The Poetic Edda: Mythological poems

Ursula Dronke

Clarendon Press, Dec 4, 1997 - Literary Collections - 443 pages

This volume presents a wholly new edition of five of the most brilliant and celebrated poems of the Poetic Edda: 'The Sibyl's Prophecy', 'The Rigmarole of Rigr', 'Wayland's Poem', 'Skirnir's Lay', and 'Loki's Quarrel'. New textual readings and interpretations are established. New light is shedon the Franks Casket and on King Alfred's interest in Wayland; new links are found between the Viking and Christian worlds. A close translation accompanies the text to give the non-specialist reader a transparent and rhythmic sense of the original. For each poem the sequence of ideas is traced inthe introduction and the interpretation substantiated by a detailed commentary. Much consideration is given to the themes of the poems and the ancient ideas in which they are rooted: analogues come from many sources - Irish, Anglo-Saxon, Sanskrit, African, and Finnish. The excellence and variety ofthe poems give a rare insight into the genius of oral poets of the Viking age.

Contents

• VQLUSPA: 7
• RfGSPULA: 161
• Contents: 241

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Poetic Edda: Mythological poems; Volume 2 of The Poetic Edda, Ursula Dronke; Dronke Poetic Edda Series; Volume 2 of Edda Sumundar
• Author: Ursula Dronke
• Editor: Ursula Dronke
• Contributor: Ursula Dronke
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Clarendon Press, 1997
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Mar 21, 2008
• ISBN: 0198111819, 9780198111818
• Length: 443 pages
• Subjects: Edda Sćmundar; Edda sćmundar; Eddas; Eddas/ Translations into English; Literary Collections / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; Literary Criticism / European / German; Literary Criticism / European / Scandinavian; Literary Criticism / General; Literary Criticism / Medieval; Mythology, Norse; Old Norse poetry; Poetry / Ancient & Classical; Poetry / Anthologies (multiple authors)