Why read The Poetic Edda?

Book cover of The Poetic Edda

Book description

She sees, coming up a second time,
earth from the ocean, eternally green;
the waterfalls plunge, an eagle soars above them,
over the mountain hunting fish.

After the terrible conflagration of Ragnarok, the earth rises serenely again from the ocean, and life is renewed. The Poetic Edda begins with The…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Poetic Edda as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

G. Ronald Murphy

Author

The author is unknown, and though the work was copied down in the thirteenth century, it contains many elements from much earlier, especially from the creation myths. This book is the sine qua non for getting to the world of the thought of the Viking era’s mindset, its metaphors, its values in plain advice and in poetic images. It tells of the world and of what is going on in heaven and on earth. The scholar can’t do without it. If you find yourself curious about the original form of the myths and stories, or at least as near as…

From G.'s list on The best books on the Viking era and the meeting of Christianity and Germanic religions.