Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

Crawford presents a modern English translation of the Old Norse poems about the Scandinavian gods and heroes, first written and told during Viking Age about 800-1100 CE. He introduces the collection and each poem, and adds information from other sources that can clarify the stories. Among the stories are the taunting of Thor by Odin, the short prophecy of Ragnarok, the poem of Helgi son of Hjorvarth, Brynhild's ride to Hel, the death of the Niflungs, three poems of Guthrun, and the inciting of Guthrun's sons. Annotation ©2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
"The poems of the Poetic Edda have waited a long time for a Modern English translation that would do them justice. Here it is at last (Odin be praised!) and well worth the wait. These amazing texts from a 13th-century Icelandic manuscript are of huge historical, mythological and literary importance, containing the lion's share of information that survives today about the gods and heroes of pre-Christian Scandinavians, their unique vision of the beginning and end of the world, etc. Jackson Crawford's modern versions of these poems are authoritative and fluent and often very gripping. With their individual headnotes and complementary general introduction, they supply today's readers with most of what they need to know in order to understand and appreciate the beliefs, motivations, and values of the Vikings." --Dick Ringler, Professor Emeritus of English and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison