The Poetic Edda (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

~ Carolyne Larrington (Translator) "The Seeress's Prophecy (Voluspa), composed mainly in the fornyrdislag meter, is recited by a seeress who can remember before the beginning of the world and..." (more)
Key Phrases: giant women, mythological poems, wise lady, High One, Helgi Hundingsbani, Codex Regius (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

All-wise's Sayings
Baldr's Dreams
Brynhild's Ride To Hell
The First Lay Of Gudrun
The First Poem Of Helgi Hundingsbani
Fragment Of A Poem About Sigurd
The Greenlandic Poem Of Atli
Grimnir's Sayings
Gripir's Prophecy
Harbard's Song
Hymir's Poem
The Lay Of Atli
The Lay Of Fafnir
The Lay Of Hamdir
The Lay Of Regin
The Lay Of Sigrdrifa
The Lay Of Volund
The List Of Rig
Loki's Quarrel
Oddrun's Lament
The Poem Of Helgi Hiorvardsson
Sayings Of The High One
The Second Lay Of Gudrun
A Second Poem Of Helgi Hundingsbani
Seeress's Prophecy
A Short Poem About Sigurd
Skirnir's Journey
The Song Of Grotti
The Song Of Hyndla
The Third Lay Of Gudrun
Thrym's Poem
Vafthrudnir's Sayings
The Whetting Of Gudrun
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

The collection of Norse-Icelandic mythological and heroic poetry known as the Poetic Edda contains the great narratives of the creation of the world and the coming of Ragnarok, the Doom of the Gods. Since the rediscovery of the Poetic Edda in the seventeenth century, its poetry has fascinated artists as diverse as Thomas Gray, Richard Wagner, and Jorge Luis Borges. A scholarly Introduction, Notes, a genealogy of the gods and giants, and an Index of names allows us to glimpse the pagan beliefs of the North.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 10, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192839462
• ISBN-13: 978-0192839466
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #298,068 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ian Myles Slater on: Up to Date, Sometimes Unfamiliar, February 20, 2004

By	Ian M. Slater "aylchanan" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The "Elder" or "Poetic" Edda is the modern name for a set of Old Norse mythological (mainly about gods) and heroic (mainly about humans) poems, found in a limited number of Icelandic manuscripts, the most important of which is damaged, and missing pages, and does not agree with other copies, and quotations in other medieval texts. The exact list of poems included varies slightly, with editors and translators having a little leeway. The "World's Classics" series from Oxford University Press finally included a translation of this famous collection in its list in 1997; it has since been reprinted in the slightly refurbished and renamed series of "Oxford World's Classics."

{Perhaps I should add that, like five earlier reviewers, I have taken for granted the importance and high literary quality of the Elder Edda, and concentrated on whether this particular translation is worth your time -- and money.}

Although some reviewers have complained that Carolyne Larrington's translation is inaccurate, it has been favorably received by the academic community on the grounds of its exceptional accuracy. (It is on a Cambridge University syllabus too, although this may reflect, in part, its availability.)

Part of the problem may be that Larrington is following the 1983 revision of the Neckel-Kuhn text edition, without giving specific notice of all of its decisions on how to resolve contradictions in the manuscript evidence. (A reader who consults the notes at the end will find some of them, particularly regarding the ordering of stanzas.) Most previous translators produced eclectic versions, based on a variety of older editions, and often noting their own departures from the then-standard text editions. For those without access to the latest revised version of Kuhn's revision of Neckel's turn-of-the-century critical edition, Larrington's departures from the familiar are likely to seem arbitrary.

She also seems to be making full use of the latest in linguistic scholarship -- another reason for departing from familiar readings.

Of course, some of her translations may well be wrong -- translators have to make decisions among various options, and the format of this book does not allow for full discussions of such problems. Some problems have no easy answer; for example, there are lists of names, most of which, but not all, were chosen for their obvious meanings; should any of them be translated in the main text? I found many points on which I would differ, preferring the arguments advanced by other scholars, but any other amateur, but enthusiastic, reader could probably come up with an entirely different list. I appreciate having her version available.

