The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

Jackson Crawford

Mar 2015 · Hackett Publishing

About this ebook

"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

Ratings and reviews

To put it simply, I loved it and couldn't put it down. Just know that the author left out the Attamal story because he believes it may have been a redundant mistake in the original Codex Regius since the same story already occurs in the Codex Regius, but under a different name. Other than that, this book is amazing and I entirely recommend it!

Amazing and he really lets you know, what is really past down from vikings and nords. If anyone likes this I suggest they look up his youtube channel, where he goes move in to all the lore and the real sources that scholars use.

The best translation of the poetic edda. New and updated for a new generation and a must have for any mythology nerds. Especially love the cowboy Havamal

About the author

Jackson Crawford earned his Ph.D. in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an M.A. in linguistics from the University of Georgia. He has taught Norse mythology, the Old Norse language, and the history of the Scandinavian languages at the University of California, Los Angeles. His poems in English and Norwegian have appeared in several journals.