The Poetry Of The Elder Edda

‘She stood by the standing-beam, summoned her strength:
her eyes blazed fire, she snorted venom, Brynhild, Budli’s daughter’

Compiled by an unknown scribe in Iceland around 1270, and based on sources dating back centuries earlier, the single main manuscript of the Poetic Edda is one of the literary wonders of the medieval world and the greatest source of knowledge of Viking lore in existence. These mythological and heroic poems tell of gods and mortals from an ancient era: the giant-slaying Thor, the doomed Vlsung family, the Hel-ride of Brynhild and the cruelty of Atli the Hun. Eclectic, incomplete and fragmented, these verses nevertheless retain their stark beauty and their power to enthrall, opening a window on to the thoughts, beliefs and hopes of the Vikings and their world.

Andy Orchard’s new translation faithfully conveys the spare, unadorned style of the original metre and language. The lightly glossed text is accompanied by four additional poems not in the original manuscript, a chronology, further reading, index of names, note on pronunciation, and an introduction discussing the poems in detail, the history of the Poetic Edda and its influence on writers from Tennyson to Tolkien.

Translated and edited with an introduction by ANDY ORCHARD