What I find a more serious problem is that the translation is not really all that pleasant to read, and, although valuable to the serious student, is not likely to attract the merely curious. Despite being set up in stanzas, it is extremely prosy. This was probably the result of a decision to prefer precision to literary form, but, after comparing translations of sample passages going back to William Morris in the nineteenth century, I can't say that I am completely convinced. I could be wrong; I would not be astonished to find that someone fell in love with Old Norse literature through this version. But I do think that some older versions would serve this purpose better, despite many shortcomings, due in part to age.

I offer, as examples, two other complete versions in English. Henry Adams Bellows' translation (from the American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1923) was at least interesting to read aloud, despite numerous shortcomings, both as a translation and as poetry. (It was out of print, except in a very expensive limited edition, but was available in digital form, and is being reprinted in its original two-volume format, at a much more reasonable price, by Dover; as of summer 2004, "Mythological Poems" has appeared.) Lee M. Hollander's attempt at an alliterative verse rendering (University of Texas, also 1923, second edition, 1962, and still in print in paperback) is sometimes a little hard to follow, but at least the reader is kept aware that the original is a metrical composition. (I once worked through a good part of Hollander's text-edition-for-students of "Seven Eddic Lays," so his translation seems to me comparatively clear -- and, allowing for some liberties due to meter, mostly very accurate, since it matches his editing and glossary!) Larrington's stanza divisions, by comparison, seem to be there strictly as points of reference.

Curiously, neither of these translations is mentioned, so far as I can see, anywhere in the present volume; nor is another, more recent, American translation, by Patricia Terry, which has undergone several revised printings. Larrington discusses in detail translations published in Britain, which is fair enough; but she somehow omits the expanded edition of Auden and Taylor's "The Elder Edda: A Selection" as "Norse Poems" (1981), which does contain the whole standard Eddic "canon."

(It should added that "The Poetry of the Elder Edda," by Andy Orchard, announced some time ago as forthcoming in Penguin Classics, has yet to appear, as of Fall 2005; some on-line sources now list it for Spring 2008! The first part of a five-volume text, translation and commentary by Ursula Dronke was published in 1969, but only reached the second -- superb -- volume in 1997, with nothing since. Work on a more manageable bi-lingual edition was recently announced by Edward Pettit on his "Leaves of Yggdrasill" site, raising hopes once again.)

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars In Need of Commentary/Notes - Read Snorri's Prose Edda first , May 30, 2007

By	Andrew Freborg (Stow, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Handy book with nice format and readable translation. However there's virtually no context here as far as a meaningful introduction to the individual works or the work as a whole. The individual introductions are cursory at best, written in a dismissive "Oxford" tone which assumes the reader is familiar with the works and their context. Imagine mixing up the books of the Bible, and removing most of the study annotations now included in most versions. Reading the Prose Edda first was EXTREMELY helpful, as Snorri does what the editor of this book should have tried harder to do herself. If you know little or nothing of Norse mythology, you'll be lost if you start with this book; but after the Prose Edda, things become much more meaningful.

37 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An horribly inaccurate translation, August 21, 2001

By	"vyli" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

While it's popular to criticise the Hollander translation of The Poetic Edda for being more poetic than accurate, compared to Larrington's version, his is nearly ideal.

I've been studying eddic poetry for years, both in the original and in translation, and recently picked up a copy of this book because several friends insisted it is more accessible and easily read. I immediately saw why it is often suggested as an alternative to the archaic language sometimes used by Hollander, but simultaneously horrified. Of course, no translation will ever convey the full nuances of a text, but I found numerous places where Larrington either lost all subtext to a passage, or was simply inaccurate.

I would only recommend this translation for comparison to others, such as Hollander, Bellows or even Thorpe. The work simply does not stand on its own as a trustworthy edition.