Thrym")
- Alvíssmál (also known as "The Sayings of Alvis")
- Baldrs draumar (also better known as "Baldur's Dreams")
- Rígsþula (also known as "Rig's Song")
- Hyndluljóð (known also as "The Lay of Hyndla")
- Svipdagsmál (comprises two poems, Grógaldr, "The Spell of Gróa", and Fjǫlsvinnsmál, "The Lay of Fjǫlsviðr"")
- Vǫluspá hin skamma; (known also as "The Short Prophecy of Vala")
- Vǫlundarkviða; (also known as "The Lay of Volund")
- The Helgi Lays :-
- Helgakviða Hjǫrvarðssonar; (also known as "The poem of Helgi Hiorvardsson")
- Helgakviða Hundingsbana I or Vǫlsungakviða (also known as "The poem of Helgi Hundingsbani")
- Helgakviða Hundingsbana II or Vǫlsungakviða in forna
- Note: Helgi Hundingsbani and Helgi Hjǫrvarðsson are two different characters.
- Frá dauða Sinfjǫtla; (also known as "The death of Sinfjotli")
- Grípisspá (also known as "Gripir's prophecy")
- Reginsmál (also known as the "Treachery of Reginn")
- Fáfnismál (also known as "The lay of Fafnir")
- Sigrdrífumál (also known as "The lay of Sigrdrifa")
- Brot af Sigurðarkviðu; (also known as "Fragment of a poem about Sigurd")
- Guðrúnarkviða I; (also known as "The first lay of Gudrun")
- Sigurðarkviða hin skamma; (also known as "A short poem about Sigurd")
- Helreið Brynhildar (also known as "Brynhild's ride to hell")
- Dráp Niflunga (also known as (also known as "The death of the Niflungs")
- Guðrúnarkviða II, hin forna; (also known as "The second lay of Gudrun")
- Guðrúnarkviða III; (also known as "The third lay of Gudrun")
- Oddrúnargrátr (also known as "Oddruns lament")
- Atlakviða (also known as "The lay of Atli")
- Atlamál hin grœnlenzku; (also known as Greenlandic poem of Atli)
- Guðrúnarhvǫt; (also known as "The whetting of Gudrun" )
- Hamðismál (also known as "The Lay of Hamdir")
- Hlǫðskviða; (Lay of Hlǫðr)
- Gróttasǫngr; (Song of Grótti)
Lastly
- Sólarljóð (Poems of the sun)
Like all early poetry these were minstrel poems, passing orally from singer (skald) to singer for centuries.
"The Elder Edda presents the Norse cosmogony, the doctrines of the Odinic mythology, and the lives and doings of the gods. It contains also a cycle of poems on the demigods and mythic heroes and heroines of the same period. It gives us as complete a view of the mythological world of the North as Homer and Hesiod do of that of Greece" (Anderson, Norse Mythology).
It is from the Elder Edda that J.R.R. Tolkien took the names of the thirteen dwarves in The Hobbit.
References
External Links