Snorri's Edda (also known as the Prose Edda)


Snorri's Edda (the Prose Edda).
by J. Zimmerman

* Who was Snorri Sturluson?
* The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson: Tales from Norse Mythology selected and translated by Jean I. Young.
* Gylfaginning: The Deluding of Gylfi.
* Who's Who and Relationships.
* Selections from 'Poetic Diction'.
* Links. * Books.

Who was Snorri Sturluson?
Snorri Sturluson (b. ~1178 in West Iceland) was a Nordic Skaldic poet and a remote descendent of the great Egil Skallagrímsson, whom Hollander considers "the most original and also the most versatile of skalds. His was the genius which may have composed some of the great poems the Poetic Edda."

Snorri wrote:

  1. History of the Norwegian Kings, "undoubtedly the best history written in the Middle Ages, a large book without a dull page, packed full of thrilling incidents and shrewd characterizations." [Hollander].
  2. Snorri's Edda (the Prose Edda). Its three parts are:
    1. Various myths, "stories that were a very treasure-house for later poets, as they had formed the basis of innumerable kennings of the earlier skalds." [Hollander].
    2. How Odin gained the Mead of Poetry and then describes (prosily) poetic speech. as they had formed the basis of innumerable kennings of the earlier skalds." [Hollander].
    3. Various meters of Skaldic and Eddic verse; written ostensibly in praise of King Híkon Híkonarson and the regent of Norway, Earl Skuli.

While Snorri Sturluson appears to have been a nasty man, "His fame rests on his literary genius, all in all the greatest of ancient Scandinavia." [Hollander].

The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson: Tales from Norse Mythology selected and translated by Jean I. Young.

The Uppsala Codex (parchment of about 1320) names Snorri's book as Edda. Its three parts are:

  1. About the Æsir and Ymir: the Prologue and Gylfaginning: The Deluding of Gylfi.
  2. Selections from 'Poetic Diction'.
  3. Account of meters.

The prologue is a jumble of Christian myths and tales of the origins of the Æsir in ancient Troy, leading to their migration to northwest Europe where these tales are set.

Gylfaginning: The Deluding of Gylfi.

First is the tale of King Gylfi of Sweden, and how he lost land that became Zealand to a beggar-woman, a disguised woman of the Æsir. Wanting to obtain some of the powers of the Æsir, Gylfi set out for Asgard, and asked the three enthroned men he met to tell him about their gods. At the end of the story, Gylfi is suddenly on an empty plain, so he is doubly deluded: once by the beggar-woman who obtained his lands by a trick; and once by the enthroned men who may or may not have existed.

However, these are the stories that the enthroned men told:

Who's Who and Relationships.

Selections from 'Poetic Diction'.

This section gives the travel tales of a man called Ægir, who traveled to Æsgard, and met in the evening with Oðin and the twelve high gods of the Æsir:
Bragi, Frey, Forseti, Heimdall, Hœnir, Loki, Njörd, Thór, Týr, Ull, Váli, Víðar;
and with these greatest goddesses of the Æsir:
Frigg, Freyja, Fulla, Gefjon, Gerð, Iðun, Nanna, Sigyn.

Ægir sat next to Bragi, who told him these stories:

Links

Books


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