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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")
It also contains the heroic lays which are considered to predate the mythical lays.
- 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)
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 Niebelungen and the story of
Jǫrmunrekr, king of the Goths. These are, respectively, Danish,
German and Gothic in origin. It is interesting to note, that as far as historicity can be ascertained (at least Attila, Jǫrmunrekr and Brynhildr actually
existed), the chronology has been reversed in the poems.
Lastly
- Sólarljóð (Poems of the
sun)
is often considered to belong to the Eddic poems, although it is Christian and
belongs, properly speaking, to the visionary literature of the Middle
Ages.
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
- Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússson, Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík 1989
- Eddukvæði, ed. Ólafur Briem, Reykjavík 1985
- Snorra-Edda, ed. Árni Björnsson, Reykjavík 1975
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