The Poetic Edda: Volume II: Mythological Poems (Hardcover)

~ Ursula Dronke (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...the work is a remarkable achievement, throwing new light on the background and composition of the texts examined: the comments are most instructive, and the discussions open new perspectives. An outstanding book, henceforth indispensable for all students of the Poetic Edda."--The Journal of Indo-European Studies

Product Description

This new edition of mythological poems from the Poetic Edda takes the reader deep into the imagination of the Viking poets (c.1000 AD). Setting text and translation side by side, Dronke provides full introductions and commentaries for each of the poems.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (December 4, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198111819
• ISBN-13: 978-0198111818
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,059,477 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressive and long overdue, but misleading title, August 15, 2003

By	Wulf Richardson (Kalamazoo, MI USA) - See all my reviews

In my eight-year quest to find an Old Norse edition of the Poetic Edda (still unsuccessful), I stumbled upon a listing for this book in a bibliography. After much debating with booksellers who denied its existence, I finally had in my hands, after all these years...
Six poems.
Text with facing-page translation of six poems. Don't be misled by the title. Volume One is out of print, and while, in 1997, Volumes 3 and 4 were said to be "well underway," all trace of them seems to have fallen from the face of the earth.
I should chastise Clarendon Press, and so should you.
Despite this, I have never seen so much information about the individual poems collected in one place. Dronke gives overviews of the poems, historical and mythological background, comparisons with other mediaeval literature (Germanic and otherwise), the works! In addition, she gives a detailed commentary on the text itself, analysing many words and phrases on an individual basis, and often giving equally detailed explanations of her translation of certain words. She even goes so far as to inform the reader of all of the variant manuscript readings (including omissions) and tackles several textual problems with thoroughness.
I do not fully agree with all of the author's interpretations--some of her statements almost made me fall out of my chair- but there is enough lore in this book to make the price WELL worth it. This book really deserves only four and an half stars because I was disappointed by the title (hey, it's my right after all these years!); but that aside, the erudition in this book is vast and impressive. You'll be glad you bought it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The finest English translation of the Poetic Edda (or will be once it's done and collected into one mass market volume), February 25, 2009

By	Byggvir - See all my reviews

Of all of the English translations of the Poetic Edda, Dronke's translations are the most thorough and extensive. The footnotes are immense, the manuscript doting impressive, and the sheer level of detail presented here easily puts all of the other editions to printed (to date) to shame.

However, this edition is incomplete and is but one of a few volumes yet released; although it has now been decades, Dronke has yet to finish her undertaking of the Poetic Edda. I hope she realizes how many people are waiting for it. Further, it would be very wise of someone collect all of these volumes into a single mass-market edition so that it gets the attention it deserves. Dronke's edition will then become the current Poetic Edda English translation standard and we will all be the better off for it.

9 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Rather poor scholarship and worse ideology, October 6, 2006

By	Frederick Moeller - See all my reviews

Dronke's peculiar book includes five mythological poems: Voluspa, Rigsthula, Volundarkvida, Lokasenna, Skirnismal. And it has many more problems, some of which I will list here:

1. It offers "editions" of the poems, with facing translations, but the translations are not very good, which perhaps would be less important if the book had a glossary.

2. But it doesn't have a glossary. Thus it is useless as an edition of any kind.

3. The commentary is rambling and the scholarship uneven. Further, all the best material, which is merely summarized in disorganized fashion, can be found in other publications. The author's contribution to the field is minimal.

4. The "Hair" Chapter: in her explanation of the Rigsthula, Dronke seems delighted to join the modern radical Nordicists, who frequent some of the worst webforums known to man, in accepting the unlanded courtier's, meaning the poet's, vision of humanity as divided by hair colour - if you can believe it. So, we are treated to dirty autochthonous thralls with black hair, big-boned farmers with red hair, and glorious Viking nobles with blond hair. And to support her medieval soulmate in his devious social climbing, our author picks a few random examples from other Indo-European traditions (which she holds this colour scheme to be classic of), in an amateur attempt to show that, indeed, it really was this way from the very beginning. But none of her examples appear to show what she wants to believe, for example the substitution of clothing for hair and of white for blond; and furthermore there are many more examples of colour preference (hair, clothing, etc.) for this rank or that, throughout the ancient Indo-European world, which give quite different pictures of its societies, and these Dronke completely ignores, including the rest from the Old Norse tradition!

It's really a wonder that Oxford published this volume, but it was so long awaited that I guess they were obligated somehow. Don't waste your money like Oxford did.